210118 SE M4: International Politics and Development (2023S)

In recent decades, China’s tremendous rise as a global actor and scientific-technological superpower has amplified the size and scope of China debates – debates struggling with the interpretation and implications of what China decides, produces, sells, buys, and communicates. Yet what is this China we refer to? Who is China in so much ubiquitous controversial talk? Paradoxically, the more China consolidates its stance as a global player, the more ‘China’ threatens to remain a black box to external eyes. The seminar aims to counter this trend by providing theoretical and methodological instruments to cope with the complexity of China-focused academic and public debate along five main goals:

1. To introduce students to the variety of of perspectives on the China issue in international relations (IR) and international political economy (IPE).
2. To shed light on the importance of sound theoretical knowledge to approach this diversity of views and their implications.
3. To raise awareness of the need for critical analysis of reductive polarizations and simplifications in ongoing China debates.
4. To create a bridge to post-colonial perspectives on China’s rise, shedding light on the centrality of Orientalism in China debates.
5. To introduce the actuality and potential of Antonio Gramsci's textual legacy in approaching China's trajectory.

Methods. The course is organized in four block sessions – each of them integrating frontal teaching and students’ active participation (e.g., through group reading and discussion, presentation and discussion of group works, preliminary search process for the elaboration of final papers).