POL 337: ASIA IN WORLD AFFAIRS

The University of Mississippi
Spring 2007, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 14:00-14:50, 107 Croft Institute
Instructor: Dr. Gang Guo * Office: 128 Deupree Hall * Telephone: (662) 915-5419 * e-mail: gg at olemiss dot edu
Office hours: by appointment

Course Syllabus

Course Schedule

On-line Resources

BlackBoard

Map of Asia

COURSE OVERVIEW

This course is a general survey of the politics and other aspects of Asia, with an emphasis on the contemporary Pacific Asia. Starting with the general environment of Asia, this course covers the history, politics, and international relations of major Asian powers and discusses the main economic and security issues that concern Asian countries today. By the end of the semester, students are expected

to be familiarized with the international and domestic politics of Asia;
to gain a better understanding of the historical and current developments of Asian countries;
and to apply the concepts and theories to the study of Asia.

All the required readings and lecture notes of this course are available on the Internet through links on this web page or through BlackBoard. Links to the readings and notes will be updated on this web page throughout the semester, and so students are required to visit the course web site regularly.

It is essential for students to read the required materials before class and attend all class sessions. Class participation accounts for 15% of the course grade. Each student is also required to make a brief (about 10 minutes) in-class presentation of a most recent news on Asian politics. The presentation accounts for 10% of the course grade. The presenter should not only tell the class what happened, but also provide some background information to help understand the news story better. After each presentation there will be a short period in which the presenter responds to questions or comments from the audience. For the preparation of the presentation, there are many English-language websites that cover news on Asia. Some of those are linked from the online resources section on this web page.

There will be two exams for this course. The midterm exam in class on Wednesday, March 7, will account for 35% of the course grade. The final exam will start at noon on Wednesday, May 9, as stipulated by the Registrar's Office. It accounts for 40% of the grade.

Notes:

If you can not open the PDF files you may need to download and install the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.
If you can not open the PowerPoint files you may need to download and install the free PowerPoint Viewer.

COURSE SCHEDULE

Date	Day	News Reporter	Topic	Lecture Notes	Required Readings
Part I: Introduction and Context
January 17	Wednesday			Course overview
January 19	Friday			Physical environment	Borthwick, Mark. 1998. Pacific Century: The Emergence of Modern Pacific Asia, 2nd Edition. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. Pages 1-15.
January 22	Monday			Silk Road	video
January 24	Wednesday			Asian people and culture	Major, John S. "Asia Through a Glass Darkly: Stereotypes of Asians in Western Literature", in Focus on Asian Studies, Spring 1986, Volume V, Number 3, Contemporary Literature, pages 4-8. Berling, Judith A. "Confucianism", in Focus on Asian Studies, Fall 1982, Volume II, Number 1, Asian Religions, pages 5-7. Landry, Lionel. "The Migrations of Buddhism", in Focus on Asian Studies, Fall 1982, Volume II, Number 1, Asian Religions, page 20. Lee O-Young. "The Dawn of the Asian Century", in Japan Echo, February 2001, Volume 28, Issue 1, pages 23-28. Chong, Terence. 2002. "Asian Values and Confucian Ethics: Malay Singaporeans' Dilemma", in Journal of Contemporary Asia, Volume 32, Number 3, pages 394-406.
January 26	Friday	Hedglin, Daniel	Harbin pollution case	The Silk Road revisited	Christian, David. "Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History." Journal of World History, Volume 11, Number 1, Spring 2000, pp. 1-26.
January 29	Monday	Yuen, Anthony	Thai coup	Asian history	The Tributary System Zheng He and His Voyages The Meiji Restoration and Modernization, in Contemporary Japan: A Teaching Workbook. Columbia University, East Asian Curriculum Project.
January 31	Wednesday			Asian religions	(Guest speaker: Dr. Laurie Cozad, the Croft Associate Professor of Religion and International Studies at the University of Mississippi)
Part II: Major Powers in Asia
February 2	Friday			America in Asia	video
February 5	Monday	Mize, Ann	Homelessness in Japan	Japan: postwar history	Japan's Modern History: An Outline of the Period The American Occupation of Japan, 1945-1952. Article 9 and the U.S. Japan Security Treaty.
February 7	Wednesday	Lawrence, Susan	6-nation talks	Japan: politics	See BlackBoard.
February 9	Friday	Daniel, Cody	Nepal	Korea: postwar history	Eckert, Carter J. 1990. Korea's Economic Development in Historical Perspective, 1945-1990.
February 12	Monday			Korea: politics	History: Contemporary Period, from Korean Government Homepage.
February 14	Wednesday	Carr, Adam Ladner, Zachary	Ma Ying-jeou; Korean nuclear deal	China: postwar history	Introduction: China's Political System
February 16	Friday	Dodez-Ball, Kevin	Turkmen president	China: politics	See BlackBoard.
February 19	Monday	Woods, Cori	Beijing Olympics	Taiwan	The ROC in Brief, Sun Yat-sen (Founding Father), Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Ching-kuo, Lee Teng-hui, from the ROC President's Office in Taiwan. ROC Government Organization, from the ROC President's Office in Taiwan.
February 21	Wednesday	Sudduth, Jordan	South Korea invests in North	Hong Kong	Chan, Ming K. 2003. "Different Roads to Home: The Retrocession of Hong Kong and Macau to Chinese Sovereignty". Journal of Contemporary China, Volume 12, Number 36, August, pages 493-518.
February 23	Friday	Doenges, Rachel Felts, John "Patrick"	Cheney visits Asia; documentaries on Nanjing	Chinese overseas	Cheung, Gordon C.K. "Involuntary Migrants, Political Revolutionaries and Economic Energisers: a history of the image of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia", in Journal of Contemporary China, Volume 14, Number 42, February 2005, pages 55-66. Wang, Gungwu. "Greater China and the Chinese Overseas", in The China Quarterly, Number 136, December 1993, pages 926-948.
February 26	Monday			The Vietnam War	(Guest speaker: Dr. Peter Frost, the Croft Visiting Professor of History and International Studies and a Senior Research Associate at the Croft Institute for International Studies at the University of Mississippi)
February 28	Wednesday	Malley, Christian	Pakistani assassination	Southeast Asia: postwar history	Borthwick, Mark. 1998. Pacific Century: The Emergence of Modern Pacific Asia, 2nd Edition. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. Pages 323-350. Timeline of Postwar Southeast Asia, by Gang Guo.
March 2	Friday	Brooks, John	Shanghai stock market	Southeast Asia: politics	Beeson, Mark. "Southeast Asia and the Politics of Vulnerability", in Third World Quarterly, Volume 23, Number 3, June 2002, pages 549-564.
March 5	Monday	Christensen, Kelly	Japan "comfort women"	Midterm review	All of the above.
March 7	Wednesday			Midterm Exam	All of the above.
March 19	Monday			The military coup in Thailand	(Guest speaker: Dr. Robert Albritton, Professor of Political Science at the University of Mississippi)
March 21	Wednesday	Crosby, Thomas	North Korea talks	Indian politics	See BlackBoard.
Part III: Economy and Security
March 23	Friday	Umfress, Daniel Horton, Kennedy	Chinese president visits Russia; Myanmar	Economic "miracles"	Krugman, Paul. "The Myth of Asia's Miracle" and Letters to the Editor, in Foreign Affairs, November/December 1994, pages 62-78, and March/April 1995, pages 170-177.
March 26	Monday	Joe, Craig Houston, Virginia	Hong Kong election; Thai corruption	Asian financial crisis	Rigg, Jonathan. "Of miracles and crises: (re-)interpretation of growth and decline in East and Southeast Asia", in Asia Pacific Viewpoint, Volume 43, Number 2, August 2002.
March 28	Wednesday	Etcheberrigaray, Xavier Micklos, Dustin	Myanmar capital; China-Russia explore mars	economic cooperation and integration	Lambert, Bruce Henry. "Northeast Asian Dynamism: Ten Top Impediments and Countermeasures", in The European Institute of Japanese Studies Working Paper Series, Number 145, May 2002.
March 30	Friday	Wicker, McDaniel	China property right law	Globalization: good or bad?	Bhagwati, Jagdish N., "Anti-Globalization: Why?" Chapter 1 in In Defense of Globalization, Oxford University Press, March 2004.
April 2	Monday			APEC	APEC Secretariat. APEC Outcomes & Outlook 2006/2007. McKay, John. "APEC: Successes, Weaknesses, and Future Prospects", in Southeast Asian Affairs, 2002, pages 42-53.
April 4	Wednesday	Greer, Kyle Zubick, Michael	Britain-Iran tension	security environment in Pacific Asia	Scobell, Andrew and Larry M. Wortzel. The Asia-Pacific in the U.S. National Security Calculus for a New Millennium, March 2000. Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College.
April 9	Monday	Lufburrow, Steven Cain, James "Bradley"	North Korea funds; E. Timor election	democratization in Asia	Root, Hilton L. "What Democracy Can Do for East Asia", in Journal of Democracy, Volume 13, Number 1, January 2002, pages 113-126.
Part IV: Major Power Relations
April 11	Wednesday	Barnett, Issac Stevens, Scott	Nina Wang; N. Korea funds	US-Japan relations	Okamoto, Yukio. "Japan and the United States: The Essential Alliance", in The Washington Quarterly, Volume 25, Number 2, Spring 2002, pages 59-72.
April 16	Monday	Rogers, Brett Rowlen, Chandler	Vietnam soldier; China satellite	US-PRC relations	U.S. Department of State. "US-China Relations."
April 18	Wednesday	Granger, Roy Hwang, Wayne	China economy; Bin Laden	US-China economic issues	Elliott, Michael. "China Takes on the World", in Time, Thursday, January 11, 2007.
April 20	Friday	Howard, Barry Skinner, Emily	Nagasaki mayor; Japan constitution	PRC-Japan relationship	Zhao Quansheng. "China and Major Power Relations in East Asia," in Journal of Contemporary China, November 2001, Volume 10, Issue 29, pages 663-681.
April 23	Monday	Jackson, Daniel "Garrett"	Korea food aid	US-Southeast Asia relations	The US-ASEAN Business Council website
April 25	Wednesday	Pitts, Allen Williams, Owen	China trade; North Korea parade	ASEAN Plus Three	Singh, Bhubhindar. "ASEAN's Perceptions of Japan: Change and Continuity", in Asian Survey, Volume 42, Number 2, March/April 2002, pages 276-296. Stubbs, Richard. "ASEAN Plus Three: Emerging East Asian Regionalism?", in Asian Survey, Volume 42, Number 3, May/June 2002, pages 440-455.
April 27	Friday	Collier, John Upton, Orman	Thai monks; Korea food aid	current events in Asia	Did You Know?
April 30	Monday	Keen, Ryan	Beijing Olympics	current events in Asia	Please suggest topics at BlackBoard.
May 2	Wednesday	Davis, Barry George, Byron	Macau protest; climate change	Asia's political future	James C. Hsiung, "Pacific Asia in the Twenty-first Century World Order", in Asian Affairs, an American Review, Summer 2002, Volume 29, Issue 2, pages 99-115.
May 4	Friday			final review	All of the above since the mid-term exam.
May 9	Wednesday			Final Exam at noon.	All of the above since the mid-term exam.

On-line Resources

Reuters
CNN Asia
BBC Asia-Pacific
The Economist
Fox News Asia
Financial Times
New York Times-Asia Pacific news
Asia Wall Street Journal
South China Morning Post
Asia Source
People's Daily
China Internet Information Center
China Radio International
The Japan Times online
Asahi Shinbun
Korean Government Homepage
Embassy of the People's Republic of China, in Washington D.C.
Embassy of Japan, in Washington D.C.
Embassy of the Republic of Korea, in Washington D.C.
Embassy of India, in Washington D.C.
Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State.
Embassy of the United States of America, in Beijing.
Embassy of the United States of America, in Tokyo.
Embassy of the United States of America, in Seoul.
Embassy of the United States of America, in New Delhi.