Università Roma Tre

CONTENT:

PART I – Introduction and description of the course

1) Introduction : East Asia as a regional entity (geopolitics and culture)
2) Historical overview : The pre-war order in East Asia (the Sino-centric order and the Japanese particularism) – Part I
3) Japan and China facing the first great challenge (Modernity)
4) Japan and China facing the second great challenge (Globalization)
5) Seminar : the construction of the Chinese political identity through the CCP rhetoric in the post-Maoist era
6) Revision
7) Mid-term.

PART II

1) Security, identity and stability in East Asia
2) China and the Japan-U.S. alliance - The security dilemma in East Asia
3) Ambiguous Japan: Japan’s national identity at century’s end
4) Power and purpose in Pacific East Asia
5) Revision
6) Final Exam

Students are expected to write a 2.500 words, theoretically informed, research paper on a topic of their choice which has been previously discussed with the instructor.

This course is taught in English.

REQUIRED READINGS:

1) John Welfield, An Empire in Eclipse. Japan in the Postwar American Alliance System, Bloomsbury.
Chi-Kwan Mark, China and the World Since 1945. An International History, Routledge.
2) Rémy Davison, “Asia’s ‘Great Game’”, in M. Connors, R. Davison & J. Dosch, The New Global Politics of the Asia-Pacific. Conflict and Cooperation in the Asian Century, Routledge.
3) M.K. Connors, “Between a doctrine and a hard place. Japan’s emerging role”, in M. Connors, R. Davison & J. Dosch, The New Global Politics of the Asia-Pacific. Conflict and Cooperation in the Asian Century, Routledge.
4) Rémy Davison, “The Chinese century?”, in M. Connors, R. Davison & J. Dosch, The New Global Politics of the Asia-Pacific. Conflict and Cooperation in the Asian Century, Routledge.