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SGIA3601: China in the Asian Century: Domestic Challenges, Global Rise.

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Type Open
Level 3
Credits 20
Availability Not available in 2023/24
Module Cap None.
Location Durham
Department Government and International Affairs

Prerequisites

  • Any Level 2 SGIA module

Corequisites

  • None

Excluded Combinations of Modules

  • None

Aims

  • To provide students with an in-depth knowledge and understanding of how Chinas domestic challenges influence its international rise. This will be done through the in-depth assessment of Chinas key domestic challenges as well as its major foreign policy initiatives which signal Chinas rise as a dominant regional and global power.
  • To provide students with an in-depth understanding of how theoretical approaches have been, or could be, applied to the study of key contemporary issues in the Chinese domestic and international politics.
  • To enable students to critically evaluate leading scholarship in the field of Chinese politics.

Content

  • Indicative module content addresses:
  • Chinese state-building;
  • Nationalism and ethnic tensions;
  • Chinese authoritarian governance model and elite politics;
  • State-society relations in China;
  • The labour relations and political economy in China;
  • The environmental degradation and transition to green policies;
  • Chinas place in East Asian regional order;
  • Chinas globalisation project through Belt and Road Initiative, the adaptation to IR norms and expansion of Chinas global normative power; and the role of Chinas rise in development of IR theories.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:

  • Knowledge and understanding of the relationship between Chinas domestic contestations and its growing interactions with the outside world;
  • Knowledge and understanding of the dimensions of political and social change in contemporary China in general terms of ideology, organisation, elite politics, state-society relations and political economy.
  • Knowledge and understanding of the theory and concepts of social science that shape and inform our understanding of societies undergoing rapid change, and their application to the specific dimensions of change in the PRCs domestic and foreign policy;
  • Knowledge and understanding of the impact of these domestic developments on Chinas foreign policy and its behaviour in international relations, with the application of appropriate IR theories.

Subject-specific Skills:

  • On satisfying the requirements for this module students will be able to:
  • Demonstrate a balanced understanding of the relationship between Chinas domestic contestations and its growing interactions with the outside world;
  • Utilise advanced scholarly resources, statistics and materials to establish sound academic judgement about the process and construction of Chinas domestic and international political developments;
  • Apply relevant theories, concepts, and historical frames of reference to contemporary political, economic, and strategic developments in the particular country-context;
  • Communicate their understanding about Chinese domestic politics, foreign policy, and broader international relations in a clear and concise way through assignments, oral presentations, and class participation.

Key Skills:

  • Demonstrate a critical approach to the content of the module and a capacity to defend this intellectually;
  • Demonstrate independent thought in analysing and critiquing existing scholarship on the subject area and in evaluating its contribution;
  • Demonstrate independent learning within a defined framework of study
  • Demonstrate the ability to work to a deadline and complete written work within word limits;
  • Demonstrate high levels of research skills using a wide range of scholarly resources, including a creative use of library and internet sources, and the ability to accurately assess the suitability and quality of the resources;
  • Show flexibility in using knowledge and subject specific skills to meet the specific demands of the module;
  • Demonstrate self-direction and responsibility in producing a group summative assignment (presentation).

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

  • Students are taught through lectures and seminars evolving around 9 themes. Lectures introduce the main theoretical, conceptual and empirical frameworks for the study of Chinas domestic and international politics for each theme, and are designed to ensure that students with differential knowledge levels approach the subsequent seminars with an appropriate level of understanding.
  • Seminars develop students skills in communication and argumentation. Discussion and debate deepen students knowledge and understanding of different points and perspectives.
  • Students are encouraged to submit a 1500-word formative group report to allow for written feedback before the summative group report is submitted. The group report will be on one of the topics covered in the Michaelmas term. This assessment is designed to give students the chance to reflect in collaborative manner on Chinas domestic politics. The chosen topic cannot be the same as in the subsequent group project.
  • Students are required to submit a summative essay of 3,000 words at the end of the module. This enables them to demonstrate their subject knowledge and scholarly writing skills.
  • Teamwork represents a key transferable skill. Seminar strategic report will grant students with innovative, transferable skill of report-writing focused on policy recommendation and analytical assessment of a chosen topic in Chinas domestic politics or international relations. Students will work together to develop such a report, and in order to ensure fare division of labour, they will be asked to assess each others input.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

ActivityNumberFrequencyDurationTotalMonitored
Lectures10Distributed appropriately across all terms1 hour10 
Seminars9Fortnightly 2 hours18 
Preparation and Reading172 
Total200 

Summative Assessment

Component: EssayComponent Weighting: 70%
ElementLength / DurationElement WeightingResit Opportunity
Essay3,000100None
Component: Group Assignment Component Weighting: 30%
ElementLength / DurationElement WeightingResit Opportunity
Research Group Report 1,50080None
Self-Assessment Form1 page A420None

Formative Assessment

The formative assessment for the module consists of a group strategy, a 1,500 words report in relation to some of the key challenges discussed in the lectures and the seminars in the first part of the module ('Domestic challenges').

More information

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