NS3620 Survey of Asian Politics

This course surveys the major themes of Asian politics. The goals of the course are to introduce students to major debates and various modes of political interaction and patterns of political development in Asia. Half of the course is devoted to Northeast Asia and the other half to Southeast Asia. Prerequisites: None.

Lecture Hours

4

Lab Hours

0

Course Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• recognize and apply major types of comparative-politics analytical tools and explanations (structural forces, institutional rules, short-term political/tactical/contingent decisions).
• identify major institutional rules and political players in East and Southeast Asia (e.g., electoral system rules, political parties, bureaucracies, militaries) and explain both how they work in isolation and how their impacts vary across different political environments.
• explain how and why some countries in Asia reform and democratize while others don’t, and whether and how a country’s political structures matter for foreign and security policy.
• assess major causes of key domestic political conflicts in Asia (regime / reformer conflict, conflict over U.S. military bases, political party conflict, etc.).
• employ comparative methods to apply lessons from one country to analyze another.