Prof William Callahan CBG.9.05

This course is available on the MSc in China in Comparative Perspective, MSc in International Relations, MSc in International Relations (LSE and Sciences Po) and MSc in International Relations (Research). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

All students are required to obtain permission from the Teacher Responsible by completing the online application form linked to course selection on LSE for You. Admission is not guaranteed.

This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access) and demand is typically high.

This course will provide students with an historical overview of the development of Chinese foreign and security policy, the theoretical concepts used for analysing the making of Chinese foreign policy, and an up-to-date survey of China's evolving relations around the world. The first 5 weeks will be dedicated to providing a long historical perspective, and use a number of case studies to show how basic factors used in foreign policy analysis shape policy outcomes, including economic factors, the role of perception, geopolitical influences, bureaucratic politics, nationalism, and socialisation into the international system. The remainder of the course will involve analysing case studies on China's relations with the United States, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and on the topical issues of the Belt and Road Initiative, and global cyber-politics.

This course is delivered through a combination of classes and lectures totaling a minimum of 40 hours across Michaelmas, Lent and Summer Term. This year, some or all of this teaching will be delivered through a combination of online lectures and in-person classes/classes delivered online.

Students on this course will have a reading week in Week 6, in line with departmental policy. 

Students will complete two 2,000 word essays during the course and will make two presentations to the seminar. It is permissible for the presentations to be on the same topics as the essays.

Economy, Elizabeth C., The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State, Oxford University Press, 2019.

Yahuda, Michael, The International Politics of the Asia-Pacific, 4 edn. London: Routledge, 2019.

French, Howard. Everything under the heavens: how the past helps shape China's push for global power. London: Scribe UK, 2017.

Christensen, Thomas J. The China Challenge: Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power. New York: W.W. Norton, 2015.

Shambaugh, David. China Goes Global. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.

Liao, Xuanli Chinese Foreign Policy Think Tanks and China's Policy Towards Japan. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2006.

Take-home assessment (100%) in the ST.

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