INST 342: Globalization and East Asia

The University of Mississippi
Spring 2016, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 14:30-15:45, 107 Croft Institute
Instructor: Dr. Gang Guo * Office: 128 Deupree Hall * Telephone: (662) 915-5419 * e-mail: gg at olemiss dot edu
Office hours: by appointment

Course Overview

This undergraduate seminar course provides an in-depth and multi-disciplinary look at the phenomena, causes, and consequences of globalization. Although most of the course content has a regional focus on East Asia, the theoretical and empirical foundations of many of the issues covered in this course are not strictly constrained to this part of the world and can be easily applied elsewhere. The course starts with a broad historical overview of the phenomena of globalization as it relates to East Asia. The Silk Road is an early example of globalization in human history, while the experiences of Japan, the "Asian tigers," and China in the past half-century exemplifies the multi-faceted nature of globalization. The course then turns to the explanations of globalization, especially from an economics point of view, combining abstract discussions of the important concepts and theories in economic globalization with concrete examples and empirical evidence. The third part of the course will be devoted to the various consequences of globalization, which fuel many of the contemporary debates on the normative implications of globalization. We will examine the impact of globalization on international relations (neoliberalism, US-China symbiosis, etc.), on democratization, on fiscal policies, on labor rights, on the environment, and so on.

This course is especially suitable for students at the Croft Institute for International Studies because:

1. The course has a substantive emphasis on contemporary real-world issues in global politics and policy. The abstract concepts and theories are illustrated by actual examples and empirical data, and the underlying substantive issues are those that international studies majors are interested in and care about.
2. The required readings for each seminar session are real examples of contemporary academic research on the topic of globalization. By critically reviewing other scholars' research products, students can potentially apply the concepts and methods learned in this course to other social science research projects that international studies majors often deal with in their course work or senior theses.

Course Objectives

By the end of the semester, students should be able:

1. to understand the basic concepts and theories of globalization;
2. to describe and explain the phenomena of globalization in East Asia;
3. and to contribute to the contemporary debate on the consequences of globalization as it relates to East Asia.

Course Structure

The format of the course is seminars rather than lectures, and so student participation is not only encouraged but really essential. The class will meet two times a week, each lasting for 75 minutes. It is imperative for students to complete the required reading before each class and attend all class sessions. The seminar is designed to highlight subjects of particular interest or difficulty in an interactive manner rather than for the instructor to lecture on the information presented in the textbook and other course materials. Students are expected to make creative and meaningful contributions to class discussion, not only demonstrating their familiarity with the course content but also critically reviewing the reading assignments for each class. Moreover, much learning will take place outside the classroom setting, such as during group study sessions.

Course Materials

We will be using the following (free online) book for this course among other materials:

• World Bank. 2008. World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography. ISBN: 0-8213-7607-1.

The links to reading assignments for each class are listed in the course schedule below. Most of the readings are contemporary journal articles or book chapters of social science research on important topics in globalization and East Asia. The reading assignments may be revised on the syllabus throughout the semester.

Course Grades

Grades for this course are distributed as follows: class participation 12.5%; quizzes 10%; annotated bibliography 12.5%; news presentations 15%; first midterm exam 15%; second midterm exam 15%; final exam 20%.

Every week, one student in the class will be responsible for preparing an annotated bibliography of the relevant academic literature on either of the issue areas covered during that week and submit it on Blackboard on Wednesday of that week. This bibliography should be about two pages in length. The assignment of students for each week's annotated bibliography will be determined at the first class.

Each student is also required to make two (2) brief in-class presentations of about 5-10 minutes in length on a most recent news on East Asia. A sign-up sheet is distributed in the first class and each student will choose two dates to present, one in each half of the semester. The PowerPoint file for your presentation should be uploaded on Blackboard before the class in which you present. In reporting the news, the presenter should synthesize news stories from at least two major mass media outlets. The PowerPoint file should include at least one page on the main news story, at least one page on some background information to help the audience understand the news story better, and at least one page of sources and/or references. After each presentation there will be a short period of time in which the presenter responds to questions or comments from the audience.

The presentations will be evaluated using the following rubric:

1. Content
   • The news story is timely, important, and interesting;
   • The news story is coherent and well-focused;
   • the news story is presented in a logical sequence that audience can follow;
   • slides provide some background information to help audience understand;
   • uses a variety of sources from different perspectives;
   • demonstrates good knowledge, research, and preparation;
2. Format
   • All fonts are large enough to be read at a distance;
   • Good contrast between fonts and background on all slides;
   • Images are relevant and help audience understand the content;
   • Slide layout is visually clear and balanced;
   • Slides contains no typographical or grammatical errors;
   • Information on the sources and/or references is accurate and complete;
   • The sources and/or references are properly formatted;
3. Delivery
   • All audience can hear the presentation clearly;
   • maintains eye contact with audience;
   • uses proper body language to help the presentation;
   • answers questions skillfully;

There are two in-class midterm exams in this course, one on Thursday, March 3rd, and the other on Thursday, April 7th. Besides, there are a limited number of unannounced quizzes to be conducted in class on randomly chosen dates. The final exam will start at 4pm on Tuesday, May 10th according to the Registrar's office.

Course Schedule