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2020/2021

East Asian International Relations

Code: 101526 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500244 East Asian Studies OB 3 1
2503778 International Relations OT 4 0
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Just Castillo Iglesias
Email:
Just.Castillo@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
english (eng)
Some groups entirely in English:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Other comments on languages

It is necessary to have an adequate command of the English language to be able follow the course.

Teachers

Just Castillo Iglesias

Prerequisites

In order to properly follow the course, students are expected to have learnt the core concepts of the International Relations discipline, seen in the course "Introduction to Political Science and International Relations" of the first year.

Objectives and Contextualisation

The purpose of this subject is to enable students to interpret and understand the evolution of all the elements that have been shaping the current reality of East Asia since the beginning of the Cold War. 

On successfully completing this subject, students will be able to:

  • Demonstrate knowledge of the main paradigms of the International Relations discipline.
  • Understand the role that the region's main powers have had in shaping East Asia as it is today.
  • Understand the nature of the region's international relations, especially between China, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and the external actor par excellence, the United States.
  • Distinguish the elements of continuation and rupture that exist in the East Asian region during the Cold War and the post-Cold War era.
  • Apply their knowledge to the analysis of the dynamics of conflict and cooperation that exist between the region’s countries.
  • Present an academic report on a concrete issue of international relations in East Asia.

Competences

    East Asian Studies
  • Comparing and critically assessing the different social environments in the field of East Asia.
  • Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
  • Developing self-learning strategies.
  • Ensuring the quality of one's own work.
  • Following the characteristic code of ethics of the professional practice.
  • Know and understand politics and international relations in East Asia.
  • Knowing and using the information and communication technology resources (ICT) in order to collect, produce, analyse and present information related to the East Asian Studies.
  • Knowing the history, values, beliefs and ideologies of East Asia in order to understand and critically assess social issues, phenomena, and processes related with that region.
  • Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Solving conflict situations.
  • Working in teams in an international, multilingual and multicultural context.
    International Relations
  • Analyse international society and its structure and understand its importance for real-life problems and professional practice.
  • Analyse the structure and operation of international institutions and organisations (political, economic, military and security, environmental, development and emergency aid) both in the universal and regional spheres, with particular emphasis on the European Union, from either real or simulated cases.
  • Identify data sources and carry out rigorous bibliographical and documentary searches.
  • Learn and analyse the impacts of the globalisation process on domestic political systems and on the behaviour of the political actors and the public.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Use different tools for analysing the contemporary international system and its functional and regional or geographical subsystems.
  • Use metatheoretical data to argue and establish plausible relation of causality and establish ways of validating or rejecting them.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse the historical and comparative roles of the different actors in the large regional areas.
  2. Analyse the operation of international regional and functional subsystems, their structure and dynamics and the probable evolutionary trends.
  3. Analyse the policies and responses to the impacts of globalisation, identifying differences and similarities in each of the states of the regional subsystems studied.
  4. Assessing the obtained results in the search information process in order to update the knowledge about political sciences, economy and sociology.
  5. Comparing and critically assessing the different social environments in the field of East Asia.
  6. Critically evaluate the impacts of globalisation in different areas: security, environment, human rights, migrations and peace.
  7. Describe the characteristics of each of the regional subsystems studied, signs of historical and comparative change and continuity and the role played by the different national and non-national actors in each subsystem.
  8. Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
  9. Developing self-learning strategies.
  10. Ensuring the quality of one's own work.
  11. Following the characteristic code of ethics of the professional practice.
  12. Identify data sources and carry out rigorous bibliographical and documentary searches.
  13. Identify the main international institutions and organisations in each regional subsystem (Middle East, Eastern Asia, Latin America) and analyse for them the roles and actions, in line with the subject.
  14. Know and understand politics and international relations in East Asia.
  15. Knowing the history, values, beliefs and ideologies of East Asia in order to understand and critically assess social issues, phenomena, and processes related with that region.
  16. Make a critical comparison of the evolution of the large regional areas that are covered in the subject.
  17. Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  18. Solving conflict situations.
  19. Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  20. Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  21. Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  22. Use metatheoretical data to argue and establish plausible relation of causality and establish ways of validating or rejecting them.
  23. Using different tools for specific purposes in the fields of political sciences, economy and sociology.
  24. Using the specific terminology of political sciences, economy and sociology.
  25. Working in teams in an international, multilingual and multicultural context.

Content

Topic 1. Introduction to the study of international relations in East Asia

1.1. The nature of the subject

1.2. Levels of analysis

1.3. The function of theory in international relations

1.4. The evolution of the discipline

1.5. Main paradigms

Topic 2. The creation of bipolar order in East Asia

2.1. Regional order in Asia during the Cold War

2.2. The creation of the People's Republic of China and its impact on the regional order

2.3. The occupation of Japan and the emergence of a new actor in the regional system

2.4. The division of the Korean Peninsula

Topic 3. The evolution of the Cold War

3.1. Triangular diplomacy

3.2. Japan and its place in the Asian regional system: the system of flying geese and the Fukuda Doctrine

3.3. The Nixon Doctrine and its impact on the regional order

3.4. The end of the Cold War and the emergence of a new order

Topic 4. The post-Cold War order

4.1. The re-emergence of China

4.2. The "normalisation" of Japan as an actor in the international system

4.3. The presence of the United States

4.4. The Korean Peninsula and North Korea's nuclear diplomacy

Methodology

In order to achieve the planned objectives, this course focuses on theoretical and practical classes. The readings and activities suggested by the teaching staff propose an orderly and coordinated development of the subject's contents with the aim of facilitating the assimilation and understanding of the contents. Therefore, it is very important to do them in the suggested order. 

  • Readings
  • Lectures
  • Written assignment
  • Tutorials
  • Participation in discussions / debates

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures 50 2 11, 14, 9, 8, 18, 17, 25, 23, 24, 10
Type: Supervised      
Written assignments 34 1.36 11, 5, 14, 9, 8, 17, 25, 23, 24, 10
Type: Autonomous      
Reading and study 45 1.8 11, 14, 15, 9, 8, 17, 25, 23, 24, 10

Assessment

Assessment is continuous. Students must provide evidence of their progress by completing tasks and tests. Task deadlines will be indicated in the course schedule on the first day of class. All activity deadlines must be strictly adhered to.

1. Written essay 

The students must write an essay in small groups. 

The maximum length of the report is 3,000 words. 

2. Tests 

Test 1: Topics 2 and 3 

Test 2: Topic 4

3. Presentation

During the course, students will carry out a presentation in small groups, in which they will analyze a concrete issue related to international relations of East Asia. The objective of this presentation is to put into practice the conceptual and theoretical tools learned in Topic 1. The calendar and the way to carry out the presentations will be announced at the beginning of the semester. It is the responsibility of the student to ensure their availability on the proposed days.

Related matters 

The above information on assessment, assessment activities and their weighting is merely a guide. The subject's lecturer will provide full information when teaching begins. 

Review 

When publishing final marks prior to recording them on students' transcripts, the lecturer will provide written notification of a date and time for reviewing assessment activities. Students must arrange reviews in agreement with the lecturer. 

Missed/failed assessment activities 

Students may retake assessment activities they have failed or compensate for any they have missed, provided that those they have actually performed account for a minimum of 66.6% (two thirds) of the subject's final mark and that they have a weighted average mark of at least 3.5. Under no circumstances may an assessment activity worth 100% of thefinal mark be retaken or compensated for. 

The lecturer will inform students of the procedure involved, in writing, when publishing final marksprior to recording them on transcripts. The lecturer may set one assignment per failed or missed assessment activity or a single assignment to cover a number of such activities. 

Classification as "not assessable" 

In the event of the assessment activities a student has performed accounting for just 25% or less of the subject's final mark, their work will be classified as "not assessable" on their transcript. 

Misconduct in assessment activities 

Students who engage in misconduct (plagiarism, copying, personation, etc.) in an assessment activity will receive a mark of “0” for the activity in question. In the case of misconduct in more than one assessment activity, the students involved will be given a final mark of “0” for the subject. 

Students may not retake assessment activities in which they are found to have engaged in misconduct. Plagiarism is considered to mean presenting all or part of an author's work, whether published in print or in digital format, as one's own, i.e. without citing it. Copying is considered to mean reproducing all or a substantial part of another student's work. In cases of copying in which it is impossible to determine which of two students has copied the work of the other, both will be penalised. 

More information: http://www.uab.cat/web/study-abroad/undergraduate/academic-information/evaluation/what-is-it-about-1345670077352.html

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Presentation (Topic 1) 20% 2 0.08 2, 1, 3, 22, 4, 16, 14, 8, 7, 12, 13, 21, 19, 20, 18, 17, 25, 23, 24, 6
Test 1 (topics 2 and 3) 25% 2 0.08 1, 4, 14, 15, 8, 7, 13, 21, 23, 24
Test 2 (topic 4) 20% 2 0.08 11, 1, 4, 14, 15, 9, 8, 7, 13, 21, 23, 24, 10
Written essay 35% 15 0.6 11, 2, 1, 3, 22, 4, 16, 5, 14, 15, 9, 8, 7, 12, 13, 21, 19, 20, 17, 25, 23, 24, 6, 10

Bibliography

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Baylis, J., Smith, S., & Owens, P. (Eds.). (2017). The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations (7th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Beeson, Mark, and Stubbs, Richard. 2012. Routledge Handbook of Asian Regionalism. London and New York: Routledge.

Breslin, S. (2010). Handbook of China's international relations. London: Routledge.

Buzan, Barry (2010) «China in International Society: Is 'Peaceful Rise' Possible?», Chinese Journal of International Politics 3(1): 5-36.

Connors, Michael K., Davison, Rémy and Dosch, Jörn (2012) The New global politics of the Asia Pacific. London: Routledge.

Feng, Huiyun (2009) «Is China a Revisionist Power?», Chinese Journal of International Politics 2(3): 313-334.

Friedberg, Aaron. 2004. «Will Europe's Past be Asia's Future?», International Security, 28(3): 149-164

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Ikenberry, G. John; Mastanduno, Michael [eds.] (2003) International Relations Theory and the Asia-Pacific. New York: Columbia University Press.

Kang, David (2010) East Asia before the West. Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute. New York: Columbia University Press.

Kang, David. 2007. «Power, Interests, and Identity in East Asian International Relations, 1300 to 1900», China Rising. Peace, power and order in East Asia, New York: Columbia University Press.

Katzenstein, Peter J.2008. «Japan in the American Imperium: Rethinking Security», The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. Volume 6. Issue 10.

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