150138 SE Political Systems in East Asia (2021S)

*** Students from other study programs than EcoS can enroll in this exercise course. However, EcoS students enjoy priority in the allocation of course places. EcoS STUDENTS MUST ALSO ENROL IN THE EXERCISE COURSE ON POLITICAL SYSTEMS IN East Asia (UE 150136)! ***

This seminar will start in an online format (via the e-learning platform Moodle), but if the governmental and university regulations on COVID-19 allow, it will be switched to a hybrid format during the semester. Thus, in such a case students can opt to continue the class in the online format, as the sessions will be streamed online.

East Asia (North and Southeast Asia) encompasses a broad variety of political systems: While some are democratic (e.g., Japan, South Korea and Indonesia), some are authoritarian (e.g., China and Vietnam) and others are mixed (semi-authoritarian or semi-democratic; e.g., Singapore). Applying theoretical approaches from the field of comparative politics and governance research, this seminar will analyze and compare different East Asian political systems. The objective is to emphasize differences and similarities and ask whether there exists a specific Northeast, Southeast or even East Asian “model”.

A crucial step for this assessment is to classify the political systems according to ideal-typical criteria (e.g., democracy, authoritarian system, parliamentary or presidential republic ...). Subsequently, various aspects of a political system, i.e., the party, electoral, judicial or media system, will be defined. A guiding frame for the seminar will be the three dimensions “polity” (institutions and norms, e.g., constitution, government, parliament, electoral system or political culture), “policy” (material component of politics and governance, e.g., economic, defence, agricultural, media, technology defense policy) and “politics” (formal and informal bargaining processes among actors, e.g., political parties, trade unions, NGOs and lobbying groups).

In the first four units, we will read and discuss texts (via BigBlueButton) in order to select common methods and criteria to analyze a political system. Subsequently, students will apply this criteria on a specific East Asian country of their choice, forming a group with 2-3 other students. From week 5 on, the groups will present their findings (60–70 minutes) either online or, if possible, in class. In the last unit, we will compare the similarities and differences of the various political systems.

Learning aims:
(1) Students will acquire a deeper knowledge of theories, criteria and methods for analyzing a political system.
(2) Students learn how to apply these approaches on a specific case study.
(3) Students can highlight specific and common features of various political systems in East Asia.
(4) Students demonstrate their academic and writing skills gained during this study program in writing three short texts and a seminar paper, all in line with the academic requirements of the EcoS Master program.