Several countries in East Asia have been categorized as ‘developmental states,’ astonishing the political world by their governments’ ability to orchestrate economic changes as well as stunning the economic world by their rapid transformations into sophisticated industrial democracies. Most typically noted as examples are Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. For long periods in the 1970s-1990s their political economies resembled one another in many ways: continuity of conservative political leadership, close ties between business and politics, strong bureaucratic powers, tight domestic monopolies over finance, limited social welfare state provisions, a focus on exports, and rapid industrial transformation and high growth. Less well examined is what has happened to these three in the face of two big external changes that challenged prior political and economic arrangements, most notably an end to East Asian security bipolarity and the challenge to national financial insulation by global capital movements.
This seminar will examine both development and its (possible) dismantling. Concentrating on the three cases of Japan, Korea and Taiwan, the seminar will engage a series of integrated readings on several key topics on both facets. Each student will be expected to write 4-5 high quality 6-8 page papers dealing with various week’s readings.
The Junior Seminars are intense writing seminars which focus on the research area of the faculty member teaching the course. The seminars provide an opportunity for students to have direct intellectual interactions with faculty members while also giving the students an understanding for faculty research.
Junior seminars fulfill upper division requirements for the major.
Subfield: Comparative Politics
Political Science Majors of Junior and Senior status (must be 3rd or 4th year students with at least 60 units completed) with a minimum overall UC GPA of 3.3. Students must place themselves on the waitlist through TeleBEARS in Phase II. Priority may be given to students who have not yet taken a junior seminar. Selection and notification will occur in mid-January 2016.