Political Science 355/International Studies 355
Asian Governments and Politics
Fall 2009
Bill
Newmann, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs
Office
Hours: 218 Scherer Hall: Tuesday 3:30-5:00, Thursday 12:30-1:45 or By Appointment
Phone:
Office: 828-8038
e-mail:
wnewmann@vcu.edu
Newmann's
home page: www.people.vcu.edu/~wnewmann
with links to other Newmann syllabi and other fun stuff.
Introduction
Asia,
more than any other area of the world, is undergoing fundamental change. The
change is so sweeping that up until the fall of 1997 many suggested the world
was entering a new millennium: European dominance of the world is ending, and
we are entering the Pacific age. The collapse of many of the economies in
Asia in 1997 had muted the world's optimism about Asia,
but the economies have recovered, their political systems weathered the storm
and even responded in ways that enhanced and strengthened democratic
institutions in most of Asia. In essence, the optimism about Asia
is even more pronounced. Asia
is still experiencing massive political, economic, and social change. The
outcome of these changes will still reshape the world. With all the
changes, there are many paradoxes within Asian economic, social, and political
development. Asia was one of the poorest regions of the world only 40
years ago. The economic policies that brought Asia
its wealth are being adjusted as these economies mature and as China becomes a factor in everyone’s economic
forecasts. Many states are strong
democracies while other governments refuse to end their monopolies on power. In
Asia, there are still communist governments -- communist
governments that believe in free-market economics. There are also democracies
with capitalist economies that rely on extensive economic planning. An era that
witnesses such vast and rapid change will also be an era of many
contradictions. It will be these contradictions that this course will hope to
highlight and examine. The best symbol of Asia
today that I have seen is a picture from an Asian newsweekly of a barefoot man
in ragged clothes pulling a wooden cart down a dirt road. The cart was stacked
with boxes containing IBM personal computers. Since the changes in Asia
are most startling in recent years, we will be focusing during the semester on
current political and economic trends. By current, I mean since World War II.
The
Nations
We will discuss many different types of nations. In
choosing countries on which to focus I have tried to pick nations that are
representative of the broad shape of politics within Asia.
One of the things you will learn this semester is that there is no typical
Asian nation. Even the notion of "Asians" or an "Asian Way" is hard to justify. Asia
is a geographic region. Beyond that it means little.
We will begin, of course, with several weeks on China.
China contains over 20% of the planet's population, and it
is undergoing rapid economic change. It is still, however, a
"communist" dictatorship run by an oligarchy in the midst of
consolidating its power and attempting to make a legacy for itself after the
death the old "core" leader. Deng Xiaoping, the last of the
second generation revolutionary leaders, died early in 1997. 2003 marked the
beginning of the transition from the third generation led by Jiang Zemin to the
fourth generation (Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao at the top). These generations, and
the men and women within them, are fighting over the pace of economic, social,
and political reform. That fight can lead to many things -- upheaval,
political transformation, economic collapse, another Tiananmen Square, or most likely, a continuation of slow and
gradual reform. Once having considered China itself, we will focus in on some of the issues
relating to China's future and the future of "Greater China."
We will discuss some of the implications of the reversion of Hong Kong
to Chinese control, Taiwan's
transition to democracy and its relationship with China, as well as the case of Singapore,
and its usefulness as an example of "Confucian Democracy." Is
democratic Taiwan or authoritarian and capitalist Singapore the model for China?
We will move onto Japan for
several more weeks. Japan became an economic juggernaut after its defeat in
World War II. From complete economic and political collapse, Japan has reemerged as the second largest economy in the
world, and arguably the model for other nations to emulate. The transformation
has been startling and the rise so swift that Japan is already showing the
signs of economic middle age within an advanced industrial nation: economic
slowdown, rising unemployment, and disaffection with political leadership. Japan's economy has been on the skids since 1990, and the
political leadership shows no indication that it has the knowledge or political
will to solve the problem. The "different" Prime Minister
Koizumi Junichiro seemed to be leading may reform from within the Liberal Democratic
Party (LDP). However, after he left office a series of weak Prime Ministers may
be leading the LDP to defeat in the August elections.
South
Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore have followed in Japan's footsteps and become major forces in the world
economy. Arguably these are the only nations (or economies, since Hong Kong is a part of China with a separate economy) in the world to have made
the jump from the ranks of developing nations to the status of advanced
industrial nation in the 20th century. Each of these nations has a fascinating
history, though some have uncertain futures. South Korea and Taiwan have made the leap to Democracy. Hong Kong, probably the most freewheeling economic region in the world, was
incorporated into the People's Republic of China on July 1, 1997. Singapore is an economic leader of all of Southeast Asia.
The next tier of nations (in terms of economic and
political development) includes Indonesia,
Philippines,
Malaysia,
and Thailand.
These nations have taken initial steps on their way to becoming major economic
powers. Their political development is fascinating to contrast. We may discuss
these countries a bit as examples of political and economic developments that
are important to Asia.
With all the change around Asia,
there are still some nations that have changed so slowly it seems that nothing
has changed. Vietnam,
Laos,
and Cambodia
are just starting to put the catastrophic consequences of wars of the 1950s
through 1980s behind them. North
Korea is still the "Hermit Kingdom" but its flaunting of its nuclear and ballistic
missile capability may be a sign that it desires interaction with the world,
interaction on its terms. Burma
(Myanmar) remains a military dictatorship. We will not have time to
deal with these nations directly, but they will come up from time to time in
class lectures.
Finally, our focus will move from East Asia to South Asia. The existence of stable and complex political
institutions has enabled India
to achieve a degree of economic modernization. It is the largest democracy in
the world with arguably the most pluralistic polity. All the different ethnic,
regional, religious, and ideological differences in the nation lead some people
to think that India is ungovernable. Yet India survives and most analysts feel that if it can
modernize its economy and education system it can thrive, eventually becoming a
major world power. Regional politics, the rise of Hindu nationalism, and ethnic
and religious conflicts are just a few of the challenges India faces. In spite of all the challenges India faces, it is one of the most amazing nations in the
world. Just think of the Prime Minister
currently serving his second term: In a nation that is roughly 83 % Hindu, when
Manmohan Singh first took office in 2004, the Muslim President gave the oath of
office to the Sikh Prime Minister, while the Italian-born leader of the
victorious Congress Party looked on. Of
course, its nuclear rivalry with Pakistan
and tensions with China have placed strains on the country's internal resources. Pakistan itself faces its greatest challenge from within:
developing a democratic state while balancing the role of religion with
democracy, while facing challenges from Islamic radicals and a constant threat
of terrorism from internal groups.
The
Issues
As
we examine each country, there are a number of issues we need to be thinking
about:
1.
Democracy and Development: political
development, public pressures for democracy, and economic development. Some
feel the relationship between these three aspects of a nation-state is
different within Asia than in other areas. It also differs from nation to
nation. Underneath all this are three fundamental questions:
- Is democracy necessarily the evolutionary end of
all political systems?
- Is Asian democracy different from Western
democracy?
- Can a nation develop economically and build
democracy at the same time?
2.
The Role of the State: Many attribute
the rapid success of the Asian economies to "administrative guidance"
from the government bureaucracy or to a business-government partnership. Others
argue that Asian nations such as Japan and the Four Tigers have been successful in spite of
state intervention in the economy. We should have fun trying to deal with this
issue.
3.
Global Interdependence: The history
of Asia is the history of powerful Asian nations intruding
into the affairs of the smaller Asian nations, while powerful non-Asian nations
have intruded into the affairs of Asian nations large and small. The rise of Asia
can only be understood in the context of a global marketplace in which nations
form a fundamental economic interdependence. The future may witness the
reverse. The world economy and the world political system, both domestic and
international, may be shaped by the development of Asia.
Welcome to the Pacific Century.
4.
Modernization vs. Tradition: All
societies have longstanding cultural, religious, economic, and political
traditions. Before modern governmental techniques took (if they have),
societies ordered themselves through time-honored patterns. Rapid economic
growth, and calls for political reform that usually accompany it, challenge
those patterns and traditions. Sometimes tradition can be married to modernity;
sometimes they clash head on. One path leads to stability; one leads to
violence, perhaps even civil war. We will examine the tensions between
tradition and modernization in all the nations we study.
5.
China: Discussions of Asia
begin and end with China. Since 1978 China has undergone rapid economic change. Political change
has lagged behind. That's an understatement. While communism collapsed in Eastern Europe, those same forces for change in China were crushed on June 4, 1989 at Tiananmen
Square. One big question
remains for the future of Asia and the world: will China follow the economic imperative and become a peaceful
part of the world community and an engine of world economic growth for the next
50 years, OR will China use its new-found strength to exert power and influence in a more
traditional way -- expansion and aggression?
The Comparative Method
This
course will consider both the large and small Asian nations. This is necessary
to grasp the nature of political and economic development in Asia.
It is also crucial to making this genuinely a course in comparative politics.
For the purposes of comparison, we will examine a number of nations through a
common analytical framework. This framework is described in a reading assigned
for the first week. The political and economic development of each nation
addressed will be considered through this framework.
Texts
You
need to read them; you don't need to buy them. The books are available at the
Virginia Book Company (intersection of Shafer and Franklin) and at the VCU
Bookstore. They are also available on reserve at the Cabell Library in Room
301. If anyone has problems getting access to the texts, for any reason, let me
know as soon as possible so you don't get too far behind in the reading.
- Karel Van Wolferen. The Enigma of Japanese Power (New York: Knopf Doubleday
Publishing Group, 1990) 9780679728023
- Ian Johnson. Wild
Grass (New
York:
Vintage, 2004) ) 0-375-71919-9
- Philip Pan. Out
of Mao’s Shadow (New York: Simon and Shuster, 2009) 1416537066
- Edward Luce. In
Spite of the Gods (New York: Knopf, 2008) 9781400079773
Grades
|
Map Quiz
|
September
1
|
5%
of grade
|
|
Exam
I
|
September
24
|
25%
of grade
|
|
Exam
II
|
November
10
|
25%
of grade
|
|
Research paper
|
October
27
|
25%
of grade
|
|
Exam
III
|
December
8, 1-4:00
PM in the regular room
|
20%
of grade
|
How
to calculate your grade: Use the percentages from the above table. So, if
you received the following grades, you would calculate your grades in the
following manner:
- Map Quiz: 100, at 5% of the grade, that's 100
multiplied by .05 = 5.0
- Exam 1: 90, at 25% of the grade, that's 90 multiplied
by .25 = 22.5
- Exam 2: 92, at 25% of the grade, that's 92
multiplied by .25 = 23.0
- Paper: 88, at 25% of the grade, that’s 88
multiplied by .25 = 22.0
- Exam 3: 92, at 20% of the grade, that's 90
multiplied by .20 = 18.0
- To get your final grade add all the scores: 5 +
22.5 + 23.0 + 22.0 + 18.0 = 90.5. Congratulations, you got an A.
I
give you this very detailed formula for a number of reasons. You should never
be unaware of what your class average is. You can calculate it at any point in
the semester. If your grade is not what you'd like it to be, you should know,
and you should come see me about it. Do not come to me after Exam 3 and say
that you're having trouble in the class. It's too late at that point. But any
time in the semester that you feel you are having trouble, or not doing as well
as you feel you should, come talk to me. During my office hours and by
appointment I am happy to talk to you about the class.
Grading
scale: I use a typical scale: A = 90-100; B = 80-89; C = 70-79; D = 55-69.
Borderline grades are considered in the following manner. If your grade is
69.5, 79.5, or 89.5, then you are a candidate for a round up to the higher
grade IF your grades have been going up during the semester. That means that if
you are borderline, but your third exam is lower than the previous exams (you
are between a B and C, but your third exam is a C), you will probably get the
lower grade. If you are between a B and C, but your third exam is a B, you will
probably get the B.
And
speaking of grades: The withdrawal date this semester is October 30
EXAMS: The exams will be short answer and essay. One week
before the exam I will place a review sheet on line, linked to this
syllabus, below this paragraph. This review sheet should be used as your study
guide for the exam. The review sheet will include some terms that are from the
readings only, so that you can go back and review those items from the
readings. Once you have the review sheet, feel free to ask me questions about
the terms. This is the best way to study for the exam. If you understand the
terms on the review sheet, you can define each one and see how each one relates
to the larger concepts and issues we've discussed in class, you should do just
fine on the exam.
Review 1
Review 2
Research Paper Follow this link to the
instructions for the paper. Read
them. Read them now. Read them later. Please read them. In other words, maybe I think it is important
that you read them.
Due October 27: The following is important: The paper can be turned in as a hard
copy, but it must be turned in electronically. Please email the paper to me. Do
not use the Blackboard digital dropbox. You can attach the paper as a file, but
you also must cut and paste the
paper into the body of the email as well.
You can give me a hard copy version also if you like. Rough drafts can be turned in up until
October 20 (Rough drafts are not required; I’m giving you the option of turning
in a rough draft or outline or introductory paragraph so I can review it and
return it to you with comments. I have a
deadline here only because I need to get my comments back to you in time for
you to make the changes you’d like to make.)
Paper Topics due October 1: A one paragraph description of your topic
COURSE
SCHEDULE
Week
1: August 20-21 Introduction to the Class
No
readings from the books
Read:
Newmann, "The
Comparative Method."
Week
2: August 24-28 Japan I: The
Paradoxes of Japan
Van
Wolferen, Chapters 2-4
LDP
PMs
Week
3: January 29 -February 2 Japan II: Birth, Death, and
Rebirth of Modern Japan
Map Quiz: September 1
Van Wolferen, Chapters 5-6
Week
4: Sept. 7-11 Japan III: Japan Inc?
Van
Wolferen, Chapters 10, 11, and 13
Post-War
Japanese Government
Japan Inc.
Week
5: September 14-18 Japan IV: The
Future of the 1955 System
Van
Wolferen, Chapters 12, 14, and 15
Japan since
the 1990s
Week 6: September 21-25
Japan V: A “Normal” Nation?
Exam 1, September 24
Van
Wolferen, Chapter 16
Week 7: September 28-October 2 China I: Dynastic China
Paper Topics Due: October 1
Pan,
Introduction and Chapters 1-4
China to 1949
Week
8: October 5-9 China II: Mao’s China
Pan,
Chapters 5-7
Mao
Years Structure
Mao
Years Public Policy
Week 9: October 12-16. China III: Politics and Economics under Deng
Reading Days: No Class: October 15
Pan,
Chapters 8-10
Week
10: October 19-23 China IV: The Emergence of China on the World Stage: Economic Reforms
October 20: Last Day for turning in rough drafts of
the research paper
Pan,
Chapter 11 and Epilogue
Johnson,
Prologue and Chapter 1
The
Reform Era
Week
11: October 26-30 China V: Chinese Politics after Deng
October 27: Paper Due
Johnson,
Chapter 2
Week
12: November 2-6 China VI: Economic Success and the Future
Johnson,
Chapter 3
The
Future
Week
13: November 9-13 India I: The World’s Largest Democracy
November 10, Exam 2
Luce,
Introduction
India
Basics
Week
14: November 16-20 India II:
Economic Reform and Political Change
Luce,
Chapters 1-2
Week 15: November 23-27
India III: Party Politics in Post-Reform India
November 26: Thanksgiving: No Class; Watch Football
Luce, Chapters 3-5
Week 16: November 30-December 4 India IV: Regional Parties and the Search for a
Two-Party System
Luce, Chapters 6, 8, and Conclusion (You are not
required to read Chapter 7)
Exam
3: December 8, 1-4:00, same room
Where can you
find information on international affairs?
This is the
questions students always ask me: “Where do I find good information on
international affairs. I’m looking for something unbiased and something that
doesn’t always look at the world through American eyes (as in how do these
developments affect the US).
Here’s the short answer:
For day by day
coverage of events in the world:
BBC
News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/. On a
day-by-day basis, no other news organization covers the world as well. It has separate pages for most regions, links
to past stories, links to data bases, all kinds of information that will get
you up to speed on anything.
World News
Network: http://www.wnn.com/. This is a site which covers day-by-day events
by creating links to major news papers around the world. So if something is happening in Pakistan,
for example, there will be several links to stories about the event from
web-based sources in S. Asia, E. Asia, Europe,
N. America… It also
has links to regional windows with coverage that is more focused. It even has links to issue-specific
compilations of links on various issues.
For example, the science page has sections for stories on AIDS, Biotech,
cloning…
On a weekly
basis:
The Economist: www.economist.com.
This is a Britain-based weekly which covers world politics and world
business. There really is nothing else
like it in the comprehensive nature of its coverage. You can also buy it on the newsstand, but the
web is free. It covers world politics
very well.
Long Term Views
of Crisis and Conflict:
International
Crisis Group: www.crisisweb.org. This is the International Crisis Group, a
non-profit organization that studies, analyzes, and makes recommendations about
how to resolve various crises in the world.
There is nothing better for the in-depth examination of current world
events and the dilemmas of problem solving and peace making. It has reports (30-50 pages), briefings
(10-30), and a weekly briefing (Crisis Watch), which you can get on the web
site or sign up for e-mail delivery.
What to Know and Do To Be
Prepared for Emergencies at VCU
1. Sign up to receive VCU text messaging alerts
(http://www.vcu.edu/alert/notify).
Keep your information
up-to-date.
2. Know the safe evacuation route from each of your
classrooms.
Emergency evacuation routes are posted in
on-campus
classrooms.
3. Listen for and follow instructions from VCU or
other
designated authorities.
4. Know where to go for additional emergency
information
(http://www.vcu.edu/alert).
5. Know the emergency phone number for the VCU Police
(828-1234).
Report suspicious activities and objects.