Prospectus

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Modern China: Political Participation in China

Course
2014-2015

Admission requirements

Students who are interested in taking this course, but who are not admitted to one of the mentioned master programmes are requested to contact their co-ordinator of studies.

Description

Since 1989, one of the main questions about developments in China has been whether China will democratize and how this might happen. This course investigates how the Chinese people actually participate in politics and will provide theoretical tools to analyse how this participation relates to popular voice, political stability, regime legitimacy, and governance. The course takes seriously not only the forms of participation first developed in Western countries, but also the possibility that there can be other culturally or ideologically shaped ways to influence policy. It examines critically actual experiences of democratization outside China and takes into account various traditions of democracy.

Course objectives

Students will use their personal learning journals and their participation in discussions in the class to form their own analytical, informed and well-articulated view about what to expect of the Chinese political system and its future developments. Their skills to consider various approaches and alternatives and to present their case orally and in writing will be appreciated.

Timetable

Check timetable

Mode of instruction

Lecture
Seminar

Course Load

A brief calculation of the course load, broken down by:

  • Total course load for the course (number of EC x 28 hours): 10 EC = 280 hours.

  • Hours spent on attending lectures and seminars: 24 hours

  • Time for studying the compulsory literature and writing course diaries: 140 hours

  • Time to write a paper (including reading / research): 116 hours

Assessment method

33% learning journals
33% class participation
33% final essay

Resit is only available to students whose grade is below 6. The course needs to be resit as a whole and this means a 10 000-word-long final paper which forms 100% of the grade.

Blackboard

Yes, see for more info Blackboard

Reading list

See blackboard.

Registration

Registration through uSis