CREDITS 2 (LV) 3 (ECTS) - 32 Contact Hours
The first of a set of two courses covering the main countries of Asia, this course focuses on China and its multi-dimensional impact on the countries of Southeast Asia. It starts by explaining China’s fixation on returning their country to its former greatness, restoring the Chinese version of its place in the world as they had always known it It consequently explores how China currently strives to occupy “its rightful place as a great power”. To that end, President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) had been launched promising to spend over one trillion dollars for new ports, railways, fibre-optic cables, power plants, and other connections -- touching more than one hundred and thirty countries and expanding even into the Arctic, cyberspace, and outer space. Southeast Asia stands uniquely exposed to this waxing power of the new China. Three of its nations border China and five are directly impacted by its claims over the South China Sea. Using frameworks from the fields of international relations and comparative politics the course explains how domestic politics in these eight Asian nations are shaping their varying external responses and behaviours.Teaching is based on the modern (American law school) version of the “Socratic method” — blurring the distinction between lectures and seminars. As a consequence it is highly interactive with ample opportunity for classroom discussion and stimulating critical thinking.
- Teacher: Tjaco Theo van den Hout