HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY EAST ASIA

The course aims to provide an overview of the most relevant historical, political, and economic developments that have taken place in East Asia between the end of the nineteenth century and the present day. Students will acquire the tools to analyse different forms of interaction and interdependence emerging over time through a comparative approach that will mainly focus on Northeast Asia (China, the Korean peninsula, and Japan). However, the course will shed some light on the dynamics of US-China-Southeast Asia relations. While observing the elements of continuity that have been the hallmarks of the regional order for decades - e.g. the US military presence and the 'hub-and-spokes' alliance system; the division of the Korean peninsula and the stalemate between the two Koreas; nationalism; territorial and maritime disputes; the Taiwan issue; the rivalry between China and Japan - students will be confronted with more recent changes that affect relations both between regional states and within societies with serious repercussions on economic stability and prosperity. These include the re-emergence of China as a central power and the current strategic competition with the United States; initiatives of regional integration; the role of soft power and public diplomacy; and 'non-traditional' security concerns.

Upon completion of this course, students will be expected to:

- have a sound knowledge of the history of contemporary East Asia, and adopt a critical approach to address the most relevant historical and political developments in the region
- be able to discuss issues related to historical memory in East Asia and their influence on contemporary societies, politics, and cultural relations
- examine case studies using a mix of sources (monographs, articles, digital resources) and relevant literature
- adequately present and discuss some of the key features of relations between nation-states as well as regional and cross-cutting issues
- write short and long reports in English and/or Italian

Prior knowledge of the global contemporary history and the history of contemporary Northeast Asia.

Weeks 1-4: Introduction to the course; the rise of Japan and the Pacific War; the role of the Korean peninsula in the regional system of international relations, the process of democratisation and democratic consolidation in South Korea, the political-ideological foundations of the North Korean regime and the problem of economic reforms, foreign policy strategies of the two Koreas and the development of inter-Korean relations.
Weeks 5-9: The role of Japan and China in global economic assets and their strategic visions of security and defense; territorial and maritime disputes.
Weeks 10-13: The evolution of US engagement in East Asia; Southeast Asia in the strategic competition between China and the United States; the EU and the Indo-Pacific; the role of supply chains in patterns of inter-state conflict and cooperation.

For a general overview of the historical and political development of contemporary East Asia, the following books are recommended:
- Caroli, R.; Gatti, F. (2017) Storia del Giappone, Laterza (capp. VII-XI), Roma e Bari: Laterza
- Samarani, G. (2017) La Cina contemporanea (parte terza, capp. XVIII-XX), Torino: Einaudi Editore.
- Fiori, A. (2010) L' Asia orientale. Dal 1945 ai giorni nostri, Bologna: Il Mulino.
- Zappa, M. (2020) Il Giappone nel sistema internazionale: Asia orientale e sudorientale nella politica estera giapponese dal 1945 all'era Abe, Venezia: Libreria Editrice Cafoscarina.

For this course, there will not be one specific handbook. Students will be asked to do the readings on a regular basis. The following is a non-exhaustive list (see Moodle):

Book chapters:
Buzo, A. (1999). The Guerrilla Dynasty: Politics and Leadership in North Korea, London: I B Taurus.
Cha, V. (2016). Powerplay: The Origins of the American Alliance System in Asia, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Fiori, A.; Dian, M.; Milani, M. (2019). The Korean Paradox: Domestic Political Divide and Foreign Policy in South Korea, Abingdon: Routledge.
Goh, E. (2016) (ed.). Rising China's Influence in Developing Asia, Oxford University Press.
Hashimoto, A. (2015). The Long Defeat: Cultural Trauma, Memory and Identity in Japan, Oxford: Oxford UP.
Holcombe, C. (2020). A History of East Asia: From the origins of civilization to the Twenty-First century, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Papers and reports:
Campbell, K. & Ratner, E. (2018). The China Reckoning: How Beijing Defied American Expectations, Foreign Affairs, March/April 2018.
Chang Liao, N-C. (2016). The Sources of China’s Assertiveness: The System, Domestic Politics or Leadership Preferences?, International Affairs, 92(4).
Chen, L. & Naughton, B. (2017). A Dynamic China Model: The Co-Evolution of Economics and Politics in China, Journal of Contemporary China, 26(103).
Chen Weiss, J. (2019). How Hawkish Is the Chinese Public? Another Look at 'Rising Nationalism' and Chinese Foreign Policy, Journal of Contemporary China, 28(119).
Chestnut Greitens, Sheena & Katzeff Silberstein, Benjamin (2022). Toward Market Leninism in North Korea: Assessing Kim Jong Un’s First Decade. Asian Survey, 62(2).
Deacon, C. (2021). (Re)producing the ‘History Problem’: Memory, Identity and the Japan-South Korea Trade Dispute, The Pacific Review, 35(5).
D’Hooghe, I. (2021). China’s Public Diplomacy Goes Political, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 16(2-3).
Freeman, C. P. (2021). Reading Kindleberger in Beijing: Xi Jinping’s China as a Provider of Global Public Goods, The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 23(2).
Insisa, A. & Pugliese, G. (2020). The Free and Open Indo-Pacific Versus the Belt and Road: Spheres of Influence and Sino-Japanese relations, The Pacific Review, 35(3).
Haggard, S. (2016). Negotiating a Korean Settlement: The Role of Sanctions, Korea Observer, 47(4).
Hara, K. (2012). The San Francisco Peace Treaty and Frontier Problems in the Regional Order in East Asia: A Sixty Year Perspective, The Asia-Pacific Journal, 10(17).
Hughes, C. H.; Patalano, A.; Ward, R. (2021). Japan’s Grand Strategy: The Abe Era and Its Aftermath, Survival, 63 (1).
Kim, Y. (2013). North Korea’s Threat Perception and Provocation Under Kim Jong-un: The Security Dilemma and the Obsession with Political Survival, North North Korean Review, 9(1).
Passeri A. & Marston H. (2022). The Pendulum of Non-Alignment: Charting Myanmar's Great Power Diplomacy (2011-2021). Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 41(2).
Wang, J. & Hu, R. (2019). From cooperative partnership to strategic competition: A review of China–U.S. relations 2009–2019, China International Strategic Review, 1.

The final exam will consist of a written report and an oral discussion.

The course includes a combination of lectures and seminars and will require the active participation of students who will contribute to the seminar discussions with comments and informed observations on the reading material. In addition, scholars from Italy (in person) and Asia (virtual) might be invited to deliver guest lectures.

Italian

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS:

Non-attending students are kindly requested to contact the instructor in due time and at least once before the exam. The program and examination modalities will not differentiate between attending and non-attending students. The complete list of reading assignments and the exam instructions are visible on the Moodle platform.

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "International cooperation" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development