AIS5032 - Authoritarian Resilience and Democratic Change in East Asia | ||||||||
| ||||||||
* The offering term is subject to change without prior notice | ||||||||
Course Aims | ||||||||
This
course offers a broad overview of the post-WWII evolution of Northeast and
Southeast Asia’s varied political systems. It seeks to understand why, over the
past decades, the region has seen the rise, demise and return of authoritarian
modes of governance, in parallel with the emergence of multifaceted processes
of political liberalisation. It examines the various challenges of
democratic transition and consolidation in the region, but also rapid growth
and the developmental state, military intervention in politics, civil society,
political contention, populism, party systems, political clientelism and
dynasticism, international democracy promotion and their impact on
authoritarian rule and democratic change in the region. How can we make
sense of East Asia’s highly diverse political institutions, regime formation
and durability, historical legacies and cultural dynamics, and what can we
learn from the region? The course will be structured thematically so
that students will be able to study East Asia comparatively while making
connections with the broader fields of comparative politics. Course Aims: The course seeks to enable students to analyse the
causes and consequences of the resilience and challenges of non-liberal
political regimes in East Asia while relating historical developments and
contemporary dynamics in the region to social science theories about
comparative democratization, regime change and authoritarian rule. By exposing
students to a variety of empirical studies on Northeast and Southeast Asia’s
political contexts and institutional systems, as well as cutting-edge
theoretical debates on key topics in the region, the course will help them
construe why certain countries are democratic and others are not. By the end of
the course, students will be ready to develop ideas and formulate their own
research questions about democracy, dictatorship, and everything in-between in
the region – and beyond. | ||||||||
Assessment (Indicative only, please check the detailed course information) | ||||||||
Continuous Assessment: 100% | ||||||||
Detailed Course Information | ||||||||
AIS5032.pdf | ||||||||
Useful Links | ||||||||
Department of Asian and International Studies |