The central aim of this course will be to understand political change and development in Asia. The following places will be studied in depth: Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Malaysia. We will explore the relationship between international and domestic factors in explaining the region’s rapid economic growth and the democratization of political institutions. We must also try to understand the economic crisis of 1997/98 and what has happened since then. In addition to these broader topics smaller issues will be discussed: human rights, the position of women and ethnic minorities, and the globalization of the media.
The following texts are available for purchase at the bookstore:
–Asia Rising or Falling, Foreign Affairs Reader. 1999 (Council on Foreign Affairs).
-Larry Diamond and Marc Plattner (eds.) Democracy in East Asia 1998 (John Hopkins University Press).
-Soong Hoom Kil and Chung-in Moon (eds.) Understanding Korean Politics 2001 (SUNY Press).
-Pang-kwong Li. Political Order and Power Transition in Hong Kong 1997. (Chinese University Press).
-Henry Rowen (ed.) Behind East Asian Growth 1998 (NY: Routledge);
– Louise Edwards and Mina Roces, 2000. Women in Asia (University of Michigan Press).
– Guillermo O’Donnell and Philippe C. Schmitter, 1986. Transitions from Authoritarian Rule (John Hopkins University Press).
There is a fair amount of reserve reading. Throughout the syllabus these readings are marked with an asterisk (*). These articles will be available on reserve in the library and in the government department office area. When noted some articles can be downloaded from Lexis-Nexis.
In-class mid-term: 25%
Paper: 30%
In-class final exam: 25%
Participation: 10%
Quizzes/class exercises: 10%
All assignments must be turned in to pass the course!
Please note, I take due dates very seriously. All assignments are due at the start of class, once class has begun things are late. Late assignments will be penalized 1/3 of a letter grade for each day outstanding.
Each test will have elements of choice, for example you may be asked to answer 5 out of 7 short identifications, and/or 1 out of 2 essay questions.
i.e. asking questions, responding to the professor’s questions, and demonstrating knowledge of readings assigned for the day and of current world events. Class is more interesting for everyone if people participate.
This is a key element of the course. Attendance will be taken every class. There will be no penalty for the first 2 absences (excused or unexcused). After the first two absences, each additional absence will cause you to loose 2 points from your final grade. The only exception to this will be in the event of a prolonged and grave illness and a doctor’s verification will be necessary. I should be notified as soon as possible if this should be taken into account.
- Come to Class and Participate.
- Do the Reading.
- Take notes on what you read. You should get into the habit of taking notes on everything you read, including required texts. This works better than highlighting text in your book. It will be impossible to study for exams if, at the end of the semester, all you have are multicolored, highlighted passages in the texts.
- Read critically. Note down questions on the readings that you would like to raise in class and think critically about the author’s sources and arguments.
- Take notes in class.
- Follow up on areas of interest. Read other sources besides the required texts. Check the footnotes and bibliographies in the main texts for further, specialized sources in your particular area of interest.
- Ask questions if you’re confused.
- Refer to maps of the places studied.
- Keep up with current events. Read a major, national newspaper every day. The Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal are all excellent sources of information on the issues we’re studying.
- Keep an open mind to new ideas, approaches and ways of viewing the world.
August 30th: Introduction to class, overview
September 4 & 6: Economic Development
– Henry S. Rowen, “The Political and Social Foundations of the Rise of East Asia: an Overview”, in Henry S. Rowen (ed.) Behind East Asian Growth pp. 1-38.
– Minxin Pei, “Constructing the Political Foundations of an Economic Miracle”, in Rowen (ed.) pp. 39-59.
-Hilton L. Root, “Distinctive Institutions in the Rise of Industrial Asia” in Rowen (ed.) pp. 60-77.
September 6th: MAP QUIZ
September 11th Transitions to Democracy
-Minxin Pei “The Fall and Rise of Democracy in East Asia” in Democracy in East Asia, Larry Diamond and Marc Plattner (eds.) pp. 57-79.
-Samuel Huntington, “How Countries Democratize” from Political Science Quarterly, vol. 106, number 4 1991-92: pp. 579-615.*
-Gerald Curtis, “A “Recipe” for Democratic Development” in Diamond and Plattner (eds.) pp. 217-223.
Recommended: Guillermo O’Donnell and Philippe C. Schmitter, Transitions from Authoritarian Rule Chapters 1-3, pp. 3-36.
September 13th: Research paper questions due if you are creating your own topic.
September 13th South Korea: Overview of post 1945 Korean history & state and society relations.
-Soong Hoom Kil and Chung-in Moon “Introduction: Understanding Korean Politics”, Woon-Tai Kim,, “Korean Politics: Setting and Political Culture”, and Soong Hoom Kil “Development of Korean Politics-A Historical Profile” all essays are in Kil and Moon (eds.) Understanding Korean Politics chs. 1-3, pp. 1-70. {Note, the readings in Kil and Moon provide more details then you need. Don’t be overly concerned about remembering the 1st, 2nd, etc. republics in South Korea. Pay more attention to the leaders of SK, the political and economic changes that take place, and who the important actors are in society (business elites, students, workers, etc.).}
{No class on 9/18 because of Rosh Hashanah}
September 20th : Economic Success and crisis in South Korea
-Chung-in Moon and Sunghack Lim. ” The Politics of Economic Rise and Decline in South Korea” in kil and Moon ch. 8, pp. 201-230.
-Stephen Haggard “Business, politics, and policy in East and Southeast Asia” in Rowen (ed.) read pages 78-86; 99-104.
September 25th: Understanding the transition to democracy in South Korea
-Byung-Kook Kim, “Korea’s Crisis of Success”, in Diamond and Plattner (eds.) Democracy in East Asia pp. 113-132.
-David C. Kang. “The Institutional Foundations of Korean Politics” in Kil and Moon (eds.) chs. 4, pp. 71-106; & skim part of ch. 6, pp. 141-161 (Jung Bock Lee. “The Political Process in Korea”)
September 27th: library session with Tom Karel: “How to do research”; a make up session will be offered for those observing Yom Kippur. Class will meet in the library.
October 2: The Bourgeoisie, the Working Class and students in South Korea
-Finish Lee essay “The Political Process in Korea” in Kil and Moon (eds.) Ch. 6, pp. 161-173
-Sheryl WuDunn, “Seoul Journal; Student Passion in Korea: Now What’s the Point?” New York Times June 21, 1997. Download from Lexis-Nexis.
October 4th: Paper outlines and preliminary bibliography due at start of class.
October 4th : South Korea and Security Concerns and Overview of Taiwan
-Meredith Jung-En Woo-Cumings, “National Security and the Rise of the Developmental State in South Korea and Taiwan” in Rowen (ed.) pp. 319-337.
-Byung Chul Koh, “The Foreign and Unification Policies of the Republic of Korea” in Kil and Moon (eds.) Ch. 9. pp. 231-288.
October 9th : Taiwan’s Democratization
-Hung-mao Tien, “Elections and Taiwan’s Democratic Development” in Hung Mao Tien (ed.) Taiwan’s Electoral Politics and Democratic Transition, chapter 1: pp. 3-26.*
-William L. Parish and Charles Chi-hsiang Chang, “Political Values in Taiwan: Sources of Change and Constancy”, in Tien (ed.) vol. above, chapter 2: pp. 27-41. *
-Yun-han Chu, “Taiwan’s Unique Challenges” in Diamond and Plattner (eds.) pp. 133-146.
October 11th: Taiwan’s Economic Growth
-Otto C.C. Lin, “Science and Technology Policy and its influence on Economic Development in Taiwan” in Rowen (ed.) vol. pp. 185-206.
-Constance Squires Meaney, “State Policy and Development of Taiwan’s Semiconductor Industry”, in Aberbach, Dollar, Sokoloff (eds.) The Role of the State in Taiwan’s Development, pp. 170-192. *
-revisit Meredith Jung-En Woo-Cumings, “National Security and the Rise of the Developmental State in South Korea and Taiwan” in Rowen (ed.) pp. 319-337.
October 16: NO Class: Fall Break
October 18: The “One China” issue and Taiwan identity
-Alan M. Wachman, Taiwan National Identity and Democratization, Chapters 3 & 4, pp. 56-127. *
-Montaperto, Przystup, and Faber. ” `One China’ and Relations Across the Taiwan Strait” from Strategic Forum No. 173, Sept. 2000. Handed out in class.
October 23: Review for Midterm
October 25: MIDTERM EXAM
October 30: Hong Kong: Colonial Legacies and the Return to Chinese Rule
-Brian Hook “From Repossession to Retrocession: British Policy Toward Hong Kong 1945-1997” in Li Pang-kwong (ed.)1997. Political Order and Power Transition in Hong Kong.
-Steve Tsang. “Realignment of Power: the Politics of Trasition and Reform in Hong Kong” in Li Pang-kwong (ed.).
-Jacques DeLisle and Kevin Lane (former F&M Prof.) “Cooking the Rice without Cooking the Goose in Cohen and Zhao (eds.) Hong Kong Under Chinese Rule, the Economic and Political Implications of Reversion .*
November 1: “One Country, Two Systems”: Hong Kong’s relationship to Mainland China
-Changqu Wu, “Hong Kong and Greater China, and Economic Perspective” in Warren Cohen and Li Zhao (eds.) Hong Kong Under Chinese Rule, pp. 114-132.*
November 6: Hong Kong: Democracy and Human Rights
– Lo Shiu-hing, “Political Opposition, Co-optation, and Democratization: the case of Hong Kong” in Li Pang-kwong (ed.)
-Ip Po-keung, “Development of Civil Society in Hong Kong: Constraints, Problems and Risks” in Li Pang-kwong (ed.)
-Margaret Ng, “Why Asia Needs Democracy: A View from Hong Kong” in Diamond and Plattner (eds.) pp. 3-19.
NOVEMBER 8: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE
November 8: Malaysia: Parliamentary Democracy or Authoritarianism?
-Gordon P. Means, “Soft Authoritarianism in Malaysia and Singapore” in Diamond and Plattner (eds.) pp. 96-112.
-Anne Munro-Kua, “The Colonial Roots of Authoritarian Populism”, Chapter 2 of her book Authoritarian Populism in Malaysia 1996, pp. 10-25.*
November 13: Malaysia: Ethnicity, Islam and Politics
-Steve Majstorovic, “The Politics of Ethnicity and post-Cold War Malaysia: the Dynamics of an Ethnic State” in Berger and Borer (eds.) The Rise of East Asia, pp. 148-168.*
-Gordon Means Malaysian Politics the Second Generation 1991, pp. 123-145.*
November 15th: Women in Malaysia and in Asia Pacific
-Mina Roces and Louise Edwards “Contesting Gender Narratives, 1970-2000”. pp. 1-15. in Louise Edwards and Mina Roces (eds.) Women in Asia Tradition, Modernity and Globalization (Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan University Press) 2000.*
-Maila Stivens “Becoming Modern in Malaysia: Women at the end of the Twentieth Century”. Pp. 16-38. in Edwards and Roces (eds.) 2000.*
-Choose one other chapter of interest to you in Roces and Edwards (eds.) you can read about women in Singapore, China, Taiwan, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, Burma, or Vietnam.*
November 20: The 2000 Elections and Malaysian Security Concerns
-Patricia Martinez. “Malaysia in 2000: A Year of Contradictions” in Asian Survey Jan/feb. 2001.*
-Kamarulnizam Abdullah, “National Security and Malay Unity: The Issue of Radical Religious Elements in Malaysia” in Contemporary Southeast Asia vol. 21, Issue 2. you can download full text of article from ProQuest or it is on reserve in library and gov. dept.
November 22: No Class: Thanksgiving
November 27: Regional Security Issues & Regional Organizations
-D. Ball, “Arms and Affluence: Military Acquisition in the Asia Pacific Region,” InternationalSecurity, Winter 1993-94, vol. 18, no.3. *
-Nicholas Kristof. “The Problem of Memory” from Foreign Affairs Nov./Dec. 1998. In Asia Rising or Falling.
-Robert A. Manning and Paula Stern. “The Myth of the Pacific Community” from Foreign Affairs Nov./Dec. 1994. In Asia Rising or Falling.
November 29: The US and Asia
-Joseph Nye, “The Case for Deep Engagement,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 74, No. 4. July/August 1995, in Asia Rising or Falling.
-Chalmers Johnson and E.B. Keehn “The Pentagon’s Ossified Strategy” Foreign Affairs July/Aug. 1995. In Asia Rising or Falling.
-Ted Galen Carpenter, “Roiling Asia” Foreign Affairs Nov./Dec. 1998. In Asia Rising or Falling.
December 4: Economic Crisis: The End of the “Pacific Era”?
-Paul Krugman. “The Myth of Asia’s Miracle” from Foreign Affairs Nov./Dec. 1994. In Asia Rising or Falling.
-W.W. Rostow. “Response to Krugman” from Foreign Affairs Jan./Feb. 1995. In Asia Rising or Falling.
-Steven Radlet and Jeffrey Sachs. “Asia’s Reemergence” from Foreign Affairs Nov./Dec. 1997. In Asia Rising or Falling.
-Donald K. Emmerson. “Americanizing Asia” from Foreign Affairs May/June 1998. In Asia Rising or Falling.
December 6: Review for Final and FINAL PAPER DUE!
Research Paper Assignment
Below is a list of potential paper topics. These are only suggestions. You may select one of the ideas below, or you are free to choose your own. If you decide to design your own topic it can be country specific or deal with regional concerns. If you choose your own topic it must be based on a “why” question (or a “how to explain” question), this will force you to write an analytical paper rather than a descriptive one. Whatever issue you choose it should be small enough that you can do it justice in a 13-week period. Ideally, your question should have interesting implications (in other words tell us something we did not already know) for the country and/or region. If you are creating your own question, I must approve it by September 13th.
October 4th: 1 page outline of your question and how you believe you will answer it, and, a preliminary bibliography with at least 5 primary sources and 3 secondary sources listed. (5% of paper grade)
November 8th: Annotated bibliography. You should have between 4 & 6 secondary sources to write about, and at least 6 primary sources. See handout for details. (10% of paper grade)
December 6th: Final Papers due. Papers should be between 15-25 pages in length and properly cited. Papers that do not credit sources correctly will be penalized 1/3 of a letter grade. Any papers that plagiarize will fail.
You may use parenthetical citation, footnotes or endnotes, just be consistent throughout the paper. All papers must have an alphabetized bibliography at the end. Note, journal/newspaper articles and essays from edited volumes should appear in quotes, titles of newspapers, journals, and books should be italicized or underlined. You should always have a publication date for material.
Examples:
1. Parenthetical citation. Within the text of your paper you should have the author’s last name, year of publication, and page number where the cited material can be found: (Ng 1998:7). Then the full citation should appear in your bibliography: Ng, Margaret. “Why Asia Needs Democracy: A View From Hong Kong” in Larry Diamond and Marc Plattner (eds.) Democracy in East Asia (Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press) 1998. Notice here that the author of the article is credited, not the editors of the book. Always give authors credit for their work!
2. Footnotes or endnotes. Within the text of your paper there should be a numerical note, then at the bottom of the page, or at the end of the paper the full bibliographic information should appear. For example: Ng, Margaret. “Why Asia Needs Democracy: A View From Hong Kong” in Larry Diamond and Marc Plattner (eds.) Democracy in East Asia (Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press) 1998:7. If you refer to this article again in your paper it may appear in subsequent footnotes/endnotes in a slightly shortened form: Ng, Margaret “Why Asia Needs Democracy” p. 7.
Again, all papers must have a bibliography that contains both works cited within your papers and those materials which helped you formulate your thoughts but which you did not directly refer to in your essay.
All sources below are in English, some web sites may be in Asian languages.
Sources with good overall Asia coverage:
-Far Eastern Economic Review: A weekly magazine, possibly the best English-language source for political and economic news from Asia. (www.feer.com)
-South China Morning Post: Daily newspaper from Hong Kong, very well respected source of info. ( www.scmp.com)
– Nautilus Institute page is at http://www.nautilus.org; this is produced by the Nautilus Institute in Berkeley, California and includes press round-up Monday through Friday. Great overall source of info.
The next few sources may help for background info. I have not used these sources so I don’t really know how useful they might be.
-www.asia-directory.com
-asia.dailynews.yahoo.com
-search.asiaco.com
-www.ap.harvard.edu
Korea Info:
ROK Embassy page is at http://www.koreaembassyusa.org/
Korea Society page is at http://www.koreasociety.org and links to academic and other sites.
Korea Web Weekly page is at http://www.kimsoft.com/korea.htm and links to North Korean sites.
Korea Herald page is at http://www.koreaherald.co.kr; this is a South Korean English-language newspaper.
(North) Korean Central News Agency page is at http://www.kcna.co.jp.
Taiwan Info:
-www.Taiwanheadlines.com
-www.taiwansecurity.org
Malaysia Info:
–The New Straits Times, and The Star, both are English language daily newspapers. I believe both can be found on the web.
-search.newmalaysia.com
Hong Kong Info:
–South China Morning Post, newspaper mentioned above (www.scmp.com)
-www.politicalresources.net
1. How might you explain the lack of ethnic violence in Malaysia since 1969? Explore political, economic, and cultural explanations to this question and decide which “answer” is most persuasive.
2. Choose a regional `hot spot’ not fully discussed in class (Spratly Islands, Daiyutai (Senkaku)Islands, Korean reunification, North Korea’s threat of nuclear weapons development, Taiwan/PRC reunification) and answer the following questions: Why is this issue still contentious? What are possible resolutions to the issue and how would your recommended resolution(s) change the distribution of power within the region?
3. Choose an Asian country that we are not studying this semester. Why or why hasn’t this country become democratic? In other words how would you explain the country’s transition to democracy or its failure to do so? Your answer should take into account the material discussed in class relating to South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
4. Why has it been difficult for Asia to develop robust regional organizations like NAFTA or the EU? In other words why are ASEAN and APEC relatively weak?
5. Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia and South Korea all faced communist insurgencies early on in their independence. Pick 2 of these countries and explain how this threat impacted the type of governments that evolved and in what ways it also shaped how conflict in society has been managed ever since.
6. Women in Asia: Choose one of the following pairs of countries or people: Malaysia & Singapore, China & Taiwan, Hong Kong & South Korea, India & China, Hong Kong & Japan, Filipino women at home in the Philippines & Filipino women in the diaspora. Explain the similarities and differences in the changes in women’s status and role in society over time in the 2 places you’ve chosen. How do you account for the similarities and differences? (You should explore political, economic, and cultural answers to these questions.)
7. Why did Malaysia choose not to turn to the IMF for help in the economic crisis of 1997/98? What was the impact of this decision for both Malaysian politics and for Malaysia’s economy?
8. Why did Taiwan escape the massive economic problems incurred by its neighbors in 1997/98? In other words what did Taiwan do right (there should be a political and an economic component to your answer)?
9. How might you explain Japan’s role in Asia’s meteoric economic growth of the 1980s? How did Japan contribute to the economic crisis of 1997/98 and attempt to formulate the prescriptions to remedy the crisis? Why is understanding Japan’s role in economic development of Asia significant?
10. Last year, Chen Shui-bian won the presidency of Taiwan. It was the first time that the KMT lost the post. How might you explain the DPP’s victory? What are some of the impediments it (and President Chen) faces in enacting policies?