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By Arsh Haque, Class of 2015
A liberal education breeds a peculiar habit of connecting separate topics. It is not uncommon to use a Platonic framework to analyze literary works (e.g. Evidence of the tripartite soul in All the King’s Men). This habit led to two disparate areas of my McConnell Scholars experience coming together: Moot Court and upcoming study abroad in China. Using a point-of-view given by the prior I have been able to analyze the latter.
Moot Court is a forum for students to engage in oral argument over constitutional law. This year one of the legal questions concerned privacy. In particular, can the FBI track a suspected threat to national security through his cell-phone? This examination brought forth a thorough study of what privacy means, how it is evaluated, and where it applies. The study was immersed in decades of US cultural context. The conclusion, broadly, was that there is a balancing act between the federal government’s interest in national security and a citizen’s right to personal liberty.
I began reading and researching for my upcoming trip to China at the end of Moot Court season. During one of the early sessions a rumor was mentioned that “there are one-hundred thousand cameras in Beijing.” In both countries there was the same balancing act, albeit to different scales and with different conclusions. The weight of the government’s interest was being weighed against the interest of the citizen’s. Upon further examination, however, there was a contrast in intention.
There have been criticisms that China has not had a large standardized document specifying data protection policies in the country. The criticisms have not been, however, ones of fundamental human rights as could be expected in the US. Rather, many of these criticisms come from an economic perspective. This is demonstrated by an anecdote. Several McConnell Scholars from past years noted their surprise at the low use of credit cards. The local explanation was that identity-threat is too risky to warrant its usage. As of this year China has responded with a comprehensive legislation. This was done largely in order to encourage e-commerce in the country. Thus, China has begun to explore greater privacy rights more akin to the Western hemisphere, but for far different reasoning.
This will be a significant thought process in my upcoming travels. China and the US will have substantive similarities and differences, but the intent will elucidate deeper cultural divides. With that in mind I will be able to reflect on my experiences in China with a different lens. It is an experience encompasses and is an outcome of my experience with the McConnell Center’s liberal education.
Arsh Haque, a native of Elizabethtown, Ky., is a junior McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville studying political science and creative writing.