INTL 440/540: The Pacific Challenge

Fall, 1997 
Gerald W. Fry 
Office Hours, Monday, 1:30-3; Friday, 2-4 

PLC 837 Phone: 346-5053 (O) 345-4387 (H) 
Email: gwf@oregon.uoregon.edu 

Graduate Teaching Fellows: 
Lisa Petersen , PLC 819 
Office Hours: T-Th 10-11 
Email: lisap@darkwing.uoregon.edu 

Syllabus
Course Requirements
Bibliography
Graduate Research Paper Guidelines
Key Journals
Japan Bibliography
Thailand Bibliography


The major objective of this seminar is to become familiar with major trends and changes in the Asia-Pacific region. Special attention will be directed to the new geography of the area. The seminar will blend a thematic with an area studies approach, and use the case study method for understanding major parts of the region. The development of Pacific literacy is another special theme of the seminar. A final and important question considered will be the future of the region and whether it can foster a new model of Asian development.



Week of September 29:
Critical assessment of terminology for discussing the Asia-Pacific region
Key definitional issues
The new geometry of the region
Critical assessment and analysis of basic statistical profiles

Readings:

Kenichi Ohmae, The End of the Nation State: The Rise of Regional Economies (New York: The Free Press, 1995), pp. 1-25.
Francis Fukuyama, et al., "A Cartography of Cultures and Economies," New Perspectives Quarterly (Winter, 1995): 5-24.
Ravi Arvind Palat, "Review Essay: Reinscribing the Globe--Imaginative Geographies of the Pacific Rim, " Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars," 29,1 (January-March 1997): 61-69.

Week of October 6:
Development of basic Pacific literacy
Mini-presentations on various Asia-Pacific polities

Reading:

Jim Rohwer, Asia Rising (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995), pp. 1-47.

Week of October 13:
Completion of mini-presentations
Reasons for the importance and success of the Asia-Pacific region

Readings:

Rohwer, Asia Rising, pp. 48-94.,
Ohmae, The End of the Nation State, pp. 27-78.

Week of October 20:
Discussion of the Krugman hypothesis regarding the myth of Asian dynamism
Beginning case study: The future of Japan and its role in the Asian region?

Readings:

Paul Krugman, "The Myth of Asia's Miracle," Foreign Affairs 73, 6 (November 1994): pp. 62-77.
O-young Lee,Smaller is Better: Japan's Mastery of the Miniature (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1984).
Peter Landers, et al., "The New Japan," Far Eastern Economic Review (July 31, 1997): 46-51, 54.
Ohmae, The End of the Nation State, pp. 117-140.

Week of October 27:
Case study of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese diaspora in the region

Readings:

Rohwer, Asia Rising, pp. 115-166.
Ohmae, The End of the Nation State, pp. 101-115.
Matt Forney, "China: Gather Round," Far Eastern Economic Review (July 31, 1997): 14-15.
Hongshan Li, "China Talks Back," Journal of Contemporary China (March 1997): 153-160.
Fei-Ling Wang, "Ignorance, Arrogance, and Radical Nationalism, A Review of China Can Say No," Journal of Contemporary China (March 1997): 161-165.
Peter Van Ness, "Review Article: The Impasse in US Policy Toward China," The China Journal (July 1997): 139-150.

Week of November 3
Case study of the Kingdom of Thailand
Thailand and the world
The current economic and political crisis in Thailand

Readings:

Richard Robison and David Goodman, The New Rich in Asia, pp. 134-160.
Assif Shameen, "Worse than You Think: Thailand Teeters as It Grapples with a Tough Rescue Package," Asia Week (August 15, 1997): 42-44, 47-49.
Ohmae, The End of the Nation State, pp. 151-171.

Week of November 10:
Case study of Indonesia, the most important country about which we know the least.

Reading:

Richard Robison and David Goodman, The New Rich in Asia, pp. 76-101.

Week of November 17:
Case study of the Lao People's Democratic Republic: Buddhism cum Communism
Case study of Vietnam: "The Future Japan of Southeast Asia?"

Readings:

Mayoury Ngaosyvathn, Lao Women Yesterday and Today(Vientiane: Ministry of Culture, 1995), pp. 95-155.
Phan Huy Le, et al., The Traditional Village in Vietnam (Hanoi: The Gioi Publishers, 1993), pp. 375-391.
Le Dang Doanh and Adam McCarty, pp. 99-153 in Seiji Naya and Joseph L.H. Tan (eds.) Asian Traditional Economies (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1995).

Week of November 24:
Challenges facing the South Pacific
Iridium and Ecotopia: a New Asia-Pacific Epoch: Anticipating the future

Readings:

Ron Crocombe, "The Pacific Islands Potentials and Options for the 21st Century," Journal of the Pacific Society (September 1992): 119-154.
Special Iridium material to be placed on reserve.

Week of December 1:
The future of the region and regional cooperation
Japan and the flying geese concept

Readings:

Maskazu Yamazaki, "Asia: A Civilization in the Making," Foreign Affairs (July/August 1996), pp. 106-118.
Yoichi Funabashi, Asia Pacific Fusion: Japan's Role in APEC (Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics, 1995), pp. 205-243.
Ohmae, The End of the Nation State, pp. 141-149.

Requirements: Undergraduate students

20% : Mini-presentation; active involvement in seminar; and written critique of at least one on-campus lecture fall term related to the seminar. The critique is due no later than November 19.

30%: Critical review of the three texts for the course. Your first two critical reviews are due by November 12. The final critical review is due by November 26.

50%: Take-home written examination. To be distributed the week of December 1 and due by 5 pm, December 10 of finals week.

Requirements: Graduate students

20%: Mini-presentation; active involvement in seminar; and written critique of at least one on-campus lecture fall term related to the seminar. The written critique is due by November 19.

30% Critical integrated review of the three course texts and a critical review of the Krugman article. These two papers are due by November 26.

50% A research paper on a topic of your choice related to the Asia Pacific region or nation(s) thereof. Details will be provided later. Your proposed topic should be submitted in writing by no later than October 15. A tentative preliminary bibliography should be attached.

Should undergraduates prefer, they may opt for the graduate requirements.

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