Chua, Amy (Lynn) 1962-

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CHUA, Amy (Lynn) 1962-

PERSONAL:

Born October 26, 1962, in Champaign, IL; daughter of Leon O. (a professor) and Diane G. Chua; married Ted Rubenfeld, October 15, 1988; children: Sophia. Education: Harvard College, A.B. (magna cum laude), 1984; Harvard Law School, J.D. (cum laude), 1987.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Yale University School of Law, P.O. Box 208215, New Haven, CT 06520. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Educator and attorney. U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Washington, DC, law clerk to chief justice Patricia M. Wald, 1987-88; Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton (law firm), New York, NY, associate, 1988-93; called to the Bar of the State of New York, 1990; Duke University, Durham, NC, professor of law, 1994-2001; Yale University, New Haven, CT, visiting professor, 2001, became professor of law. Visiting professor of law at New York University, Stanford University, and Columbia University. Consultant to Ford Foundation, Council on Foreign Relations, and American Bar Association.

MEMBER:

American Society of International Law (member of executive council, beginning 1999), Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Duke University Excellence in Teaching award, 1998; International Affairs fellowship, Council on Foreign Relations, 1998-99.

WRITINGS:

World on Fire: How Exporting Free-Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Violence and Global Instability, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor to journals and other periodicals, including New York Times, Columbia Law Review, Yale Law Review, and others.

SIDELIGHTS:

Teaching globalization, international business, and ethnic conflict as part of her curriculum as a professor of law at Yale University, Amy Chua has also authored a book that draws from similar subjects in exploring an issue at the center of the U.S. war on Iraq in 2003. In her book, Chua questions the logic at the heart of the assumption expounded by George Gilder, Thomas Friedman, and other proponents of globalization, that exporting free trade and a democratic form of government to many regions of the world will bring peace and improve human welfare. Instead, she argues in World on Fire: How Exporting Free-Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Violence and Global Instability that, as Michelle Goldberg explained in her Salon review, "rapid switches to majoritarian rule and free-market democracy in many Third World countries benefit certain ethnic groups over others and lead to vicious sectarian strife."

Citing examples from Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America to substantiate her theory, Chua contends that newly developed free markets, rather than creating wealth for a population as a whole, create instead a small class of wealthy—what she terms "market-dominant minorities"—who are usually members of an ethnic minority. Among the many examples Chua includes is that of the Philippines, where the Filipinos of Chinese descent make up less than two percent of the population yet control almost all that nation's banks and most of their large-scale retail outlets. The consequence of this is a backlash by the "have-nots" against the ethnic group represented by the wealthy class, resulting in ethnonationalist governments that use such class divisions as a justification for public policies that confiscate such wealth and exact revenge.

Reaction to Chua's theory has been positive overall. Goldberg praised the argument set forth in World on Fire in her Salon review as "so clear and persuasive it almost seems as if it had been obvious all along." Praising Chua as a "careful, precise writer," Golberg added: "No matter how politically incorrect it is to talk about, her book makes clear that minority market domination is a reality in much of the world, one that's tied up in many ways with smoldering group hatreds and explosions of mass slaughter, and one that's made worse by Western policies." While calling Chua's argument "grim and thoughtful," Mother Jones reviewer Chris Lehmann added that the author is "none too clear on how these ethnic time bombs are to be defused." Calling World on Fire both "fascinating and disturbing," Business Week contributor Paul Magnusson noted that Chua "sees no inherent evil in capitalism, thinks representative democracy is a good thing, and writes with an authority born of rigorous research." A Kirkus Reviews critic added to the positive consensus, describing Chua's book as a "nuanced contribution to the debate over whether free markets spread democracy or merely advance the McDonaldsization of the globe."

Before entering academia, Chua worked as a practicing attorney specializing in international business transactions for the New York City-based firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. She is proficient in Hokkien and Mandarin Chinese, and has a reading knowledge of French and Spanish.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Business Week, December 20, 2002, Paul Magnusson, review of World on Fire: How Exporting Free-Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability.

Commentary, June 1, 2003, review of World on Fire, p. 24.

Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2002, review of World on Fire, p. 1439.

Mother Jones, January-February, 2003, Chris Lehmann, "A Globalized Tinderbox."

Newsweek International, April 7, 2003, review of World on Fire, p. 46.

Publishers Weekly, November 18, 2002, review of World on Fire, p. 55.

U.S. News & World Report, October 21, 2002, Jay Tolson, "World Disorder?," p. 56.