93802 - East Asia And The International System

Learning outcomes

This course focuses on the main political features of East Asian countries and their interaction with the international system. The main objective of the course is to provide students with advanced instruments for studying domestic and foreign policies of the People’s Republic of China, Japan, the two Koreas and the various countries of South East Asia and the relationships among them and with the West. At the end of the course, students will be able to understand the process and key steps of international relations in the Asia-Pacific sector during the twentieth century, how these countries relate with the international system, and what are the characteristics of this relationship. Students will be able to develop logical arguments with respect to historical and contemporary patterns of state relations in East Asia, US security alliance in East Asia, the rise of China, the Korean Peninsula, territorial disputes, regional multilateral institutions, East Asian development models and economic integration, environmental challenges, energy security, and other related issues, exposing them in a clear and coherent manner; they will be able to appropriately use the historical and political analytical categories addressed in lessons and critically interpret historical data, recognizing their methodological implications. At the end of the course, students will therefore have significantly extended and strengthened the knowledge previously acquired in the historical and political fields and will be able to integrate it with the new assimilated themes by inserting them into an interdisciplinary context, interpreting the contemporary East Asian context in all its aspects. Students will therefore be able to formulate far-reaching judgments independently, develop original ideas and clearly present their conclusions in a professional context to both specialist and non-specialist interlocutors.

Course contents

The course focuses on the role East Asia plays in the international system and how that role will develop in the coming years. Topics covered include the Chinese challenge to the liberal order, China and India's development path, China's "great rejuvenation" and the Chinese model, Asia's economic development (and its new role in the world economy), Asia trade in the new global order, the Belt and Road Initiative (and, therefore, China-Southeast Asia relations, China-Central Asia relations, China-EU relations), Energy Security in Asia and Eurasia, and China's role in the African continent (and the "confrontation" between the Washington and the Beijing consensus).

Office hours

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