Course Description
This course will help you understand the rise of China. China is the second largest economy in the world and a growing global power; at the same time, it faces considerable governance challenges at home and an increasingly wary international community abroad. The course provides an in-depth analysis of the political history, contemporary institutions, and governance issues facing China today. It highlights several major themes from the twentieth century to the present: the role of nationalism, the changing place of markets and private property, and the penetration of state power from the center in Beijing to the urban neighborhood and rural village.
The first part of the course addresses China’s modern political history and provides an essential foundation for subsequent topics. It addresses the formation of political parties, ideology and nationalism, revolution, state-building, and the planned economy, because these aspects of history continue to shape China in the present.
The second part of the course focuses on the political institutions that govern China today, including the organization of the party-state, how the state manages its own officials, how it surveils civil society and controls the media, and how it orchestrates elections and employs courts of law to maintain party rule.
The final part of the course uses the foundations of political history and political institutions to analyze crucial challenges facing China today, including labor and environmental conditions, local aspects of trade and technology, inequality and social welfare, minorities’ status, contemporary nationalism, assertive local identities, and expression of popular dissent like White Paper protests.
Learning Goals
Through this course, you will gain both substantive knowledge and academic skills. You will encounter real-world issues and learn some of the social-science theories that explain them. Along the way, you will master key concepts that are the building blocks of these theories.
You will hone your skills reading scholarly articles for both the author’s theoretical argument and the empirical evidence they rely upon. You will also practice writing your own argument supported by evidence. You will learn how quickly to access scholarly resources, and by the end of the quarter you will construct a scholarly bibliography. These skills are readily applicable in the professional world.
Course Requirements
Participation. The more actively you participate, the more you learn. Successful participation is based on
completion of all readings, assignments, quizzes, and in-class activities. All forms of participation together constitute 20% of the final grade.
Midterm (in class) and final (online). The exams each count for 25% of the final grade. They help you to synthesize what you learn in each part of the course.
Term paper. A term paper—not to exceed ten double-spaced pages—is required (30%). The term paper is an
opportunity to explore a facet of governance in greater depth and to develop an argument based on evidence.