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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2021/2022

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures : Asian Studies

Postgraduate Course: East Asian International Relations (ASST11084)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Literatures, Languages and Cultures CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course serves as the core unit for students on the MSc East Asian Relations programme, and is the only course at the university that introduces relations systematically across the borders of China (inlcuding Taiwan), Japan, and the two Koreas.

It will provide an introduction to international relations in East Asia from a theoretical, historical, and topical perspective. Students will be taught by area specialists of Japan, China, and Korea coming from history, political science, and international relations (IR) backgrounds. Students should expect to be introduced to basic methodological concerns in history, politics, and IR, and to engage with material that covers the entire region instead of a single country.
Course description A brief introductory session will focus on key theoretical concepts that need to be problematized when talking about East Asian international relations.

Then, the course will be split into historical and recent political case studies. Because the contemporary study of East Asian relations is incomprehensible without the historical background, the first sessions will focus on a survey of the major events that shaped international relations since the mid-nineteenth century to the present, introducing the key actors and institutions involved.

The contemporary situation in East Asia is one of the most important set of political relations in the world, so the final half of the course is devoted to more recent case studies that deal with key issues in East Asia today--not only on the political, but also on the economic and cultural levels.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2021/22, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  0
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 174 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) 1 x 1000 word literature review (25%)
1 x 3000 word essay (75%)
Feedback Not entered
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Use critical perspective of keywords and key concepts in IR theory from a non-western perspective
  2. Show a solid understanding of the development of contemporary East Asian international relations from a historical perspective
  3. Apply knowledge of the key actors and institutional frameworks of contemporary East Asian relations
  4. Critically assess sources and documents related to East Asian international relations, and have the ability to form judgements about diplomatic statements and discursive practice in international relations
  5. Develop skills in oral presentation and academic writing
Reading List
Chunghee Sarah Soh, The Comfort Women: Sexual Violence and Postcolonial Memory in Korea and Japan (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008).

Bukh, A. (2014). 'Shimane Prefecture, Tokyo and the territorial dispute over Dokdo/Takeshima: regional and national identities' in Japan The Pacific Review 28(1), 47-70.

Sven Saaler and Christopher W.A. Szpilman, eds. Pan-Asianism: A Documentary History. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2011.

Tessa Morris Suzuki, ed., The Korean War in Asia: A Hidden History (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018).

Hamashita Takeshi. 'Tribute and Treaties: East Asian Treaty Ports Networks in the Era of Negotiation, 1834-1894.' European Journal of East Asian Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, 2001, pp. 59¿87.

Acharya, A., & Buzan, B. (2019). References. In The Making of Global International Relations: Origins and Evolution of IR at its Centenary (pp. 321-362). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Howard French (2017) Everything under the Heavens. How the past helps shape China¿s push for global power. New York: Knopf.

Graham Allison (2017) Destined For War: Can America and China escape Thucydides's Trap. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Amitav Acharya (2018) Constructing Global Order: Agency and Change in World Politics.

Sutter, R. G. (2010) Chinese Foreign Relations: Power and Policy Since the Cold War. 2nd ed., Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield.

Hook, G.D., Gilson, J., Hughes, C.W., and Dobson, H., 2011, Japan's International Relations: Politics, Economics and Security. 3rd ed., London: Routledge.

Suh, J. J., Katzenstein, P. J., and Carlson, A., eds., 2004, Rethinking Security in East Asia : Identity, Power, and Efficiency. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.

Shambugh, D, ed, 2006, Power shift: China and Asia's New Dynamics. University of California Press
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
Additional Class Delivery Information One seminar per week of two hours in length.
KeywordsEAIR,east asian,international relations,japan,china,korea
Contacts
Course organiserDr Daniel Hammond
Tel:
Email: Daniel.Hammond@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Anne Kelly
Tel: (0131 6)50 4167
Email: Annie.Kelly@ed.ac.uk
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