Time Schedule:
Yong-Chool Ha
JSIS 584
Seattle Campus
Seminar. Course content varies. Offered occasionally by visiting or resident faculty.
Class description
This course is designed to introduce students at higher level (upper under and MA level) to distinctive aspects of foreign policy making process and foreign policies of South Korea since 1945. It will focus on the evolution of South Korea’s foreign policy in terms of historical legacies, economic, political and international changes. The main focus of this course will be on South Korea while North Korea’s case will be addressed to the extent that it is relevant to South Korea. More specifically the following questions will be discussed: the impact of the colonial rule on Korea's international perspectives, Korean war and peninsula, democratization and foreing policy, and successful industrialization and international relations. All the discussions will be conducted in a comparative perspective in terms of late industrialization, democratization and small state foreign policy.
Student learning goals
At conceptual and theoretical level, this course will introduce contending approaches and conceptual models on foreign policy-making which guide students in understanding universal and distinctive aspects of the case of Korea. Detailed materials on foreign policy making process in Korea will be obtained and made available to students, so that they can do intellectual exercise in correlating raw materials to theories and conceptual frameworks.
The linkage between international structure and foreign policy will be further clarified through the case of Korea. It will focus on the impact of international structure on the level of autonomy in foreign policy of a small state like Korea. South Korean’s case will be compared with other cases of small state in terms of its policy choices and strategies for survival.
Student will learn the relationship between domestic economic and political changes and foreign policy. Korea has experienced tumultuous process of economic and political changes for the last four decades. The course will closely examine how industrial success has affected patterns and substance of foreign policy in Korea. More importantly it will also analyze how democratization has been influencing foreign policy process and substance.
Studens will learn past and present issues in major bi-lateral relations of Korea with the United States, China, Russia and Japan and its role as a regional power in Northeast and East Asia.
General method of instruction
The class will be conductd by the combination of lecture and discussion. The instructor will provide basic facts, different view points and conceptual frameworks, and students will bring their own questions and comments to class for discussion.
Recommended preparation
Some knowledge of Korea and East Asia will be helpful but not requried.
Class assignments and grading
1) Attendance & class participation (20%) 2) Two critical reviews (40%) 3) Final paper (40%)
