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East Asian International Relations

Code: 101526 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
2500244 East Asian Studies OB 3
2503778 International Relations OT 4

Contact

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

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

There are no specific prerequisites to take this subject, although students should have an interest in the international politics of the region. A habit of reading news and analysis articles from various viewpoints is highly desirable. Students must have an adequate level of English (e.g., level B2 of the CEFR) to follow the classes and to understand written and audiovisual documents in this language.


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 East Asia's international politics 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 those between China, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and the key external actor in the region, 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 conflict and cooperation dynamics that exist in the region's international politics.

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

Part 1. Introduction to the study of International Relations in East Asia

The discipline of International Relations and international politics.
The configuration of today's world.
The role of theory. Main paradigms of the discipline of International Relations.
Levels of analysis. 

Part 2. The creation of the bipolar order in East Asia

The Asian regional order at the end of World War II.
The establishment of the People's Republic of China and its impact on the regional order.
The occupation of Japan and the emergence of a new actor in the regional system.
The division of the Korean Peninsula. 

Part 3. The evolution of the Cold War

Southeast Asia.
Triangular diplomacy.
The Nixon Doctrine and its impact on the regional order.
Japan’s new regional role: flying geese and the Fukuda Doctrine.
The USSR and the main regional powers.
The international relations of the People's Republic of China.
The end of the Cold War and the configuration of a new international order. 

Part 4. East Asia today: conflict, cooperation and future prospects

Rise and of China as a Great Power, and China's foreign policy
The “normalization” of Japan as an international actor.
U.S. presence and role in the region: the end of the Pax Americana?
The systemic competition between the U.S. and China
The Korean Peninsula and North Korea's nuclear diplomacy.
East Asia’s security architecture.
The question of Taiwan.
The role of other regional actors: Mongolia, Southeast Asian countries, Russia.
Regional cooperation and regionalism.
Contending theoretical perspective on the future of the region.

*Professors teaching this subject will be announced at a later stage.


Activities and Methodology

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

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.  

  • Readings
  • Lectures
  • Assignments
  • Participation in class debates and activities

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Class activity (in groups) 15% 2 0.08 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
Content development assignment, individual or groupwork 20% 15 0.6 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
Test 1 30% 2 0.08 1, 4, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 21, 23, 24
Test 2 35% 2 0.08 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 21, 23, 24

Continuous assessment

Students must provide evidence of their progress by completing various tasks and tests. These activities are detailed in the table at the end of this section of the Study Guide.

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.

The lecturer will inform students of the procedure involved, in writing, when publishing final marks prior 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. Under no circumstances may an assessment activity worth 100% of the final mark be retaken or compensated for. In case of retaking, maximum grade will be 5 (Pass).

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 student involved will be given a final mark of “0” for the subject. Assessment activities in whichirregularities have occurred (e.g. plagiarism, copying, impersonation) are excluded from resitting.

Single assessment

This subject may be assessed under the single assessment system in accordance with the terms established in the academic regulations of the UAB and the assessment criteria of the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting.

Students must make an online request within the period established by the faculty and send a copy to the teacher responsible for the subject, for the record.

Single assessment will be carried out in person on one day during week 16 or 17 of the semester. The Academic Management Office will publish the exact date and time on the faculty website.

On the day of the single assessment, teaching staff will ask the student for identification, which should be presented as a valid identification document with a recent photograph (student card, DNI/NIE or passport).

Single assessment activities

The final grade for the subject will be calculated according to the following percentages:

  • Multi-choice test. The student will have to answer a set of multiple-choice questions with only one correct answer. Points will be deducted for incorrect answers. This test is worth 35% of the final grade.
  • Written essay. The student will be required to develop in writing a question or topic to choose between two options. This exam is worth 35% of the final grade.
  • Oral commentary. The professor will pose an open-ended question related to the major geopolitical challenges the East Asian region faces today. The student will have to answer by demonstrating an adequate mastery of the content, concepts, and tools of the discipline of International Relations. This assignment is worth 30% of the final grade.

Grade revision and resit procedures for the subject are the same as those for continuous assessment. See the section above in this study guide.

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


Bibliography

Recommended bibliography

  • Baylis, John, Steve Smith, & Patricia Owens, (eds.). The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations. 7th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.
  • Connors, M. K., Rémy Davison, and Jörn Dosch. The New Global Politics of the Asia-Pacific. London: Routledge, 2018.
  • Li, Xiaobing. The Cold War in East Asia. London: Routledge, 2018.
  • Miller, Alice, & Richard Wich. Becoming Asia: Change and Continuity in Asian International Relations since World War II. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011.
  • Yahuda, Michael. The International Politics of the Asia-Pacific. Taylor & Francis Group, 2019.                                                                                         

Other reference resources

  • Acharya, Amitav (2003). «Will Asia's Past Be Its Future?», International Security 28(3): 149-164.
  • Barbé, Esther (2007). Relaciones Internacionales. Madrid: Tecnos.
  • 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.
  • Buzan, Barry (2003). Security architecture in Asia: the interplay of regional and global levels. The Pacific Review, 16(2), 143-173.
  • 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
  • Gaddis, J. L (2006). The Cold War: A New History. London: Penguin. 
  • Hook, G. D., Gilson, J., Hughes, C. W., & Dobson, H. Japan's International Relations: Politics, Economics and Security (3rd ed.). London: Routledge, 2012. 
  • Hsiung, J. C (2007). China and Japan at Odds: Deciphering the Perpetual Conflict. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • 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.
  • Kang, D. C., & Ma, X (2018). Power Transitions: Thucydides Didn’t Live in East Asia. The Washington Quarterly, 41(1), 137-154. doi:10.1080/0163660X.2018.1445905
  • Khandekar, G., & Gaens, B. (eds.). Japan’s Search for Strategic Security Partnerships. London: Taylor & Francis, 2018. 
  • Kissinger, Henry (2001). Diplomacia. Madrid: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
  • Kissinger, Henry (2012). China. Barcelona: Debate.
  • Lankov, A (2017). Why Nothing Can Really Be Done about North Korea’s Nuclear Program. Asia Policy, 23(1), 104-110.
  • Mearsheimer,John. J(2001). The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. New York: W.W. Norton.
  • Qin, Yaqing (2012). «Cultura y pensamiento global: una teoría china de las relaciones internacionales», Revista CIDOB d'Afers Internacionals, 100: 67-90.
  • Ramo, Joshua Cooper (2004). The Beijing Consensus. London: The Foreign Policy Centre.
  • Seth, M. J. The Routledge Handbook of Modern Korean History. London: Routledge, 2016.
  • Shambaugh, D., & Yahuda, M. B (2008). International relations of Asia. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
  • Wang Hui (2011). The Politics of Imagining Asia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
  • Welch, D. A., Soeya, Y., & Tadokoro, M (2011). Japan as a "Normal Country"?: a Nation in Search of its Place in the World. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Software

This course does not require any specific software.


Language list

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(TE) Theory 1 English first semester morning-mixed