ID:
0001116
Durata (ore):
54
CFU:
9
SSD:
Storia e istituzioni dell'Asia
Sede:
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"
Url:
Relazioni e istituzioni dell'Asia e dell'Africa/Asia Anno: 1
Anno:
2026
Dati Generali
Periodo di attività
Secondo Semestre (22/02/2027 - 28/05/2027)
Syllabus
Obiettivi Formativi
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
- Explain the principal historical stages in the rise of East Asia within the world economy.
- Analyse the colonial and geopolitical foundations of East Asian development.
- Compare the developmental trajectories of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, and the major Southeast Asian economies.
- Discuss the developmental-state literature and its principal institutionalist, liberal, and Marxist critiques.
- Explain the emergence and transformation of East Asian production networks.
- Critically assess the World Bank’s interpretation of the “East Asian miracle.”
- Analyse the origins and consequences of the 1997–98 East Asian financial crisis.
- Evaluate the concept of the middle-income trap and its application to Southeast Asia and China.
- Examine the relationship between industrialisation, labour control, migration, gender, and working conditions.
- Interpret China’s rise from the perspective of critical political economy and world-system analysis.
- Formulate independent arguments based on the critical reading of academic literature.
- Present complex historical and political-economic arguments in written and oral form.
Prerequisiti
The course is interdisciplinary in nature; therefore, knowledge acquired during the bachelor’s degree and through other master’s-level courses in history, political science, and economics will be useful. Familiarity with reading newspapers and following current affairs is also important.
Metodi didattici
The first part of the course will consist of lectures delivered by the instructor, while the second part will be conducted in seminar format. Students will be asked to present academic articles in class, after which the instructor will guide the discussion. The in-class presentations will count as mid-term assessment. At the end of the course, students will write an essay of approximately eight pages, drawing on the course literature to answer a question set by the instructor.
Verifica Apprendimento
Achievement of the expected learning outcomes will be assessed on the basis of the in-class presentation of an academic article, the written essay, and the final oral examination. For attending students, the final oral examination will consist of the presentation and discussion of the essay. Students may choose whether to write the essay and take the final oral examination in English or Italian. The group presentation in class will be delivered in English. The assessment criteria will include analytical ability, clarity of presentation, and any enrichment of the knowledge acquired through supplementary readings.
Testi
- Arrighi, Giovanni. Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the Twenty-First Century. Verso, 2007. (Chapters 2 and 10)
- Bernard, Mitchell, and John Ravenhill. “Beyond Product Cycles and Flying Geese: Regionalization, Hierarchy, and the Industrialization of East Asia.” World Politics 47, no. 2, 1995: 171–209.
- Chang, Dae-oup. “Informalising Labour in Asia’s Global Factory.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 39, no. 2 (2009): 161–179.
- Coe, Neil, and Henry Wai-chung Yeung. “Global Production Networks: Theorizing Economic Development in an Interconnected World.” Oxford Development Studies 43, no. 3 (2015): 279–293.
- Cumings, Bruce. “The Origins and Development of the Northeast Asian Political Economy: Industrial Sectors, Product Cycles, and Political Consequences.” International Organization 38, no. 1 (1984): 1–40.
- Doner, Richard F., and Ben Ross Schneider. “The Middle-Income Trap: More Politics than Economics.” World Politics 68, no. 4, 2016: 608–644.
- Jones, Lee, and Jinghan Zeng. “Understanding China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Beyond ‘Grand Strategy’ to a State Transformation Analysis.” Third World Quarterly 40, no. 8 (2019): 1415–1439.
- Pun, Ngai, and Chris Smith. “Putting Transnational Labour Process in Its Place: The Dormitory Labour Regime in Post-Socialist China.” Work, Employment and Society 21, no. 1, 2007: 27–45.
- Selwyn, Benjamin, Christin Bernhold, and Dara Leyden. “The Geopolitical Underpinning of Global Value Chains and Production Networks: US–China Technological Rivalry in a Longer-Range Perspective.” Journal of Economic Geography, 2025, lbaf033.
- Silver, Beverly. Forces of Labor: Workers’ Movements and Globalization since 1870. Cambridge University Press, 2003. (Chapter on East Asia)
- Song, Hae-Yung. “Marxist Critiques of the Developmental State and the Fetishism of National Development.” Antipode 45, no. 5, 2013: 1254–1276.
- Stubbs, Richard. “What Ever Happened to the East Asian Developmental State? The Unfolding Debate.” The Pacific Review 22, no. 1, 2009: 1–22.
- Wade, Robert, and Frank Veneroso. “The Asian Crisis: The High Debt Model versus the Wall Street–Treasury–IMF Complex.” New Left Review I/228, 1998: 3–23.
- Wade, Robert. “Japan, the World Bank, and the Art of Paradigm Maintenance: The East Asian Miracle in Political Perspective.” New Left Review I/217, 1996: 3–36.
Contenuti
1. What Does the “Rise of East Asia” Mean?
2. East Asia and the Capitalist World Economy before 1945
3. Colonial Legacies and the Developmental State
4. The Developmental State: Concepts and Debates
5. South Korea: State, Chaebol, and Authoritarian Industrialisation
6. Taiwan and the Comparative Political Economy of Development
7. The Plaza Agreement and the Transformation of Japanese Capitalism
8. Southeast Asia and the “Flying Geese” Narrative
9. Global Commodity Chains and Global Production Networks
10. The World Bank and The East Asian Miracle
11. Financial Liberalisation and the Erosion of the Developmental Model
12. The East Asian Financial Crisis of 1997–98
13. China’s Integration into East Asian Production Networks
14. From Export Platform to the “Factory of the World”
15. China-centred Regionalisation
16. The Middle-Income Trap: Economic Reality or Policy Narrative?
17. Uneven Upgrading in Southeast Asia
18. China from Manufacturing Power to Technological Contender
19. Working Conditions in Asian Factories
20. Labour Politics and Social Transformation
21. China’s Rise in World-System Perspective
2. East Asia and the Capitalist World Economy before 1945
3. Colonial Legacies and the Developmental State
4. The Developmental State: Concepts and Debates
5. South Korea: State, Chaebol, and Authoritarian Industrialisation
6. Taiwan and the Comparative Political Economy of Development
7. The Plaza Agreement and the Transformation of Japanese Capitalism
8. Southeast Asia and the “Flying Geese” Narrative
9. Global Commodity Chains and Global Production Networks
10. The World Bank and The East Asian Miracle
11. Financial Liberalisation and the Erosion of the Developmental Model
12. The East Asian Financial Crisis of 1997–98
13. China’s Integration into East Asian Production Networks
14. From Export Platform to the “Factory of the World”
15. China-centred Regionalisation
16. The Middle-Income Trap: Economic Reality or Policy Narrative?
17. Uneven Upgrading in Southeast Asia
18. China from Manufacturing Power to Technological Contender
19. Working Conditions in Asian Factories
20. Labour Politics and Social Transformation
21. China’s Rise in World-System Perspective
Lingua Insegnamento
Inglese
Altre informazioni
None
Corsi
Corsi
Relazioni e istituzioni dell'Asia e dell'Africa
Laurea Magistrale
2 anni
No Results Found
Persone
Persone
No Results Found
Altre Info
Insegnamento principale
THE RISE OF EAST ASIA IN THE WORLD ECONOMY