Asian Politics - PSC 253/353
Political Science
University of Alabama, Birmingham
Instructor: Dr. Lisa Sharlach
sharlach@uab.edu
Phone: 205-934-8675
This course provides an overview of the relationship between state and society in contemporary Asia. We begin the semester with an in-depth study of Pakistan (and, indirectly, Bangladesh, India and Afghanistan). We then commence a thematic study of issues of nationalism, culture, and economic development in the Asian Pacific.
Summer 9-Week Session 2005
Jun 7 — Introduction
Jun 14 — Pakistan, Chs. 1-3
Jun 21 — Pakistan, Chs. 4-6
Jun 28 — Pakistan, Chs. 7-9
Jul 5 —
Asian Pacific, Chs. 1-3
Jul 12 —
Asian Pacific, Ch. 4
Jul 19 —
Asian Pacific, Ch. 6
Jul 26 —
Asian Pacific, Chs. 5-8
Aug 2 —
Asian Pacific, Ch. 9 & review
Final Exam: TBA
Required Books (available at campus bookstore and Snoozy’s):
Cohen, Stephen Phillip. The Idea of Pakistan.
Simone, Vera. The Asian Pacific: Political and Economic Development in a Global Context. Second edition.
Course Requirements:
Weekly Quizzes – 8 at 6% each – 48%
Class Presentation – 32%. Each student will make a presentation of fifteen to twenty minutes in class on a current issue in Asian politics. The presentation should include a summary and analysis of one of the following reports.
Options – India’ s Tsunami Reconstruction (“After the Deluge”) – 6/28
Bhopal Disaster (Indian Environmental Catastrophe) 20 Years On -- 6/28
“Disappearances” in Nepal – 6/28
“Adult Wars, Child Soldiers” (UNICEF) – 7/5
Child Soldiers in Sri Lanka -- 7/5
Drug War & Human Rights in Thailand – 7/5
China, Pakistan, & the Bomb (declassified U.S. security documents) – 7/12
Condom Policy in the Philippines – 7/19
Abortion in Nepal – 7/19
Repression of China’s Muslims – 7/19
Sex trafficking in 3 Thai villages (all 3 reports) – 7/19
Money Lending & Laundering (both papers on this page) – 7/26
Avian Flu (all sections under “Focus”) – 7/26
UNEP ‘s “After the Tsunami” (the Asian case studies only) - 7/26
North Korea and the Bomb (the 2005 articles and the chapter from “Deadly Arsenals”) – 7/26
Final Exam (take-home paper) – 20%. The final exam will contain material from the assigned readings, lectures, and student in-class presentations.
