Andrew Clem
Adjunct Instructor
Department of Government and International Affairs
Sweet Briar College
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| Week | Theme / Country | Reading | Graded tasks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PART I: Regional overview and "hard" issues | ||||
| Aug. 27 - 31 | Geography and history | Kaup, Ch. 2 & 3 | ||
| Sept. 3 - 7 | Political culture & institutions | Kaup, Ch. 4 | ||
| Sept. 10 - 14 | Economics & trade | Kaup, Ch. 5 | ||
| Sept. 17 - 21 | International relations & security | Kaup, Ch. 6 & 7 | ||
| PART II: Country studies | ||||
| Sept. 24 - 28 | China: economy & society | Shirk, Ch. 1, 2, 3 | Essay * | |
| Oct. 1 - 5 | China's rising power; Japan | Shirk, Ch. 4, 5, 6 | ||
| Oct. 8 - 12 | China vs. Taiwan, U.S. | Shirk, Ch. 7, 8, 9 | Midterm exam | |
| Oct. 15 - 19 | Japan | Hayes, Ch. 1 - 5 | ||
| Oct. 22 - 26 | Japan | Hayes, Ch. 6 - 9, 12 - 14 | ||
| Oct. 29 - Nov. 2 | Korea (N & S) | (research) | Briefing | |
| Nov. 5 - 9 | Philippines, Indonesia, Indochina | (research) | ||
| PART III: Regional "soft" issues | ||||
| Nov. 12 - 16 | Environment, Population | Kaup, Ch. 8 & 9 | . | |
| Nov. 19 - 23 | (Thanksgiving) | |||
| Nov. 26 - 30 | Ethnicity, Gender, Religion | Kaup, Ch. 10, 11, 12 | ||
| Dec. 3 - 7 | Presentations, course review | |||
| Dec. | Final exam | |||
| * Date has been changed from the original syllabus. | ||||
Choose one of four roles:
Then choose an East Asian country to report on, subject to approval. The professor will provide you with a specific case problem that you are supposed to analyze in a briefing to be submitted to a superior-level official in your organization. Your briefing should begin by describing the problem and the ramifications for U.S. national interests. State the objectives of your organization (e.g., current U.S. foreign policy goals) and the resource constraints (manpower, funding, etc.). Then write a background on the country in question, focusing on the roots of the particular problem; this should make up about half the total length. Next, frame the main policy alternatives, weighing the pros and cons of each one. Finally, make a policy or action recommendation and defend it. The briefing should be about six pages long, using standard double-spaced 12 point Times Roman font.
Choose one theme or historical episode from the first four weeks of class that you did not know much about before, and then explain why it is significant in relation to other themes or historical episodes. Finally, explain why it would help Americans better understand East Asian countries. The Kaup textbook should be your primary source, but it would help to refer to one or two other sources that go into more detail about your specific topic. Essays are supposed to be more of a creative, interpretive work, so feel free to express your own opinions, backing them up with hard facts wherever possible. This essay should be about four pages in length, using standard double-spaced 12 point Times Roman font.
Katherine Palmer Kaup (ed.), Understanding Contemporary Asia Pacific (Lynne Rienner, 2007)
Susan L. Shirk, China: Fragile Superpower: How China's Internal Politics Could Derail Its Peaceful Rise (Oxford University Press, 2007)
Louis D. Hayes, Introduction to Japanese Politics, 4th ed. (M.E. Sharpe / East Gate, 2005)
In addition, all students are strongly urged to read the Washington Post or similar nationally-recognized newspaper to keep up with current events in foreign countries. First, it will help you understand the significance of the course material, and second, there will be a few current events questions on the quizzes and exams.
Occasional announcements about class activities, etc. will be posted here.
NEW! By popular demand: East Asian Politics Final Exam Study Guide (Adobe PDF)
NEW! Policies of the Chinese Communist Party (PowerPoint by Caity Gladstone)
TIPS FOR THE MIDTERM: Review the key terms at the end of each chapter in the Kesselman textbook. If it's something I mentioned in lectures, you should know what it is. As stated in the study guide, you should be aware of key historical events -- primarily those that happened in the past two centuries, but also a few older events that I emphasized in lectures, such as the Glorious Revolution (1688) or the French Revolution (1789). You do not need to memorize exact dates or years (unless specifically indicated), but you should have a rough idea of when key events happened. For our purposes, it mainly depends on whether the event played a crucial role in founding the nation-state in question. If I drew attention to the name of a political leader in lecture, you should know his or her political affiliation (party, ideology), which country, when they served, and what they accomplished. If the textbook devoted considerable attention to some topic that was not covered in lectures, it may be on the exam as well.
NOTE: Registration is required to view Washington Post articles online, but there is no cost to do so.
NEW: "Hu Set for Second Term at China's Helm: Political Middle-of-the-Roader Has Limited Reform" Washington Post, Oct. 14, 2007. (About 17th People's Congress)
Taiwan shows off military might (BBC, October 10, 2007) -- Very relevant to today's topic in class.
China dam 'catastrophe' warning (BBC, September 26, 2007)
Burmese riot police attack monks (BBC, September 26, 2007)
N. Korea Solicits Nuclear Survey: U.S., China, Russia to Send Nuclear Experts; Bush Meets With S. Korean Leader (Post, September 8, 2007; Page A09)
The table below covers all of the countries we will study in this course. By "political system" we are referring to the form of government (parliamentary, presidential, etc.) and to the form of state (monarchy vs. republic). There is NO need to memorize the numbers of legislative seats or terms of office in the various countries, but you should at least browse through the data long enough to get a rough idea about general patterns in terms of upper house vs. lower house, large countries vs. small countries, etc.
| Upper legislative house | Lower legislative house | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Structure | Government | Constit. | # seats | Repres. | Term | # seats | Repres. | Term | National leader | (since) | Term | |
| China | Unitary | One-party state | 1981 | NONE | ~2979 | - | 5 | Hu Jintao | 2002 * | 5 | |||
| Taiwan | Unitary | Semi-presidential republic | 1947 | NONE | 113 (225) | SMD/PR | 3 | Chen Shui-bian | 2000 | 4 | |||
| Japan | Unitary | Parliamentary monarchy | 1947 * | 252 | mixed | 6 | 500 | SMD/PR | 4 | Yasuo Fukuda | 2007 | var. | |
| North Korea | Unitary | One-party state | 1948 | NONE | 687 | ? | 5 | Kim Jong Il | 1994 | 4 | |||
| South Korea | Unitary | Semi-presidential republic | 1948 | NONE | 299 | SMD | 4 | Roh Moo-hyun | 2003 | 5 | |||
| Philippines | Unitary | Presidential republic | 1987 | 24 | AL | 6 | 237 | SMD/PR | 3 | Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo | 2001 | 6 | |
| Indonesia | Unitary | Presidential republic | 2002 | ? | ? | ? | 550 | ? | 5 | Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono | 2004 | 5 | |
| Vietnam | Unitary | One-party state | 1992 | NONE | 500 | . | 5 | Nguyen Minh Triet | 2006 | 5 | |||
NOTES:
SOME OF THE INFORMATION ON THIS TABLE IS SUBJECT TO REVISION.
@ "National leader" is the executive official with the most power.
* Gradual or recent change.
Legislative representation (the column labeled "Repres.") is usually in terms of which subnational constituencies choose members for the upper house, or in terms of voting tabulation procedures for the lower house.
SMD: Single member district
PR: Proportional representation (nationwide unless otherwise indicated)
SNTV: Single non-transferable vote (Japan only)