WiSe 15/16 Introduction to the Politics of East Asia (MEAS)

This seminar is primarily intended for students in the “Modern East Asian Studies” master program (MEAS) who do not hold a BA in the social sciences, and for whom it will provide an introduction to the academic analysis of politics. It focuses on understanding core concepts of comparative political science and international relations, and then applies those to case studies in East and Southeast Asia. The aim is to cover the conceptual material needed for more advanced seminars dealing with the politics of Asia.

During the semester, theoretically focused and empirically focused meetings will alternate. For the theoretical meetings we will use textbook texts that are not specifically about Asia, and in a combination of group work and open discussion will see to it that nobody gets drowned in a sea of information. In the following empirical meeting, we will use our theoretical knowledge to analyze 2-3 cases in Asia. For these case studies, the students will have to prepare presentations of 10-20 minutes (depending on the number of cases).

Since the number of MEAS students participating in this seminar usually is below 10, the seminar will be opened for 10 non-MEAS students. These students should be willing to engage with texts from political science textbooks, accept that the seminar is more about political science than about Asia, be mindful of the group’s heterogeneous composition, and be aware of the fact that they will have to write an examination at the end of the semester.