Course Description:
This course compares the post-war political, economic, and social development of East Asia with a focus on Japan, South Korea, and Greater China. We focus on the political circumstances, both domestic and international, that have taken each country down the path it has taken, and how these paths now shape the prospectsof each country as well as of East Asia as a region. While we will take international factors and global forces into account, the focus of this course is largely domestic. The first half of the course (before midterm) will focus on the East Asian development model and other common themes and challenges shared by countries in East Asia including, but not limited to, industrialization, trade, finance, and regionalism. The second half of the course (after midterm) will focus on country specific cases, lookingat the development path each country has taken in the post-war period. Some common themes repeat themselves in each of the country case studies: the role of the state, the interaction between domestic and international factors, the relationship between bureaucrats and politicians, and the development of various institutions. Topics and readingsin the second halfwill be country-specific, taking into consideration unique circumstances that differentiate the experiences of one country from another.
