2018/19 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

EAST5017M China and the Developing World

15 creditsClass Size: 50

Module manager: Dr Kweku Ampiah
Email: k.ampiah@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2018/19

This module is approved as an Elective

Module summary

The evolving relationship between China and the developing world is one of the most fascinating and important developments in international development and international relations in the 21st century. China’s relations with Africa and Southeast Asia have seen profound changes, not least in the phenomenal growth in trade between Beijing and many of the countries in the two regions. With the global expansion of China's international trade has come growth in China’s direct and indirect involvement in the processes of economic development of the developing world, which has empowered many of the developing countries of Africa and Asia to grow their economies. China's on-going contributions towards infrastructure projects and development initiatives of the developing countries further underlines its role in the transformation some of these countries have experienced since the latter part of the 1990s. While these developments have been constructive in certain regards they have also raised concerns about China's insatiable consumption of raw materials and the resultant impact on the political-economy of the developing countries; the impact on the environment has also been part of the normative discourse. Reactions to China’s expanding relations with the developing countries have varied; responses from the Western countries have tended to be interrogative and critical. On the other hand, the governments of the developing countries have largely been amenable and receptive to China's initiatives. The module would explore Beijing's overall ambitions in its engagements with the developing world with the view to determining China’s specific and overall interests in the developing countries. The geo-political implications of China's expanding role in the developing countries would be investigated.

Objectives

- To improve students' understanding of China’s growing power in international affairs in the 21st Century.
- To alert students to China's specific interests, economically and politically, in the developing world.
- To explore China's roles in economic development in Asia and Africa.
- To evaluate the forms and operations of China's Direct Overseas Investment in the developing countries.
- To examine China's impact on global energy security
- To examine and assess the impact China's growing influence globally has had on governance in the developing world.
- To explore the forms of domestic opposition (in the African and Asian countries) to China’s impact on their countries.
- Interrogate the West's critique of China's influence in the developing world.

Learning outcomes
- Knowledge acquired of the development of China's growing power in international affairs.
- Knowledge acquired of the discourses in International Relations and International Development about China's role in global affairs.
- Understand the nature and operations of China's 'development assistance' compared to the West's.
- Appreciate the especially significant impact China is having on current global energy security predicaments, and its likely future impacts.
- Consider the socio-technical, socio-cultural, geopolitical, governance, industrial, geographic and environmental dimensions of China's growing engagement with the developing world.

Syllabus

- East Asian International Relations post 1945
- Post-colonial International Politics in the context of the Cold War: The Discourse of the Bandung Conference of 1955
- The Post-Cold War era and China's growing power
- The forms and operations of Chinese Direct Investment in the developing world.
- China's energy interests in Southeast Asia.
- China's evolving relations with the African countries
- China's raw materials and energy interests in Africa

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	10	1.00	10.00
Seminar	10	1.00	10.00
Independent online learning hours			8.00
Private study hours			122.00
Total Contact hours			20.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			150.00

Private study

Preparation for weekly seminars – 10 x 2 hours = 20 hours
Researching, planning and writing up assessment essay = 30 hours
Independent online learning (online tutorials such as academic integrity/referencing and web of science (tutorials offered by skills@library) 8 hours

Revising for examination = 20
Preparatory reading for lectures = 50 hours

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

- Through seminar presentations and regular weekly discursive interaction of students in the classes (mainly seminars) with the module tutor
- Assessment essay and feedback on it before the end of semester examination
- Revision in class
- Tutor office hours

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	3,000 words	50.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		50.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Exams

Exam type	Exam duration	% of formal assessment
Unseen exam	2 hr 00 mins	50.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)		50.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 30/04/2018

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