CURRICULUM PROPOSAL FORM #3

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-WHITEWATER

 

NEW COURSE

 

 

Effective:     Fall 2001                    If adding a Graduate component to an existing course, check here  ___

 

Course Number: *

820-472      

 

Cross Listed Number:

                 

Course Title:

Government and Politics of China                          

(limited to 65 characters)

 

15 Character Abbreviation:   GOV  POL CHINA                         

25 Character Abbreviation:   GOVER  POLITIC CHINA             

 

 

Sponsor:

Xia Li Lollar             

 

E-mail Address:

Lollarx@uwwvax.uww.edu

Department:

Political Science        

 

College:

Letters and Sciences          

 

 

 

 

 

Co-sponsor:

 

 

E-mail Address:

 

Department:

 

 

College:

 

 

* You MUST verify course numbers with Registrar's Office prior to submitting (x1211)

 

 

Other Programs Affected:

Asian Studies Minor, International Studies Minor, International Studies Major

 

 

Check if course is to meet any of the following requirements:

*None     __ Writing       __ Computer     __ Diversity       __ General Ed  and Area                             

 

 

Credit/Contact Hours: (per semester)

Total lab hours:         0                                Total lecture hours:                  48

Number of credits:    3                                Total contact hours:                 48

 

 

Check if course is repeatable:   *_  No       _ Yes (if yes, answer the following questions)

No of times in major                                       No of credits in major                 

No of times in degree                                      No of credits in degree               

 

 

Enter the appropriate titles if the course is required in any of the following:

 

Major Title(s)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minor Title(s)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emphasis Title(s)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Course justification:  

This course fills a curricular gap in the Political Science Curriculum.  Chinese Politics is a course in political science curricula in major four-year universities around the country.  This course will provide students with the analytical framework needed to understand Chinese government and politics.  In addition, it will increase the number of upper-level comparative politics courses offered in the Political Science Department.

 

Relationship to program assessment objectives:    

This course will meet the Political Science Assessment Plan objectives in the following ways: (1)  It will teach students about the comparative method as a research tool for understanding the politics in a non-democratic system ( Subject Matter Objectives 2);  (2)  Students will learn about major theories of studying  Chinese government and politics (Subject Matter Objectives 3c); (3)  Students will become acquainted with the structure, process, and operation of a non-American political system (Subject Matter Objectives 3c); (4)  Students will be aware of the varied ways in which government and political systems are organized and operated (Subject Matter Objectives 3c); (5) Students will, through extensive class discussion, writing assignments, and application of the comparative method, develop analytical skills needed to understand political phenomena (Cognitive Development Objective 1).

 

Budgetary impact:

There is no new funding required.  A faculty member in the Department has the expertise to teach this course and will teach it as part of her normal course rotation.  In light of this year’s changes to the General Education curriculum, we anticipate offering fewer sections of Global Perspectives (900-140), which will free up her more time to teach this course.

 

Course description:   

This course exposes students to the breadth of Chinese government and politics.  It briefly overviews the traditional Chinese system, its breakdown, and the rise of communism.  It also overviews a more detailed treatment of the characteristics and major events of the communist era. 

 

Course requisites:     

Any political science general studies course.

 

If dual listed, list graduate level requirements for the following:

1. Content (e.g., What are additional presentation/project requirements?)

2. Intensity (e.g., How are the processes and standards of evaluation different for graduates and undergraduates? )

3. Self-Directed (e.g., How are research expectations differ for graduates and undergraduates?)

                                                                

 

Course objectives and tentative course syllabus:               

 

Tentative Course Syllabus

This course presents an overview of the government structure and political process of the People’s Republic of China.  To place the overview in the larger societal context, we will begin with a summary of the historical background of the rise of Chinese Communism, moving to a description of the basic features of the political and economic system in the Maoist period.  We will then review how the Maoist revolution transformed China from a feudal empire, to chaotic warlordism, to destructive civil war conflict and war with Japan, and finally to an industrialized power that has built the fastest growing economy in the world.

 

This will be followed by an explanation of why the post-Mao leadership decided to adopt drastic structural reforms, to steer China away from a dogmatic system to a more pragmatic regime, from totalitarianism to authoritarianism, from a Stalinist command economy to market socialism, from xenophobic isolationism to active membership in the world community.  We will analyze the process of ideological liberalization, collective leadership, the rule of law in the political realm; as well as decollectivization and decentralization in agriculture, industries, and commerce in the economic sphere, and the policy of opening to the West.  To put these reforms in comparative and theoretical perspective, we will not only compare them with the experience of similar reforms in Eastern Europe, but also political and economic development of single party systems and developing nations.  We will end with the consideration of the epic events Tiananmen of June 1989, China’s relations with the United States and Russia, as well as her efforts to reunify Taiwan with the mainland.

 

Student Learning Objectives

The student will have a broadened knowledge about the possible range of political institutions and political behavior in a non-democratic system.  The students will learn to use the comparative method as a research tool for understanding the politics and governments around the world.  The students will increase empirical and analytical thinking about political phenomena in communist and post-communist countries.  The students will develop explanations for similarities and differences in the political life of countries around the world and understand the significance of these similarities and differences.

 

Course Requirements

1.      Attend classes regularly and participate in the weekly discussion session.  Class participation

      accounts for 15% of the course grade.

2.      Write a 6-8 page analytical review of key political, economic and social developments in China

      during the period of 1999-2001.  An example of the context of this assignment is as follows:

 

A U.S. company wants to invest $1.8 billion in a 20-year project in China and has already spent a substantial amount of money carrying out feasibility studies.  The company is now entering another stage of its decision making process and needs to review China’s current political situation in order to assess its implications for their investment scheme. 

 

In writing this review, students are advised to make use of primary sources published in Chinese newspapers and magazines many of which have web sites in English.  A separate hand-out on  suggested web sites will be distributed.   This assignment accounts for 25 % of the course grade.

 

3.      A mid-term exam (25%)

4.      A final exam (35%)

 

Required Texts

1.  Debra E. Soled, Editor, China: A Nation in Transition ( Washington, D.C. : Congressional Quarterly Inc.), 1995.

2.  Suzanne Ogden, Global Studies: China, 8th ed. (Guilford, CT: Dushkin/McGraw Hill), 2000.

 

Schedule

 

Week 1:                     Introduction and Overview:

                                               Geographical Setting and Historical Background

                                               Rise and Triumph of Chinese Communism

                                               Readings: Soled,  Ch.1

 

Week 2 and 3:          The Political and Economic System under Mao:

                                               Party and Government Organization

                                               Socialist Economy:  Planning and Development Strategies

                                               Readings: Soled, Ch.3

 

Week 4 -6:                 Post-Mao Economic Reforms:

                                               Reforms in Agriculture and Industries

                                               Reforms in Domestic and Foreign Trade

                                               Readings:  Soled, Chs. 5 & 6

                                               Global Studies:  Article 5  It Looks Like Spring Again in China

                                                                        Article 10  China’s Economy: Red  Alert

 

Week 7:                     Video Showing :

                                               *   Riding the Tigers (English)

 

Week 8-10:               Post-Mao Political Reforms:

                                               Legal and Political Reforms

                                               Liberalization and Civil Liberties

                                               Readings: Soled: Chs.  4 & 8

                                   Global Studies:   Article 6 Village Elections: Democracy from the Bottom Up?

                                               Article 15  Voice of the People

                                               Article 17  What Would Confucius Say Now?

                                               Article 19:  Holding Up Half the Sky: Women in China

 

Week 11:                  Video Showing:

                                   * China: Rising (English)

 

Week 12-15:              China and the World:

                                               Chinese Foreign Policy

                                               China in the World Community

                                               China’s Relations with  the United States and Russia

                                               China’s Relation with Japan

                                               Taiwan and Hong Kong

 

                                               Readings:   Soled: Chs: 7, 9 &10

                                               Global Studies:  Article 2  China and the World

                                               Article 8   The “Chinese Threat” Is Overblown

                                               Article 20  Riding the Internet Wave: One Man’s Tech

                                                            Firm Connects China with the Rest of the World

                                               Article 24 Taiwan Survey

                                               Article 28  How Hong Kong May Vitalize China

 

 

Week 16:  Final Exam 

 

 

Bibliography

(Key or essential references only.  Normally the bibliography should be no more than one or two pages in length.  Indicate current library holdings by placing an asterisk [*])

 

*Burstein, Daniel & Arne de Keijzer.  Big Dragon: China’s Future: What It Means for Business, the

      Economy, and the Global Order.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998.

 

*Chen, Feng.  Economic Transition and Political Legitimacy in Post-Mao China: Ideology and Reform.

      New York: State University of New York Press, 1995.

 

*Doolin, Dennis & Charles Ridley. A Chinese-English Dictionary of Communist Chinese Terminology.

        Stanford: Hoover Institute Press, 1973.

 

*Harding, Harry.  China’s Second Revolution: Reform after Mao.  Washington, D.C.: The Brookings

       Institution, 1987.

 

* Joseph, William. China Briefing: The Contradictions of Change. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1979.

 

*Kim, Samuel. China and the World: Chinese Foreign Policy in the Post-Mao Era. Boulder and London:

        Westview Press, 1984.

 

*Lampton, David & Catherine Keyser. China’s Global Presence: Economics, Politics, and Security.

        Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1988.

 

*Lichtenstein, Peter.  China at the Brink: The Political Economy of Reform and Retrenchment in the Post-

       Mao Era.  New York: Praeger Publishers, 1991.

 

*Macciocchi. Maria Antonietta. Daily Life in Revolutionary China.  New York & London: Monthly

        Review Press, 1972.

 

*Nathan, Andrew.  China’s Crisis: Dilemmas of Reform and Prospects for Democracy. New York:

       Columbia University Press, 1990.

 

*Nathan, Andrew. “Is China Ready  for Democracy?” Journal of Democracy 1 (Spring 1990):51

         (on line)

 

*Schell, Orville & David Shambangh.  The China Reader: The Reform Era. New York: Vintage

       Books, 1999.

 

*Schram, Stuart.  Authority Participation and Cultural Change in China.  Cambridge: Cambridge

      University  Press, 1973.

 

Shi, Tianjian. Political Participation in Beijing. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.

 

*Teiwes, Frederick.  Politics & Purges in China. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1979.

 

White, Gordon. “Prospects for Civil Society  in China:  A Case Study of Xiaoshan City.”  The

       Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 29 (Summer 1990): 73.

 

*Xu, Ben.  Disenchanted Democracy: Chinese Cultural Criticism after 1989.  Ann Arbor: The University

       of Michigan Press, 1999.

 

*Ying, Machael & Susan Marsh.  China in the Era of Deng Xiaoping: A Decade of Reform.  New York:

      M.E. Sharpe, 1993.

 

 

Notes:

§         Please submit electronically when approved at the college level - signature sheet to follow in hard copy.

§         The 15 and 25 character abbreviations may be edited for consistency and clarity.