There will be two in-class short-answer exams. The exams will draw on material from both the readings and lectures. Students will also be required to write two analytical take-home essays on questions that will be assigned during the course. The first essay will be approximately 1,500 words in length, while the second essay will be approximately 3,000 words.
Requirements for 17.434 (Graduate)
Students may enroll in the graduate version of this course only with the instructor's permission. Graduate students are expected to read an additional 150 pages per week listed as "recommended" (for 17.433) in the readings section. These readings will assist students in mapping the academic literature on East Asia's international relations in preparation for further study or research projects.
Graduates must write two essays as well as two book précis. These 3,000-3,600 word essays will be synthetic, integrating the empirical data and the theories introduced in the course, and require students to think broadly about the key variables shaping the international relations of the region. A précis is a concise book summary of approximately 600 words to be selected from the list given under "Précis Assignment" below.
Précis Assignment
A précis is short and concise summary of a scholarly book, approximately 600 words in length. A précis should capture the essence of a longer argument, summarizing the argument, theory and data presented by the work's author. A précis is not a book review or a critique. Each précis will be shared with the rest of the class.
Précis I
Barnhardt, Michael. Japan Prepares for Total War: The Search for Economic Security, 1919-1941. Cornell University Press, 1987.
Buszynski, Leszek. SEATO: The Failure of an Alliance Strategy. Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1983.
Jian, Chen. Road to the Korean War. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.
Gelb, Leslie H., with Richard K. Betts. The Irony Of Vietnam: The System Worked. Washington: Brookings Institution, 1979.
Gurtov, Melvin, and Byong-Moo Hwang. China Under Threat: The Politics of Strategy and Diplomacy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980.
Kahin, George McT. Intervention: How America Became Involved in Vietnam. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986.
Khong, Yuen Foong. Analogies At War: Korea, Munich, Dien Bien Phu and the Vietnam Decisions of 1965. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992.
Krepinevich, Andrew F. The Army and Vietnam. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986.
Morris, Stephen. Why Vietnam Invaded Cambodia: Political Culture And The Causes Of War. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999.
Rotter, Andrew. Path to Vietnam: Origins Of The American Commitment To Southeast Asia. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1987.
Ross, Robert S. The Indochina Tangle: China's Vietnam Policy, 1975-79. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.
Sheng, Michael M. Battling Western Imperialism: Mao, Stalin, And The United States. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.
Stueck, William Whitney, Jr. The Road to Confrontation: American Policy Toward China and Korea, 1947-50. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1981.
Whiting, Allen. China Crosses the Yalu. New York: Macmillan, 1960.
Wich, Richard. Sino-Soviet Crisis Politics: A Study Of Political Change And Communication. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980.
Zagoria, Donald. The Sino-Soviet Conflict: 1956-1961. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1962.
Qiang, Zhai. China And The Vietnam Wars: 1950-1975. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000.
Shuguang, Zhang. Deterrence and Strategic Culture: Chinese-American confrontations, 1949-1958. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992.
Shuguang, Zhang. Economic Cold War: America's Embargo Against China And The Sino-Soviet Alliance, 1949-1963. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001.
Précis II
Abuza, Zachary. Militant Islam in Southeast Asia: Crucible of Terror. Lynne Rienner, 2003.
Acharya, Amitav. The Quest for Identity: International Relations of Southeast Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Acharya, Amitav. Constructing A Security Community In Southeast Asia: ASEAN And The Problem Of Regional Order. New York: Routledge, 2001.
Cha, Victor D., and David C. Kang. Nuclear North Korea. Columbia University Press, 2003.
Cha, Victor D. Alignment Despite Antagonism: The United States-Korea-Japan Security Triangle. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999.
Chan, Steve. East Asian Dynamism: Growth, Order and Security in the Pacific Region. Boulder: Westview, 1990.
Emmers, Ralf. Cooperative Security and the Balance of Power in ASEAN and the ARF. New York: Routledge, 2003.
Haggard, Stephan. Pathways from the Periphery: The Politics of Growth in the Newly Industrialized Countries. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990.
Foot, Rosemary. The Practice of Power: US Relations with China since 1949. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Green, Michael J. Japan's Reluctant Realism. New York: Palgrave, 2001.
Hatch, Walter, and Kozo Yamamura. Asia in Japan's Embrace: Building a Regional Production Alliance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Katzenstein, Peter J. Cultural Norms and National Security: Police and Military in Postwar Japan. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996.
Lardy, Nicholas R. Integrating China into the Global Economy. Washington: Brookings, 2002.
Lincoln, Edward. Troubled Times: U.S.-Japan Trade Relations in the 1990s. Washington: Brookings, 1999.
Lincoln, Edward. East Asian Regionalism. Washington: Brookings, 2004.
Lim, Robyn. The Geopolitics of East Asia: The Search for Equilibrium. New York: Routledge, 2003.
Pyle, Kenneth B. The Japanese Question: Power and Purpose in a New Era. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute, 1992.
Ravenhill, John. APEC and the Construction of Pacific Rim Regionalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Ross, Robert. Negotiating Cooperation: The United States And China, 1969-1989. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995.
Rozman, Gilbert. Northeast Asia's Stunted Regionalism: Bilateral Distrust in the Shadow of Globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Samuels, Richard J. 'Rich Nation, Strong Army': National Security and Japan's Technological Transformation. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994.
Sigal, Leon. Disarming Strangers: Nuclear Diplomacy With North Korea. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.
Scobell, Andrew. China's Use of Military Force: Beyond the Great Wall and the Long March. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Tow, William T. Encountering the Dominant Player: US Extended Deterrence Strategy in the Asia-Pacific. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991.
Wade, Robert. Governing the Market: Economic Theory and the Role of Government in East Asian Industrialization. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003.
Jianwei, Wang. Limited Adversaries: Post-Cold War Sino-American Mutual Images. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Suisheng, Zhao. Power Competition in East Asia. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997.