0001120 - KOREA AND THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM

insegnamento

ID:

0001120

Durata (ore):

36

CFU:

SSD:

STORIA E ISTITUZIONI DELL'ASIA

Sede:

UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"

Url:

Dettaglio Insegnamento:

Relazioni e istituzioni dell'Asia e dell'Africa/Asia Anno: 2

Anno:

2026

Periodo di attività

Secondo Semestre (22/02/2027 - 28/05/2027)

Obiettivi Formativi

Expected learning outcomes (knowledge and understanding)

By the end of the course, students will know the main economic, political and strategic processes that have made Asia central to contemporary global politics. They will be able to understand and compare the different rise trajectories of India and China, their respective development models, the historical formation of Asian regional orders, and Asia’s role in global governance.

Applying knowledge and understanding

Students will be able to apply the concepts and methodological tools they have learned to the analysis of concrete cases — the rise of India and China, regional orders and disputes, development models, and political violence in South Asia — independently developing well-grounded arguments and comparisons.

Further expected learning outcomes

Making judgements: critically evaluating contrasting sources and interpretations of the Asian global order.

Communication skills: presenting and arguing complex topics on global Asia clearly and appropriately in English.

Learning skills: independently locating and organising further reading appropriate to the programme.

Prerequisiti

Knowledge of English

Metodi didattici

The course is organised in weekly modules co-taught by the four instructors. Each week comprises two two-hour sessions: a lecture (2 hours) on the week’s topic; and a second session made up of an in-progress assessment (a multiple-choice quiz administered in class via Moodle, based on the lecture and the required reading, lasting about 30 minutes) followed by an interactive seminar of discussion and Q&A (about 1 hour and 30 minutes).

Indicative distribution of the 54 hours: about 28 hours of lectures; about 20 hours of seminars and discussion; about 6 hours of in-progress assessment.

Verifica Apprendimento

Attending students: assessment is based on the in-progress tests (multiple-choice quizzes administered weekly in class via Moodle, relating to the week’s lecture and required reading) and on active participation in the seminar discussions. The final mark will be the average of the best 10 tests (out of 12) for 9 CFU, or of the best 7 tests (out of 8) for 6 CFU.

Non-attending students: oral examination based on the indicated texts.

Language of examination: English. Marks are out of 30. Assessment criteria: accuracy and completeness of knowledge, capacity for analysis and synthesis, ability to apply and compare the concepts learned, and appropriate use of disciplinary terminology.

Students taking the 6-CFU examination are assessed on the content of weeks 1–9.

Testi

Required readings are listed by week. Week 1 – Maiorano Parag Khanna, The Future is Asian, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2019: “Introduction: Asia First”. Week 2 – Maiorano Raghuram Rajan & Rohit Lamba, Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future, Penguin Random House India, 2023, ch. “How Do Countries Grow Rich?”. Jean Drèze & Amartya Sen, An Uncertain Glory: India and Its Contradictions, Princeton University Press, 2013, ch. 1 “The Double Challenge”. Week 3 – Maiorano Required reading: E. Sridharan, “Where is India Headed? Possible Future Directions in Indian Foreign Policy”, International Affairs, Vol. 93, No. 1, 2017, pp. 51–68: https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/publications/ia/INTA93_1_04_Sridharan.pdf Recommended podcast: “How India and China Compete in Non-Aligned South Asia and the Indian Ocean”, Global India Podcast (Brookings), with Darshana Baruah, Tanvi Madan and Constantino Xavier, 18 October 2023. Available at: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-india-and-china-compete-in-non-aligned-south-asia-and-the-indian-ocean/ Week 4 – Maiorano Readings: Paul Staniland, “Political Violence in South Asia: The Triumph of the State?”, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2020. Week 5 – Sapio Choose one of: James Hevia, “The Macartney Embassy in the Historiography of Sino-Western Relations”, in Cherishing Men from Afar. Qing Guest Ritual and the Macartney Embassy of 1793, Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1992, pp. 226–247. Joseph W. Esherick, “Cherishing Sources from Afar”, Modern China, Vol. 24, No. 1, 1998, pp. 135–161. Primary source (required reading): Qianlong’s Letter to George III. Week 6 – Sapio Choose one of: Robert Eskildsen, “Of Civilization and Savages: The Mimetic Imperialism of Japan’s 1874 Expedition to Taiwan”, The American Historical Review, Vol. 107, No. 2, 2002, pp. 388–418. Mark R. Peattie, “The Japanese Colonial Empire, 1895–1945”, in The Cambridge History of Japan (Vol. 6), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp. 217–270. Primary source (required reading): “The Greater Asian Sphere of Common Prosperity”, Contemporary Japan, Vol. 10, No. 1, 1941. Week 7 – Sapio Rana Mitter, “China and the Cold War”, in The Oxford Handbook of the Cold War, edited by Richard H. Immerman and Petra Goedde, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 124–140. Primary source (required reading): The Origin and Development of the Differences Between the Leadership of the CPSU and Ourselves — Comment on the Open Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Week 8 – Sapio Choose one of: Wu Jieh-min, “Great Power Competition in Contested States: The Case of Taiwan”, Asian Perspectives, Vol. 43, No. 1, 2025, pp. 75–103. Christina Lai, “US–Taiwan Relations and the Future of the Liberal Order”, Parameters, Vol. 54, No. 1, 2024, pp. 51–69. Primary source (required reading): Declaration of the 318 Occupation of the Legislative Yuan: Oppose the Black Box CSSTA. Week 9 – Fardella Enrico Fardella & Sergey Radchenko, “The Paradox of China’s Anti-Hegemonic Rise”, Foreign Affairs, August 2026 (forthcoming). Week 10 – Fardella Steve Tsang & Olivia Cheung, The Political Thought of Xi Jinping, ch. 7. Jiang Shigong, “The Internal Logic of Super-Sized Political Entities: ‘Empire’ and World Order”, Cultural Horizon (文化纵横), No. 2 (2019) [Chinese: 超大型政治体的内在逻辑——“帝国”与世界秩序]. Available at: https://www.readingthechinadream.com/jiang-shigong-empire-and-world-order.html Week 11 – Fardella Matthew C. Klein & Michael Pettis, Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2020, ch. 4. Enrico Fardella & Michael Pettis, “How Europe Can Harness Its Economic Power”, Engelsberg Ideas, 3 December 2025. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/how-europe-can-harness-its-economic-power/ Week 12 – Fardella Wang Shaoguang, “Representative and Representational Democracy”, in The East Asian Challenge for Democracy: Political Meritocracy in Comparative Perspective, edited by Daniel A. Bell and Chenyang Li, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013, pp. 45–70. https://www.readingthechinadream.com/wang-shaoguang-representative-and-representational-democracy.html Yan Yilong, “Socialism Riding Herd on Capital”. https://www.readingthechinadream.com/yan-yilong-socialism-riding-herd-oncapital.html Week 13 – Masina Lecture 1: Kevin Gray, “Beyond Post-Democracy: Precarious Labour in South Korea and the Legacies of Authoritarian Developmentalism”, Journal of Contemporary Asia, 56(2), 2026, pp. 221–242. DOI: 10.1080/00472336.2025.2499566. Lecture 2: Toby Carroll, “Capitalism, Conflict and Contradiction: Southeast Asia’s Development and the Reorganisation of Production”, Journal of Contemporary Asia, 51(2), 2021, pp. 207–232. DOI: 10.1080/00472336.2020.1734227.

Contenuti

The course analyses the rise of Asia and its role in reshaping the global order of the 21st century, with particular attention to India and South Asia, China and East Asia, and Southeast Asia.

Main topics:

1. The rise of Asia and India as a global power (Maiorano);

2. Asian regional orders in historical perspective (Sapio);

3. China and world order: hegemony, governance, capitalism, modernity (Fardella);

4. The economic miracles of Korea and Southeast Asia (Masina).

Students taking the 6-CFU examination prepare and, if attending, follow weeks 1–9 (36 hours).