** Unfortunately this course is not accepting applications for the 10/11 academic year *
Programme Structure
- China, Japan and the Rise of East Asia Required
For a century and more, China and Japan have been the dominant intra-regional influences on the social, economic and geo-political development of East Asia. This core unit will be concerned with the dynamics and consequences of Chinese and Japanese influence, not only for the region in general, but for China and Japan themselves. Teamtaught by specialists in the relevant areas, this unit will focus, inter alia, on the recent histories of Chinese and Japanese influence, the regional spread of Japanese business investment, the implications of the rapid expansion of the Chinese economy and the policy and security issues associated with these and other developments. The contents of this core unit are conceived not only as substantive areas of interest in their own right, but as introductions to many of the issues that will be discussed in more detail in the optional units.
- East Asia and Europe Required
As two of the three principal nodes of the global political economy, East Asia and the European Union provide a counter-weight to US expansionism. This unit will examine the economic and political relations between the two regions as these have developed historically and in the comporary period. Among other issues it will examine the consequences of colonialism, the increasing economic integration between the regions, the significance of migration from China and Southeast Asia, the nature of political relations and the security issues associated with these. The unit will be team-taught by specialists in the respective areas.
The contents of this core unit are conceived not only as substantive areas of interest in their own right, but as introductions to many of the issues that will be discussed in more detail in the optional units.
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Introduction to Research Methods Required
This unit introduces students to a range of methodological approaches used by researchers in Contemporary East Asian Studies. The relative strengths and weaknesses of both quantitative and qualitative approaches will be considered. Issues of research design and research methods and methodology will be addressed and students will develop their knowledge and skills in conducting and reviewing research. The concentration on methods appropriate to East Asian Studies will enable students to produce a robust research proposal relevant to their own research interests.
In addition to the required unit aboves, students choose 3 options from the following
- Social Policy and Social Change in East Asia Optional
This module focusses on how socio-economic and socio-political changes taking place in Asian societies have affected social policy delivery and management. This unit has four components. The introductory set of sessions will deal with the distinctiveness (or otherwise) of welfare systems in East Asia. This will engage with theoretical debates about welfare régimes as well as more substantive discussions of human capital investment, demographic change and the contemporary political economy of East Asia. These discussions will then be linked to three policy themes: urbanization and shelter; wealth and inequality; welfare and family change.
- Old and New China: Beijing City Lights Optional
This unit examines major issues in Chinese history through reading and discussion of representative works on Chinese cities. The unit focuses on the transformation of Chinese cities, with particular emphasis on the capital, Beijing. Using a multidisciplinary approach and a comparative perspective the unit explores the distinctive faces of the city, its history, society, culture, politics and economics, and its evolving position in national, regional and global frameworks.The unit will mainly explore Beijing both in temporal and spatial terms, emphasizing the key forces affecting urban development since 1900, but paying close attention to the legacy of the past in shaping contemporary urbanization, economic and financial linkages, architecture and space, wealth and power, gendered relations. The unit will examine how Beijing's political power has been constructed, expressed, maintained and reproduced, and will also analyse how citizenship is defined, investigating the relation between insiders (Beijing citizens), outsiders (migrants) and foreigners.
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China in Transition: Development Strategies and Reform Optional
This unit will consider social concerns resulting from China's transition to a market economy. Using topical problems to explore wider issues of social inequality across gradients of gender, ethnicity, residence-status, and poverty, it will consider questions such as: How are women and men faring differently in China's new labour market? Are entrepreneurs emerging as a new class? Are peasants and migrants being excluded from economic growth? Are minorities getting a fair deal? How does the digital divide overlap with regional and urban-rural inequalities? How has the one-child policy affected China’s women, children, and society? What are the social implications of the "missing girls"? Can pollution victims get justice? How do individuals such as criminals and subculture members survive on the margins? Exploring these questions will lead to a deeper understanding of what China is in transition to, different experiences of transition and the main social features of ‘late socialist’ China.
- Japan and the East Asian Economy & Society Optional
An understanding of Japanese economy and society is critical for students who are keen to explore the Japan’s role in and the development of East Asian countries. The aim of this optional module is to explore the socio-economic structures of Japan in comparative perspective. The first part will explore the Japanese economic ‘success’ since World War II and its serious recession after the burst of economic ‘bubble’ in the early 1990s. It also looks at Japanese fast-transforming social structures and demographic trends which offer the background of current growing inequality in Japanese society. The second part will locate and examine such Japanese socio-economic structures in the wider East Asian regional context. This module concludes with highlighting similarities and differences among socio-economic structures of the East Asian countries, and the discussion regarding the impact of globalisation on Japan and the region.
- East Asia, Europe and Global Integration Optional
This optional module aims to examine the economic and political relations between East Asia and Europe and to investigate the developing patterns of trade between these key regions of the global economy. The module will also focus on the increasing economic integration between East Asia and Europe.
Following the successful completion of the required and optional units, students progress to the Dissertation stage.
- Dissertation (Required) -Project selected and proposed by student
The application of learning to an issue in East Asian Development and the Global Economy is a key element of the MSc. The project, which may be either organisation-based or research-based, aims to identify and systematically explore a significant issue. Project advice and information are provided in the research methods course and in dissertation workshops. Following the submission of a project proposal, participants develop their proposals and meet with their academic supervisors and, if appropriate, their organisation sponsors. Between April and September, participants dedicate their time to the project, which is submitted in the form of a dissertation, not exceeding 15,000 words in mid-September.
