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This seminar offers an overview of basic patterns and recent developments of Chinese foreign strategy, China’s positioning on the global stage and Chinese imaginations of world order. Part I introduces students to the key assumptions of International Relations (IR) theories, tools and instruments of foreign policy analysis as well as key studies on China’s foreign policy from ancient times to the present. This part will also touch upon the ongoing debate regarding the construction of a “Chinese School of International Relations”. Furthermore, it will assess the universality versus particularity of IR theories, their applicability to the analysis of China and East Asia as well as the post-modern/post-cultural/post-structuralist turn in recent meta-debates in the fields of IR studies. Part II focuses on China’s bilateral relations with its neighboring countries in Asia, great powers (especially the US and Russia) as well as Europe. Part III turns to the global level and examines China’s role in international organizations, regional frameworks of cooperation, and multilateral networks. This final part also addresses China’s new bargaining power in processes of global deliberation and its efforts to reform the post-WWII institutional settings.
The seminar includes case studies that illustrate the causal interrelation and codetermination of the domestic and international dimensions of Chinese politics. To develop students’ analytical skills, student teams will have to design and conduct their own small research projects (e.g. on China’s soft power; nationalism and Chinese foreign policy etc.). These projects will be coordinated and documented via the seminar’s Moodle classroom. |
