Teaching

Comparative Politics

In today’s interconnected world, events and conflicts in one country can have ripple effects outside of its borders. Understanding the domestic politics of foreign countries is essential for grasping the major security, economic, and environmental challenges the world is facing. This is a beginner-level course introducing students to the central themes, theories, and concepts in comparative politics, as well as the basic tools of comparative analysis. It explores the fundamental questions about the role of states, civil society, institutions, culture, and history in shaping political outcomes such as regime change, political violence, and economic development. It systematically compares a wide range of political systems and examines the diverse patterns of political development and domestic politics across countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. Overall, the course promotes a more nuanced and empathetic worldview, enriches students’ understanding of the world, and prepares them for more advanced courses in political science and other related disciplines.

Issues in Contemporary China: Power and Politics

The objective of this course is to examine in depth the central aspects and substantial consequences of China’s economic and political reforms since the late 1970s, as well as their implications for political development in the rest of the world. The course will first review the general structure of China’s political system and how the legacies of the pre-reform period continue to influence China today. It will then trace the evolution of the reforms—the transition to a market-oriented economy, political institutionalization, and local experiments with democracy—with special attention paid to the formative years of the 1980s and the early 1990s. Finally, we will discuss how these reforms, remarkable as they are, have generated new issues in contemporary Chinese society, such as rural-to-urban migration, the emergence of the new underclass and elite groups, and increased popular protests and resistance. Throughout the course, we explore critical questions such as: Why do authoritarian regimes persist? What are the dilemmas of governing and political development? And last but not least, how do political culture, history, and institutions affect political outcomes and state-society relations?

Social Movements and Contentious Politics

This course introduces major theories and concepts in the literature of contentious politics. Our discussions revolve around such questions as: Under what conditions do movements and contention emerge? Why do people (not) participate? How do strategies of contention vary? Why are some successful while others fail? How do governments around the world respond to disruptive noninstitutionalized politics? And how do globalization and social media shape the dynamics of contention? To approach these questions, we rely on insights from comparative politics, sociology, psychology, history, and anthropology. Throughout the course, we will apply the theories to a diverse range of cases, including the Civil Rights Movement, the 1989 student movement in Beijing, the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, the Black Lives Matter movement, and other movements and contention associated with feminism, nationalism, environmentalism, Islamism, and universal rights.

Democracy and Democratization: East Asia and Beyond