Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Lecturer
Lloyd Cox
Contact via 98504096
W6A, room 423
Monday 2-4
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Credit points |
Credit points
4
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
Admission to MIntRel or PGDipIntRel or PGCertIntRel or MIntCommMIntRel or MIntBusMIntRel or MIntRelMIntTrdeComLaw or MTransInterMIntRel or GradCertIntRel or GradDipIntRel
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the United States began increasing its presence in East Asia. In the first instance the focus was on participation in the opening of Japan and China to western trade and influence, but by the end of the century the US had established a colonial foothold in the Philippines and Guam. The was the beginning of a long-term pattern of increasing US intrusion into East Asia, which would see it fight three major wars and emerge as the undisputed hegemon in the region. Today, this regional hegemony is challenged by the rise of an assertive, outward looking China. This unit places these developments in their historical context, while examining their contemporary expressions in emerging diplomatic, economic and military rivalry. Although touching in other countries, the main focus is on the US’s relationships with China, Japan the Koreas and Australia.
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Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Name | Weighting | Due |
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Discussion Board Contribution | 30% | All semester |
Major Essay | 30% | Week 8, 6/10/2016 |
Final Exam | 40% | Week 13, 13/11/2016 |
Due: All semester
Weighting: 30%
Discussion board contributions
Due: Every week from week 2 Weighting: 30%
Students are expected to make at least one written contribution to the unit's discussion board each week. Typically, these should be from 200-500 words, though they can be longer. I will assign a grade out of 10, in weeks 4, 8 and 13, based on the quality and originality of your contributions for the weeks up to the cut off dates (i.e., weeks 2-4 = 10%, weeks 5-8 = 10% and weeks 9-13 = 10%). At the conclusion of the unit, students will be assigned a grade out of 30, based on the sum of these grades.
Due: Week 8, 6/10/2016
Weighting: 30%
Students will write a 2000 word essay chosen from a list of essay topics that will be put on ilearn in week 2 of thus unit. This essay must be correctly referenced and provide a bibliography. Internal students will return their essays during tutorials, while external students can email their essays to me at lloyd.cox@mq.edu.au.
Due: Week 13, 13/11/2016
Weighting: 40%
The final exam will be test done over the weekend from 11-13 November. You will be required to write four short essays drawn from a list of 12, which will cover content from the entire unit. I will post the questions on Friday 11 November at midday. Students must email their exam back as one file, labelled with their family name, no later than midnight on Sunday 13 November.
The United States and East Asia: Hegemony, Conflict and Rivalry
President Obama's foreign policy has been shaped by a so-called "pivot to Asia." The content of this pivot is contested by scholars and politicians alike, but most agree that it has been occasioned by the rise of China. Indeed, the US's renewed focus on Asia has been widely viewed as an effort to counter China's expanded influence in the region, while preserving the hegemonic position that the US has enjoyed in Asia since the end of the Second World War. This unit explores the important political and strategic issues that this development raises, paying particular attention to the US's activities and relations in North East Asia - China, Japan, North and South Korea and Taiwan.
Each week there will be a two hour lecture during the day, which will be recorded, and then a one hour tutorial.
Week 1 (4 August) Introduction: Key Issues for the United States n East Asia
In this first week an overview of the unit will be provided, followed by an introductory lecture that identifies they key issues that the United States faces in East Asia today. These include economic challenges entailed by increased integration and competition in the region, and security challenges posed by the rise of China, North Korean nuclear proliferation, and juggling the competing claims of various bilateral relationships and alliances.
Reading
Peter Harris, 'The Imminent US Strategic Adjustment to China', The Chinese Journal of International Politics Vol. 8, No 3 (2015) pp. 219-250
Kurt Campbell and Brian Andrews, 'Explaining the US 'Pivot' to Asia' Chatham House Report (2013)
Robert S. Ross, 'US Grand Strategy, the Rise of China, and US National Security Strategy for East Asia', Strategic Studies Quarterly, Summer (2013), pp. 20-40.
Week 2 (11 August) Hiroshima and the Shaping of US Hegemony in East Asia
The nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 represented both the end of an era and the beginning of a new one: the era of US hegemony in the Asia-Pacific and the so-called "free world". This week we explore the foundations and nature of US hegemony, and the ways in which the early years of the Cold War shaped US priorities and actions in East Asia.
Reading
Michael H. Hunt, 'East Asia in Henry Luce's "American Century"' in Michael J. Hogan, The Ambiguous Legacy: US Foreign Relations in the American Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 232-278.
Gar Alperovitz, The Decision to use the Atomic Bomb (New York: Vintage Books, 1995), pp. 319-365.
Week 3 (18 August) Challenges to US Hegemony; The Chinese Revolution and the Korean Civil War
To say that the US was hegemonic in East Asia in the years immediately following the conclusion of the Second World War, is not the same as saying that its supremacy was unchallenged. The two greatest challenges to US hegemony in these years were the Chinese Revolution in October 1949 and the Korean War (1950-1953). These events would shape US perceptions of and activities in East Asia for decades to come, and their effects continue to be felt right up to the present day. This week we explore the causes and consequences of these events and discuss the US's involvement.
Reading
Chen Jian, 'Mao and Sino-American Relations' in Melvyn P. Leffler and David S. Painter, The Origins of the Cold War: An International History (2nd edn.) (New York: Routledge 1994), pp. 283-298.
Warren I. Cohen, 'The Korean War and its Consequences', in Warren I. Cohen, The Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations (Vol. V): America in the Age of Soviet Power, 1945-1991 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp. 58-80.
Week 4 (25 August) The Vietnam War and US Credibility in East Asia
As part of the general policy of containment, the US supported first French colonialists, then a brutal, dictatorial regime, in what became South Vietnam. Their military involvement intensified over time, to the point where they deployed combat troops in March 1965. The ensuing Vietnam War was fought on the rationale of the domino theory (if South Vietnam fell to Communists then neighboring states would surely follow) and the need to maintain US credibility - in the eyes of both allies (Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia etc) and enemies (China, North Korea, the USSR). In this lecture we examine the Vietnam war in the broader context of US diplomacy and efforts to preserve hegemony in East Asia.
Readings
Robert Dallek, 'Fear, Ambition, and Politics' in Robert J. McMahon (ed), Major Problems in the History of the Vietnam War (3rd edn.) (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003), pp. 177-189.
Fredrik Logevall, 'Choosing War' in Robert J. McMahon (ed), Major Problems in the History of the Vietnam War (3rd edn.) (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003), pp. 189-205.
Week 5 (1 September) Detente and Normalizing Relations with China
Increasingly exhausted and economically weakened by the Vietnam war, the US sought detente (a relaxation of tensions) with both the USSR and China from the late 1960s. This expressed itself in a normalization of relations with China after 1972, which would grow into a flourishing economic relationship by the early 1990s, though not without tensions and crises along the way. This week we explore the evolving relationship that the United States developed with China in the 1970s and 1980s, and discuss how this effected China's immediate neighbors. This is important as it laid the foundations for the US's relationship with China today, which includes many tensions and contradictions that are at the heart of the unfolding economic and security challenges that the US faces in the region.
Reading
Raymond L. Gartoff, 'Establishing Triangular Diplomacy: China and American-Soviet Relations, 1969-1972', in Raymond Gartoff, Detente and Confrontation: American-Soviet Relations from Nixon to Reagan (1994), pp. 227-278.
Week 6 (8 September) End of the Cold War: Promises and Challenges
More than one US statesman has commented that US foreign policy was easy during the Cold War because we knew who our enemy was. Consequently, the end of the Cold War created uncertainty about how the United States should exercise its power on the world stage in general, and East Asia in particular. We identify and examine some key episodes in the decade after the end of the Cold War (e.g., the Taiwan crisis of 1995, the forced landing of a US spy plane on Chinese territory in 2001, North Korea's nuclear ambitions throughout this period), in order to illustrate the challenges that the US faced in East Asia after the end of the Cold War.
Reading
TBA
Week 7 (15 September) Essay Writing Workshop
Clarity of writing expresses clarity of thinking, while clarity of thinking is manifested in clear writing. With this in mind, we will use this week to discuss what a good University Masters essay should accomplish and what it should include. I will begin by giving a presentation, which will be followed by a practical exercise and then a discussion. We will end by briefly considering each of the essay topics that will be on the ilearn site from week two.
No Reading for the week
Week 8 (6 October) The US and the Japanese Alliance
The United States has had a permanent military presence in Japan since 1945, and continues to do so despite the ostensible rationale for its presence having long since ended. The US's alliance with Japan, and its military bases on Japanese soil, constitute the bedrock of US hegemony and strategy in East Asia. It has taken on renewed importance with the growing influence of China in the region. In this lecture we examine the nature and relevance of the US-Japan alliance, and analyze its role in the contemporary era.
Reading
Linus Hagstrom, '''Power Shift' in East Asia? A Critical Reappraisal of Narratives on the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands Incident in 2010' The Chinese Journal of International Politics, Vol. 10 (2012) pp. 267-297.
Christopher W. Hughes, 'Japan's 'Resentful Realism' and Balancing China's Rise', The Chinese Journal of International Politics, Vol. 9, No 2 (2016), pp. 111.
Week 9 (13 October) The US and the Korea Peninsular
As we saw in week three, the Korean Peninsular has been a central element in the US's strategic posture in east Asia since the end of the Second World War. It has continued to be so for different but related reasons. We examine these reasons, paying particular attention to the shifting US orientation to North Korea over the past decade, and how this impacts on diplomacy in the entire region.
Reading
Jae Jeok Park, 'The US-led alliances in the Asia -Pacific: hedge against potential threats or an undesirable multilateral security state', The Pacific Review, Vol 24 No. 2 (2011), pp. 137-158.
Week 10 (20 October) The United States and China 1: Economics
China surpassed Japan in the mid-2000s to become the world's second largest economy. Many economists predict that it will overtake the US as the world's largest economy sometime in the 2020s. This spectacular growth has been accompanied by an increased integration with the regional economy, and indeed an increased interdependence between the Chinese and US economies. This process has been riven with tensions and contradictions, which this week's lecture explores in some detail.
Reading
Robert Brenner and S. J. Jeong, 'Overproduction not Financial Collapse is the Heart of the Crisis: the US, East Asia and the World', The Asia Pacific Journal Vol 7, issue 6 number 5 (2009).
Jochen Prantl, 'Taming hegemony: Informal Institutions and the Challenge to Western Liberal Orders', The Chinese Journal of International Politics, Vol. 7, no 4 (2014), pp449-482
Week 11 (27 October) The United States and China 2: Politics
As China's economy has grown, so to has its political and diplomatic influence in the region. China has become increasingly assertive in promoting its regional agenda, sometimes at the expense of its neighbors, all of whom look to the US as a guarantor of their security. More broadly, China is challenging the unrivaled hegemony that the US has enjoyed in East Asia for decades. In this lecture we expand on some of the themes that we began to talk about in the previous session, and examine the politics of increased US and Chinese rivalry.
Reading
John J. Mearsheimer, 'The Gathering Storm: China's Challenge to US Power in Asia', The Chinese Journal of International Politics, Vol 3 (2010), pp. 381-396.
Jihyun Kim, 'Possible Future of the Contest in the South China Sea', The Chinese Journal of International Politics, Vol. 9, No 1 (2016) pp. 27-57
Week 12 (3 November) War and Peace in East Asia?
Recent developments in the South China Sea have been interpreted by many as a dangerous escalation of brinkmanship that could, ultimately, lead to war. Most liberal internationalists reject this interpretation as exaggerated, arguing that the level of economic integration between the US and Chinese economies precludes the possibility of war. We evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the contending positions, and put the US/Chinese rivalry into a longer-term historical perspective, before summing up what we have learned over the previous 12 weeks.
Reading
James Dobbins, 'War with China', Survival: Global Politics and Strategy, Vol. 54, No. 4 (2012) pp. 7-24
Mel Gurtov, Will this be China's Century? A Skeptic's View (Boulder, Lynne Rienner 2013), pp. 137-148
Week 13 (10 November) Class Test (for internal students - externals have a take home test)
For internal students there will be a 2 hour test that will be conducted in the usual lecture time and place.
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Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html
New Assessment Policy in effect from Session 2 2016 http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy_2016.html. For more information visit http://students.mq.edu.au/events/2016/07/19/new_assessment_policy_in_place_from_session_2/
Assessment Policy prior to Session 2 2016 http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy.html
Grading Policy prior to Session 2 2016 http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grading/policy.html
Grade Appeal Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html
Complaint Management Procedure for Students and Members of the Public http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/complaint_management/procedure.html
Disruption to Studies Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html The Disruption to Studies Policy is effective from March 3 2014 and replaces the Special Consideration Policy.
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Date | Description |
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02/08/2016 | Please note, the first piece of assessment in the previous unit guide published for external students was meant for internal students only. Hence the first piece of assessment has been changed (to Discussion Board contribution worth 30%), and the weighting on the second piece of assessment has been changed from 40% to 30%. Sorry for the mistake and the confusion. Lloyd |