Case Study (International Political Economy)
Instructors
Credits / Language / Semester
4Credits / English / Summer
2012 Term Papers
Important Note: These papers cannot be cited without the permission of the authors, who have the exclusive copyrights.
- “Japan's Dual-Track Free Trade Agreement in ASEAN: A study of Japan and Thailand”
Suteera Sitong
PDF(333KB), slide for presentation (PDF, 364KB) - “The Impact of Jurisdiction Principles and Legal Tradition in Adopting Uncitral Cross Border Insolvency in Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand , Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, USA and European Union”
Aritonang Parulian Paidi
PDF(287KB), slide for presentation (PDF, 1.5MB) - “Population Policy and Economic Growth: The Case of Thailand and the Philippines”
Ida Marie T. Pantig
PDF(613KB), slide for presentation (PDF, 655KB) - “The China's “Nine-Dashed Line” and Regional Dispute on South China Sea”
Nguyen Thi Thuy
PDF(552KB), slide for presentation (PDF, 919KB) - “The Challenges to implementation of New Public Managment Strategies In Sri Lanka”
Geeganage Chandana Lal Pathirana
PDF(769KB), slide for presentation (PDF, 220KB) - “Economic and Social Factors on Refugee Migration”
Mina Eto - “Austerity Measures in the Current European Debt Crisis: What Drives Governments to Choose These Unpopular Policies?”
Marc Blanco Reniu
PDF(1.00MB), slide for presentation (PDF, 59KB) - “Comparing the Material and Political Determinants of Cooperation in the international Climate Regime”
Joshua Weeks
PDF(187KB), slide for presentation (PDF, 8.65MB)
Objectives/Overview
The course is designed to help participants conduct independent empirical research in international political economy and complete an original research paper.
The participants can expect to obtain firsthand experience on how to formulate relevant research puzzles based on cutting edge academic work, how to efficiently conduct social research, and on the pedagogical merits of peer reviews and criticisms when writing up original work.
The completion of a research paper is required for credit. The course will be conducted in English but is open to Japanese speaking students who are not familiar with the format.
Keywords
research design, causal inference, quantitative analysis, comparative analysis, quantitative anaysis
Schedule
At the first class meeting, participants are expected to declare the tentative topic of his/her paper. Thereafter, the course is divided into two parts,
Week 2 to 5: the class will read the works of the leading scholars on the topics chosen by each participant. Thus, prior to the first meeting, everyone is expected to have in mind an author and/or articles the person wishes to dissect in class, selected by referring to either my international political economy course syllabus from
The purpose of this exercise is to familiarize oneself with how his/her topic is argued by top researchers as well as to understand the basic structure of academic/professional papers. Among the scholars listed in my syllabus, scholars such as Mansfield-Milner (trade), Simmons (investment and finance), Rodrik (development), Bernhard-Leblang, (currency), Quinn (capital liberalization), Jensen (Investment), Busch-Reinhardt (WTO), Dreher-Veeland (IMF), etc, are likely to appear as one's choice of readings.
Week 5: everyone is expected to hand in a prospectus stating what the dependent variable and the basic hypothesis of the paper is, what the political independent and economic control variables are, and what kind of data or materials will be used to substantiate the hypothesis. By then, each participant is likely to realize that research papers in international political economy are usually structured in the following manner, regardless of whether it is a quantitative and large-n or a qualitative and small-n research:
International economic policy/relations = political independent variables + economic control variables
After week 6: We will take turn in presenting in-class progress reports of their paper. Everyone will take turns in reporting how their paper is progressing while others will make suggestions and criticisms on how each reporter should proceed in finishing the paper. Everyone is expected to write up his/her research paper and present it at a mini-conference, which will be held at the end of the semester.
Teaching Methods
In the first few sessions we will review the literature relevant to each participant's research.
Thereafter we will take turns presenting an updated reports on the progress of their paper. In this exercise, participants should become aware that trying to figure out how to improve your classmates paper is the most effective way to sharpen your own paper. Hence, class participation is as important as the presentations.
Grading
Class attendance, in-class presentations and participation, and a final research paper (presented at a mini-conference held at Hongo campus).
Required Text
Readings will be tailored to fit each participant's research interest upon consultation. Please refer to my international political economy course syllabus from
Reference Books
Those who wish to familiarize themselves with research designs and methods should find the following useful as a starting point.
1. Gary King, Robert O. Keohane, and Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry (Princeton U.P. 1994)
2. Henry E Brady and David Collier (eds.), Rethinking Social Inquiry (Rowman & Littlefield, 2004)
Further readings can be suggested upon consultation.
Notes on Taking the Course
Participants must have a clear idea of what a research paper is before embarking on an effort to write one. Thus, everyone MUST bring to the first class meeting a sample of an article or a research paper close to their research topic. Academic articles and research papers can be downloaded from the websites of international economic organizations (IMF, World Bank, BIS, WTO, National Bureau of Economic Research, and central banks) or the websites of major journals in international political economy (such as, International Organization, World Politics, International Studies Quarterly, International Interaction, Journal of Conflict Resolution, etc.). You should be willing to spend a couple of afternoons in front of your PC searching for an article/paper that coincides with your interest and can be used as a model for your paper.
One is expected to spend some time prior to the first meeting in search of papers or articles close to ones interest, which they should bring to the first meeting.