The School of International Service’s Asia sub-field offers a number of courses that enhance students’ regional knowledge, and bridge regional specialization and comparative theory. In addition to their academic content, the Asian courses stress problem-solving skills for students who aspire to be professionals in government, international businesses, nonprofit agencies, and international organizations. This approach of combining comparative studies with Asian regional studies provides students an opportunity to examine the rise of modern and contemporary Asia from both historical and theoretical perspectives.

The Asian concentration encompasses three sub-regions: East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. The main focus is on the Asia-Pacific region, namely China (or “Greater China”), Japan, Korea, and ASEAN countries. Students are expected to understand these countries’ domestic politics and foreign policy issues in a comparative perspective. Asian courses also deal with the region’s international relations, the role of international organizations and major powers (such as Japan, China, the United States, and Russia) in the region, and intraregional alliances.

Students selecting this concentration will become knowledgeable about current developments in the region and will be able to analyze them in their historical and theoretical contexts.

Themes for Asia: The Sub-field

• The major powers in Asia
• China’s modernization and its impact on the regional balance
• Political ideologies in Asia including nationalism and globalization
• Democratization, economic development, and human rights
• Korean division, Korean unification and the regional impact
• Confucianism and economic development in Asia
• Capitalist states and “Capitalist Development States”
• Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
• Greater China and a new world order
• Gender and race relations
• Ethnicity and nationalism
• Political and economic reforms in East and Southeast Asia
• The ecological impact of economic development in Asia
• Nuclear non-proliferation and arms transfer in Asia
• U.S. Policy toward Asia
• Trade and modernization