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  4. Asian Studies

Asian Studies

Objectives

a) To provide students with the necessary skills to be able to understand the Asia continent;


b) To understand the enormous heterogeneity and History of this continent as well
as to be able to recognize and contextualize the particular characteristics of the
Asian regions: East, Southeast, South, Central and Western;
c) To study the main Asian countries at their regional levels taking into account the
political, economic and social dimensions;
d) To critically discuss the impact of the rise of India and China in the regional
contexts and their relationship with Europe and the USA;
e) To critically discuss the several approaches that portrait the 21st century as the
century of Asia or of the Pacific.

General characterization

Code

722071087

Credits

10.0

Responsible teacher

Ana Raquel Coutinho Rosa Vaz Pinto

Hours

Weekly - Available soon

Total - 280

Teaching language

Portuguese

Prerequisites

Available soon

Bibliography

SHAMBAUGH, David, YAHUDA, Michael (2014), International Relations of Asia, New
York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
YAHUDA, Michael (2011), The International Politics of the Asia Pacific: Since 1945,
New York: Routledge.
FRANKOPAN, Peter (2015), The Silk Roads, A New History of the World, London:
Bloomsbury.
ECONOMY, Elizabeth C. (2018), The Third Revolution, Xi Jinping and the New Chinese
State, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
ROY, Olivier (2009), The New Central Asia, Geopolitics and the Birth of Nations,
London and New York: I. B. Tauris.
AYRES, Alyssa (2018), Our Time has Come, How India is making its place in the world,
Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
AUSLIN, Michael R. (2017), The End of the Asian Century, War, Stagnation, and the
Risks to the Worlds most dynamic region, New Haven and London: Yale University
Press
MCGREGOR, Richard (2017), Asias reckoning, the struggle for global dominance,
London: Allen Lane.

Teaching method

Theoretical and practical teaching with interactive lectures by the professor and
based on previously selected bibliography. Besides the discussion resulting from the
readings the essay proprosal will be presented and debated in classes.
Evaluation consists in a written exam on the themes studied in Part I of the
programme and in the writing of an individual essay (7500 words including notes and
excluding bibliography, either in portuguese or english) on one of the topics of Parts
II and III of the Programme of course, being that the specific theme of the essay
needs to be previously approved by the professor. The discussion of the readings and
participation in classes will also be evaluated.

Evaluation method

Essay(50%), Participation in classes and presentation(20%), Written Exam(30%)

Subject matter

Nowadays it is very common to portrait the 21st century as the Asian or Pacific
century. To understand and to critically reflect upon this perspective we opted to
centre our course on three pillars: a characterization of the continent, an analysis of
its five regions and the way India and China relate to the rest of the world.
Part I: The rise of Asia
I. The Heterogeneity and History of Asia
II. The post-1945 Asian dynamism: the political and economic affirmation
III. The main regions and its particular characteristics: East, Southeast, South, Central
and Western
Part II: Asia and its regions
IV. Eastern Asia and the leadership of China
V. Southeast Asia and the search for an identity
VI. India and South Asia
VII. Central Asia and the challenges of a post-soviet world
VIII. The rediscovery of Western Asia
Parte III: Asia and the World
IX. India and China and their relationships with Europe and the USA: a strategic
analysis
X. The Asian or Pacific 21st century?