Shiping Tang

The native form of thispersonal nameisTang Shiping.This article usesWestern name orderwhen mentioning individuals.

In thisChinese name,thefamily nameisTang( đường ).

Shiping Tang
Đường thế bình
Tang in 2022
Born	(1967-01-24)January 24, 1967 Hunan,China
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley(MA) Wayne State University(PhD) University of Science and Technology of China(MSc) China University of Geosciences(BSc)
Children	1 son
Scientific career
Fields	International Relations Comparative Politics Institutional Economics Philosophy of Social Sciences
Institutions	Fudan University
Philosophy career
Era	21st century
School	Scientific Realism
Notable ideas	Social Evolution Paradigm

Shiping Tang(born 24 January 1967) is a ChineseMolecular Biologist,political scientist,political economist,computational social scientist,and philosopher ofsocial sciences.He is the FudanDistinguished professor(2013–) & Dr. Seaker ChanChair Professor(2014–) atFudan Universityand also theCheung Kong Distinguished Professor(2016–) in theChinese Ministry of Education.He is an editor ofInternational Relations(2021–),International Security(2021–),Small Wars and Insurgencies(2019–),Chinese Journal of International Politics(2018–) andSecurity Studies(2015–), and was an editor ofInternational Studies Quarterly(2015–2020).

In 1985, Tang received a BSc inPaleontologyfromChina University of Geosciences, Wuhan.In 1988, he completed his MSc inMolecular biologyat theUniversity of Science and Technology of China.In 1995, he received his PhD in Molecular Biology andGeneticsfrom theWayne State University,Detroit, US.

However, believing inscientific realism,Tang decided to apply his knowledge ofnatural sciences,especiallyevolution theory,tosocial sciencesand received a Master's degree inInternational relations(IR) from theUniversity of California at Berkeleyin 1999.He is known for hismulti-disciplinaryworks on the Social Evolutionary Paradigm in IR.

Academic career

Biologist

Between 1988 and 1990, Tang was a Research Scientist at Sino-America Biotech and Weko Biotech. Between 1995 and 1997, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, San Diego.

Although Tang has focused his research on social sciences since 1997, he still publishes papers on biology.

Social scientist and philosopher

Tang was aResearch fellow(1999–2002) and thenSenior fellow(2002–2006) at Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies (IAPS),Chinese Academy of Social Sciences(CASS) and a Senior Fellow (2006–2009) at Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS),Nanyang Technological University,Singapore. From 2002 to 2003, he was posted by CASS to a midlevel government position in northwestern China.Since 2009, he has been a Professor at School of International Relations and Public Affairs (SIRPA), Fudan University.

His forecasting of a decisive win forTsai Ing-wenin2020 Taiwanese presidential electionwas deleted from Fudan's website, hours after its release.

Social Evolution Paradigm

Tang is the creator of the Social Evolutionary Paradigm (SEP), a social evolutionary theory. He is one of those rare IR theorists who tries to construct a grand theory not only for the discipline but also for human society as a whole.American sociologistHoward E. Aldrichthinks the SEP goes beyond "generalizedDarwinismand moving toward adopting generalizedevolutionism".

In his 2013 bookThe Social Evolution of International Politics,Tang argues thathuman societyhas historically evolved from relatively benign relations inhunter-gatherersocieties, tooffensive realismsystems, then todefensive realismsystems, and finally to a more institutionally rule-based international system.

According to Dutch political scientistHendrik Spruyt,unlike mostIR theorieswhich arehistorical contingent,Tang's SEP theory istrans-historical.American political scientistRichard Ned Lebowthinks Tang produced a non-determinist and non-reductionist approach tosocial evolutionthat is distinct from and critical ofevolutionary psychology.

Tang further explained the SEP's theoretical underpinning in his 2020 bookOn Social Evolution.American political scientistRobert Jervisthinks Tang puts theevolutionary approachthrough its paces and shows how selection,variance,andinheritanceoperate to explain both macro and microSocial Developments.American political scientistPeter J. Katzensteinthinks Tang succeeded in developing and defending the claim that "evolutionism triumphs over all other explanations of the natural and thesocial world."

Viewpoints

Against the relationship between genetic diversity and economic development

In a 2016 article, Tang criticized a paper byQuamrul AshrafandOded Galorwhich claimed thatgenetic diversityhas a relationship witheconomic development.He thinks that Ashraf and Galor ignored the "Eurasia effect" and have some "econometric error".Tang's rebuttal was endorsed by American statisticianAndrew Gelmanin aWashington Postarticle. Gelman thinks "this new paper by Tang could be useful in that it criticizes Ashraf and Galor on their own terms."

On the Russian invasion of Ukraine

According to aStimson Center's article, Tang is the "only prominent Chinese scholar who publicly predicted a war between Russia and Ukraine" before May 2021, through a model of state behaviour he developed.Back in 2009, after theRusso-Georgian War,Tang has already warned that Ukraine will be the next battleground.He published an op-eds to call for a neutral Ukraine to prevent the conflict in 2014.

On Chinese politics

Tang argues that Chinese political leaders should read1587, a Year of No Significance,a 1981 book byRay Huang,carefully to pre-empt failure ofbureaucratic systemwhich leads to great policy failures like those happened in the mid-Ming dynasty.

His another article sparked debate in China. He believes that Chinese people should read moreGlobal Historyand read lessancient Chinese political history.He even thinks that some researches aboutancient China,such asZhao TingyangandYan Xuetong's works, are a waste ofpublic money.It is because the later are mostly aboutrules of man,power struggleanddynasty change,which shed little light on how to reform the contemporary society. He fears that if Chinese people are too obsessed with Chinese political history, it will leads to a sense ofparochialismamong them too. He thinks Chinese people should learn from the experiences ofmodernisationof various counties, to better modernize China and have a say onglobal affairs.

On Jon Elster

Tang argues that Norwegian social theoristJon Elsteris one of the most over-rated scholars in 20th and 21st centuries. "Each of his books is casual and superficial, with little value", Tang wrote in an article onSouthern Weekly.

Works

Single-authored books

• The Institutional Foundation of Economic Development(Princeton University Press,2022)
• Quan niệm hành động kết quả: Xã hội khoa học phương pháp tân luận [Concepts, Actions, and Results: New Theory of Social Science Methodology](2021)
• On Social Evolution: Phenomenon and Paradigm(Routledge,2020)
• Chúng nhân giai ngô sư [Everyone is My Teacher] (2017)
• The Social Evolution of International Politics(Oxford University Press,2015)
• A Theory of Security Strategy for Our Time: Defensive Realism(Palgrave Macmillan,2013)
• A General Theory of Institutional Change(Routledge, 2010)
• Lãnh chiến hậu cận lân quốc gia đối hoa chính sách nghiên cứu [A Study on Policies of Near Neighbouring Countries towards China after the Cold War] (2005)
• Tố tạo trung quốc đích lý tưởng an toàn hoàn cảnh [Shaping China's Ideal Security Environment] (2003)

Edited volumes

• Bỉ giác chính trị học [Companion to Comparative Politics] (2021), with Wang Zhengxu and Geng Shu
• Lịch sử trung đích chiến lược hành vi: Nhất cá chiến lược tư duy giáo trình [Strategic Behaviors in History: A Course] (2015), with Wang Kai
• Xã hội khoa học tả tác chỉ đạo thủ sách [Social Sciences Writing Guidebook] (2013)
• Tri thức xã quần dữ chủ thể ý thức [Knowledge Communities and Subjectivity] (2011)
• Living with China: China and Regional States through Crises and Turning Points(Palgrave-Macmillan, 2009), with Mingjiang Li andAmitav Acharya

Selected articles

• Understanding Ethnic Conflict: Four Waves and Beyond(2017)
• Foundational Paradigms of Social Sciences.Philosophy of the Social Sciences,2011: 41(2), 211–249.
• "Taking Stock of Neoclassical Realism."International Studies Review11 (2009): 799–803.

Awards

His 2013 book,The Social Evolution of International Politics,received theInternational Studies Association(ISA) "Annual Best Book Award" in 2015. He was the first Chinese and Asian scholar to receive this prestigious award.