INTR3006 The Political Economy of East Asia

2015

4.5

1 x 50-minute tutorial weekly
1 x 2-hour seminar weekly

INTR3022 has been successfully completed

Associated majors: International Relations; Asian Studies; Development Studies

The political economy of East Asia focuses on the evolving patterns of economic integration and political regionalism since the emergence of a Japanese regional order in the 1980s. The topic assesses the impact of the Asian Economic Crisis of 1997/98 on East Asia's regional economic and political order, especially the rise of Chinese business and the emergence of India. The topic concludes with an assessment of the impact of the Global Financial Crisis on regional trends, as well as an assessment of the emergence of Australian and Japanese visions for new Asia Pacific and East Asian regional groupings respectively.

The aim of this topic is to introduce students to the broad political economy of East Asia over the past 25 years, focussing on the 'rise and decline' of the Japanese economic sphere, the impact of the Asian Economic Crisis of 1997/87 and the nature of the recovery, the subsequent emergence of a 'Sino-centric' regional economic order and the role that an 'increasingly present India' is playing. The Topic also traces the evoluiton and role of political regionalism in East Asia, its relationship with a broader Asia Pacific vision and likely future trends.

Students should have an appreciation of:

• the respective roles played by Japan, China and increasingly India in shaping the political economy of East Asia since the mid-1980s
• key debates over the growing importance of Chinese business in East Asia
• the importance of the Asian Economic Crisis of 1997/98
• key debates over the relative importance of political regionalism in East Asia
• the key regional groupings, their evolution and how they relate with each other