About Asia-Pacific Politics

This course will introduce you to the international relations of the Asia-Pacific region. In political science, the "Asia-Pacific" region is generally limited to those parts of Asia east of India, and for the purposes of this course, will include Northeast (China, Japan, Taiwan, and the two Koreas) and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines). Countries in South and Southwest Asia, such as the Gulf States, India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, will not be covered, nor will the Commonwealth countries of Australia and New Zealand. Globalization, economic ties, national security issues, and politico-military alliances with the U.S. make an understanding of this region important to any political science student or participant in American government. The political systems of Asia have a much longer history (dating back nearly 5,000 years) than do the systems you may be accustomed to studying in the West. The general philosophical outlooks of the Asian population have likewise been molded through societal and historical forces very different from those of the West. As such, this course will begin with an examination of the differences between Eastern and Western thought and a discussion of how culture and philosophy impact government and politics. The next few sections of the course will address government and politics in Asia by examining pre-colonial systems of government, Western imperialism and colonial governments, national liberation movements, and proxy wars fought by the Superpowers through supporting selected political regimes in the region during the era of the Cold War. The course will conclude with a survey of political systems and issues in Northeast and Southeast Asia during the past two decades. Please note that this course will apply concepts from international relations theory where appropriate. Because international relations theory developed out of the Western European experience, scholars debate how well international relations theory applies to regions other than Western Europe, but we will attempt it here with that caveat in mind. The Asia-Pacific region is of particular interest in current international relations scholarship as it is home to China, which is widely considered a potential challenger to U.S. global hegemony. The Asia-Pacific has also given rise to several of the U.S.s major security concerns: financial support of the U.S. economy by China and Japan through the purchase of U.S. government debt securities, conflict with China over Taiwan, North Koreas nuclear weapons program, separatist movements in several of the smaller Pacific Rim nations, and the growth and support of transnational terrorism within the region.