Will China Be Next Superpower?

Catalog description

This course has two focal points: one is the rise and fall of great powers in the history of world transformation; the other is China's whereabouts in this transition. The former deals with a group of International Relations theories, which focuses on systematic transformation. Students are expected to learn extant theoretical knowledge on how and why a great power rises and falls. The latter is our empirical referent. Students are led to study China's contemporary history, geopolitics, political economy, and international relations as to make a learned connection between theoretical wisdowm and practical data on China. This course will provide students with a better understanding of China in general and its superpower status in the making in world politics in particular, offer students a chance to reveiw the sources and consequences of different national approaches to greatness, and help students find his or her own analytical framework for understanding international political events that may have transforming effects in Northeast Asia as well as on the world stage. This course is cross-listed as POL 309. Students may not get credit for both GLS 309 and POL 309.