Political Science

This course is an undergraduate-level seminar on politics of contemporary China. Understanding politics, economy, society, and their complex relations of our neighbor, People’s Republic of China becomes indispensable for everyone no matter what you study and pursue in this globalized era. In this vein, surveying politics of China would be a priority. We try to systematically (not randomly) analyze and understand those objects through applying some theoretical frameworks of political science such as regime type, political institution, participation, contentious politics, clientelism, developmentalism, nationalism, and interactions between domestic and international politics, to them. More specifically, this course aims at (1) understanding basic political history of contemporary China; (2) theoretically and empirically exposing students to major issues and debates in the study of reform-era Chinese politics and helping students understand major characteristics of the Chinese Communist Party regime; (3) In addition to the conventional contents of “Chinese Politics” course, letting students do a “problem-solving” project from creative and multi-disciplinary perspectives of political interactions as well as politics of things; (4) and finally, encouraging students to pursue their own agendas related to contemporary China in further studies in schools and job market (and beyond).

This course is designed to familiarize students with important concepts and theories of international security studies as well as prominent security issues in the contemporary world. The first part of the course introduces the basic analytical concepts and theoretical frameworks as regards direct and indirect use of force in international politics; the second part explores strategic policy during the Cold War and the lessons that scholars have drawn from that historical period; the third part examines several security challenges at the dawn of the 21st century such as nuclear proliferation, terrorism and insurgency, and the security implications of technological change; the last part focuses on the rise of China and international security, with particular attention paid to the relationship between China and the United States, the Taiwan issue, and maritime disputes in East Asia. It is worth noting that the course will not touch upon most non-traditional security issues such as energy security, climate change, food safety, etc.

This course aims to help students acquire the basic knowledge of the development and functioning of the EU. Additionally, students are expected to analyze the EU’s role in various sectoral policies and its relationships with selected partners.

This course consists of three parts. The first part covers the basics of the EU, including major theories of European integration, its core institutions, decision-making procedures, and legal order. In the second part, this course explores the major bilateral relations between the EU and third parties in the second part. The last part focuses on selected policy areas critical to the EU’s internal stability and external posture. 

This course examines the political relationship between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous peoples of Australia as an instance of wider global relations among indigenous societies, colonial powers and contemporary national and international regimes and institutions. Students will gain an understanding of government policies and the responses to these practices by Indigenous peoples by critically evaluating the political frameworks and policy responses used to deal with Indigenous-settler relations. The course will consider - among other topics - land, citizenship and identity, self-determination, constitutional recognition, and the governance of Indigenous organizations.

The history of modern China is deeply intertwined with international law. Starting from the early 19th century, the European-originated international law made its way to the China-centered East Asian tributary system through military conquests and treaties. Over the past two centuries, international law has profoundly shaped the transformation of China in terms of building of a modern state and the national identity. The more recent decades have seen China’s increasingly active engagement with international law in terms of dispute settlement and treaty negotiation. Yet international law is still underappreciated in understanding China’s foreign relations, often being reduced to no more than legalistic cover for realpolitik by international relations scholars. Academic research on China’s foreign policy is largely devoid of serious legal analysis into China’s engagement with international law. This course sits at the intersection of international law and international relations and bears four goals in mind. First of all, the course prepares the students for understanding the fundamental concepts of international law. The second objective is to examine China’s initial encounter with the Eurocentric concepts and practices of international law and its lingering legacy. Third, it aims for surveying China’s contemporary engagement with various international legal regimes in a historical and contextualized way. Rather than highlighting China’s uniqueness in the international legal system, the course encourages comparative inquiries into China’s position on and practices of international law. Last, the course invites the students to empirically re-examine popular impressionistic discourses about China and international law by making extensive use of primary sources and incorporating competing perspectives.

This course examines human experience as a source of truth, knowledge, and belief about war. Representations of human experiences of war play a significant role in human culture and society, often defining social memories and collective understandings of war. As such, this course examines how human experience is transmitted and interpreted via historical sources as well as cultural objects such as films, novels, and video games. It also engages students with key social, political, and moral arguments about the representation of war experience in the media, museums, monuments, and commemoration rituals. 

This course covers keystone technologies from bioweapons to killer robots to provide insight into pressing political questions such as: What role does technology play in warfare and in international security? How have the tools of war changed – and what do those changes mean for the laws, norms, ethics, conduct, and strategy of conflict? How can we combat the national and international security risks of emerging technologies?

This course examines five security concepts and their relevance to security in the Asia-Pacific region. These concepts are order/hierarchy, alliances, polarity/balance of power, international reputation ("credibility"), and historical memory. It covers these concepts through case studies such as the Korean War, the Taiwan Strait crises, the history (and future) of alliances in Asia, the Vietnam War, the Sino-U.S. rapprochement, the post-war order, and territorial disputes.

This course explores the right to truth from an interdisciplinary perspective. It critically engages with truth as a right in transitional justice scenarios, focusing on the exploration of the construction of truth through law and its relation to justice. Through the foundational tenets of memory, reconciliation, and punishment, the course enquires into the assumed exceptionality of the right to truth in transitions, examining if and how it operates in ordinary settings. Simultaneously, the course offers an overarching view of the consolidation of the right to truth in the framework of international human rights, and the specific obligations it entails for states. Drawing on a broad variety of cases of ongoing and past transitional justice processes in the Global South, the course fosters challenging and critical perspectives on the right to truth as a legal claim.

This course examines the main issues of Southeast Asian security, giving due attention to traditional concerns with interstate conflict as well as non-traditional themes like the economy and the quality of democratic governance. It also provides a grounding in the Cold War-era conflicts that shaped the region as we know it today. The central focus, however, is on contemporary internal armed conflict rooted in processes of state formation and state decay (for instance, ethnic conflict in Myanmar, separatist violence in Indonesia or the attempts to create an autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao in the Philippines). Key internal conflicts affecting the human security of millions of Southeast Asians, as well as near neighbors like Australia, will be analyzed in their unique historical and cultural context, and related to cross-cutting questions with broad inter-disciplinary significance negotiating views from above and below, from inside and outside.