The Politics and Diplomacy of Contemporary China
Faculty
TAKAHARA, Akio
Credit / Semester / Schedule
2 Credits / Winter Semester / Wednesday Period: 2
Description
This course looks into the politics and diplomacy of the People’s Republic of China. Chinese politics centres on the Chinese Communist Party, and thus its ideology, organisation and policy shall be the main foci of this course. Specifically, the following topics will be covered: from New Democracy to socialism; the Anti-rightist Campaign and the Great Leap Forward; the Cultural Revolution and Mao Zedong Thought; the advent of Reform and Opening; the politics of transitional economy; political reform in the 1980s and the June 4th Incident; marketisation and the re-definition of socialism; the Theory of Scientific Development; Sino-Soviet relations in the days of Mao and Zhou Enlai; the diplomatic breakthrough in the early 1970s; the opening of the economy and China’s Independent Foreign Policy; post-Tiananmen and post-Cold War diplomacy; the New Security Concept and multilateralism; the resilience and fragility of Sino-Japanese relations.
From mid-term, the participating students will prepare their own presentations on topics they choose in consultation with the teacher. At the end of the term, they will submit essays as results of their independent or joint research.
Course materials
Reading lists will be introduced during class.
Grading
By presentation, contribution to the discussions, and essay.