Assignment and requirement
- Attendance: Students are expected to participate in class and contribute in discussion. A seminar class will not work without participant. If you are unable to attend the class, please register on the university’s system and upload a valid note for absence.
- For undergraduate students:
- Country brief: Each student will select a week to present the country brief. Starting from the week of modern South Asia, each week will have countries or topics. The student will share the latest political, economic, diplomatic, or foreign policy development of the countries/topics. The presentation takes 20-30 minutes in the beginning of the class. The purpose of this assignment is learning to pick up important subjects in a country or regional organization and present to fellow students. It is recommended that the student conducts a comprehensive research on recent events and then select important ones to share.
- Midterm exam: a two-hours close-book exam.
- Final analysis paper: Please select a topic concerning one or more South Asia countries (ex: women rights in Pakistan, India’s tech industry, the Rohingya refugee problem, hiking business in Nepal, Sri Lanka party competition). Write a policy analysis that could be published on a think tank website. The paper should be an analytical essay, not a news summary. Please provide your observation, analysis, and prediction of the issue. The paper should be within 2000 words (about 5 pages), times news roman, 12 fonts.
- For graduate students:
- Response paper: Each student will pick ONE week to write a response paper. The paper covers all the required readings of the that week. The response paper will have a summary of each reading and the students’ critique. The critique may include methodology, theoretical framework, argument, case selection…etc. Students are expected to demonstrate critical thinking and provide useful advises to the authors.
- Discussion leader: The student who write the response paper will also serve as the discussion leader that week. His/Her responsibility includes introducing the literature, provide questions, and coordinate discussion with fellow students.
- Final paper: This is a short research proposal. The proposal should involve at least one South Asian countries. The research may address questions on international relations, social relations, economic development, gender, inequality, technological development…etc. The topic should be approved by the instructor by the midterm week. The final paper should include introduction, a short literature review, the argument, research method, and a discussion of expected finding. Please use 12 fonts, Time News Roman, single space
Course schedule
Week 1 (2/21): introduction, decide discussion leaders, country briefs. Methodology in area studies
- Köllner, Patrick, Rudra Sil, Ariel I. Ahram, eds. 2018. “Comparative Area Studies: What It Is, What It Can Do.” In Comparative Area Studies: Methodological Rationales and Cross-Regional Applications, Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190846374.003.0001.
- Zuckerman, Alan S. 2009. “Advancing Explanation in Comparative Politics: Social Mechanisms, Endogenous Processes, and Empirical Rigor.” In Mark Irving Lichbach and Alan Zuckerman, Eds. Comparative Politics: Rationality, Culture, and Structure. 2nd Ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Week 2 (2/28): holiday, no class
Week 3 (3/7): classical and modern history of South Asia 【conference, class format TBA】
- Trautmann, India: Brief History of a Civilization, Ch 2, 3, 4
- Amrith, Sunil S. 2015. Crossing the Bay of Bengal: The Furies of Nature and the Fortunes of Migrants. Reprint edition. Cambridge, Mass. London, England: Harvard University Press. Ch2
- Mallik, Senjuti. 2024. “The British East India Company And The Great Bengal Famine Of 1770: Towards A Corporate Colonial Biopolitics.” Geographical Review: 1–25. doi:10.1080/00167428.2024.2325977.
- Trautmann, India: Brief History of a Civilization, CH 10
Additional reference:
- A Concise History of Modern India CH2, CH3
Week 4 (3/14): Post-colonial South Asia
- Paul, T. V. 2010. South Asia’s Weak States: Understanding the Regional Insecurity Predicament. Ch3 & pp. 62-67 in Ch4 (state and nation building in South Asia)
- Richard Sisson and Leo E. Rose, War and Secession: Pakistan, India, and the Creation of Bangladesh, ch4 “A Culture of Distrust”, ch11 “War: Pakistan”.
Additional reference:
- Metcalf, B. D., & Metcalf, T. R. (2012). A Concise History of Modern India, Ch6 Ch7
Week 5 (3/21): enduring rivalry between India and Pakistan, Sino-India war,
Regional organization brief [SAARC and BIMSTEC]
- Paul, T. V. 2006. “Why Has the India-Pakistan Rivalry Been so Enduring? Power Asymmetry and an Intractable Conflict.” Security Studies 15(4): 600–630. doi:10.1080/09636410601184595.
- Ganguly, Rajat. 1998. “India, Pakistan and the Kashmir Dispute”. Asian Studies Institute & Centre for Strategic Studies
- Garver, John W. 2004. “India, China, the United States, Tibet, and the Origins of the 1962 War.” India Review 3 (2): 171–82.
Additional resources:
- Why Kashmir means so much to both India and Pakistan https://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/30/asia/kashmir-explainer/index.htmlAmit R. Das Gupta and Lorenz M. Luthi ed., The Sino-Indian War of 1962, Ch1 “India’s relations with China, 1945-74”, Ch3 “From ‘Hindi-China Bhai-Bhai’ to international class struggle against Nehru: China’s India policy and the frontier dispute.
- Hagerty, Devin T. 2020. Nuclear Weapons and Deterrence Stability in South Asia. Cham: Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-21398-5. Ch4
- Khan, Zafar. “Balancing and Stabilizing South Asia: Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Peace and Stability.” International Journal of Conflict Management 30, no. 5 (January 1, 2019): 589–614. doi:10.1108/IJCMA-08-2018-0093.
- Paul Brass ed., Routledge Handbook of South Asian Politics, ch24 “The Militaries of South Asia”
- Paul, TV. 2019. “When Balance of Power Meets Globalization: China, India and the Small States of South Asia.” Politics 39(1): 50–63. doi:10.1177/0263395718779930Kashmir profile Timeline, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-16069078
Week 6 (3/28): India foreign policy
country brief India’s non-alignment (strategic autonomy) foreign policy
- South Asia's weak states, ch7: “Polity, Security and Foreign Policy in Contemporary India”
- Kampani, Gaurav. 2014. “New Delhi’s Long Nuclear Journey: How Secrecy and Institutional Roadblocks Delayed India’s Weaponization.” International Security 38 (4): 79–114.
- Strating, Rebecca, and Alexander E. Davis. 2022. “Bordering the Postcolonial State: The Relevance of Sikkim in India’s Support for Indonesia’s Occupation of East Timor.” Commonwealth & Comparative Politics 60(2): 169–89.
Additional resources:
- Mukherjee, Anit, George Perkovich, and Gaurav Kampani. 2015. “Correspondence: Secrecy, Civil-Military Relations, and India’s Nuclear Weapons Program.” International Security 39(3): 202–14.
- Paul, T. V. 2024. The Unfinished Quest: India’s Search for Major Power Status from Nehru to Modi. Oxford University Press.
Week 7 (4/4): holiday, no class
Week 8 (4/11): India domestic problems
country brief: India’s economic and social inequality
- Paul Brass ed., Routledge Handbook of South Asian Politics, Ch15 “Politics of Language in India”
- Weiner, Myron. 1962. “The struggle for equality: caste in Indian politics” Foreign Affairs.
- Lele, Uma, and Sambuddha Goswami. 2020. “Agricultural Policy Reforms: Roles of Markets and States in China and India.” Global Food Security 26: 100371. doi:10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100371.
Additional resources:
- Paul Brass ed., Routledge Handbook of South Asian Politics, Ch22 “The Political Economy of Agrarian Change in India.”
Week 9 (4/18): undergraduate: midterm | graduate: submit final paper abstract
Week 10 (4/25): Pakistan
country brief: Pakistan
- South Asia's weak states, ch8, “Weak State, failed State, Garrison State: The Pakistan Saga.”
- Jacob N. Shapiro and C. Christine Fair, “Understanding Support for Islamist Militancy in Pakistan,” International Security 34, no. 3 (January 1, 2010): 79–118, https://doi.org/10.1162/isec.2010.34.3.79.
Week 11 (5/2): Bangladesh
country brief: Bangladesh
- South Asia's weak states, ch11, “A Weak State” with Multiple Security Challenges
- Mostofa, Shafi Md, and D. B. Subedi. 2021. “Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism in Bangladesh.” Politics and Religion 14(3): 431–59. doi:10.1017/S1755048320000401.
- Pitt, Mark M., Shahidur R. Khandker, and Jennifer Cartwright. “Empowering Women with Micro Finance: Evidence from Bangladesh.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 54, no. 4 (July 2006): 791–831. doi:10.1086/503580.
Additional resources:
- William van Schendel, A History of Bangladesh, Ch11, 16
Week 12 (5/9): Sri Lanka
country brief: Sri Lanka
- South Asia's weak states, ch10, Challenges in State Consolidation and Minority Integration
- Subedi, DB. “The Emergence of Populist Nationalism and ‘Illiberal’ Peacebuilding in Sri Lanka.” Asian Studies Review 46, no. 2 (April 3, 2022): 272–92. doi:10.1080/10357823.2021.1983519.
- Bhowmick, Soumya (2022). Understanding the economic issues in Sri Lanka's current debacle. New Delhi, India : ORF, Observer Research Foundation.
Week 13 (5/16): Nepal, Bhutan
country brief: Nepal, Bhutan
- South Asia's weak states, ch12.Rebellion and State Formation in Nepal
- Kaul, Nitasha. 2022. “Beyond India and China: Bhutan as a Small State in International Relations.” International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 22(2): 297–337. doi:10.1093/irap/lcab010.
- Paul, T.V. “When Balance of Power Meets Globalization: China, India and the Small States of South Asia.” Politics, June 6, 2018, 026339571877993. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395718779930.
Additional resources:
- Bhutan The Mental State of the Happy Kingdom, The Diplomat
- Davis, Alexander E., Ruth Gamble, Gerald Roche, and Lauren Gawne. 2021. “International Relations and the Himalaya: Connecting Ecologies, Cultures and Geopolitics.” Australian Journal of International Affairs 75(1): 15–35. doi:10.1080/10357718.2020.1787333
Week 14 (5/23): South Asia roundtable: India’s relations with neighbors. TBA
Week 15 (5/30): holiday, no class
Week 16 (6/6): Student presentation on final papers
Week 17 (6/13): Final paper due
Additional recommended reading
Mauritius, Seychelles
- Gurjar, Sankalp. “Locating Indian Ocean Island States in India’s Foreign Policy.” Indian Foreign Affairs Journal 16, no. 1 (2021): 36–53.
- Behuria, Pritish. 2023. “The Political Economy of a Tax Haven: The Case of Mauritius.” Review of International Political Economy 30(2): 772–800. doi:10.1080/09692290.2022.2069144.
- Hardy, Dennis. 2023. “Sovereignty and Seychelles: Borders and Boundaries in a Small Island State.” Seychelles Research Journal 5(1). doi:10.5281/zenodo.10612917
Week 18 (6/20)
Additional recommended reading
Maldives
- Thakur, Harish K. “Contesting China in the Maldives: India’s Foreign Policy Challenge.” The Round Table 112, no. 4 (July 4, 2023): 421–37. doi:10.1080/00358533.2023.2244286.
- Mörner, Nils-Axel. “The Maldives: A Measure of Sea Level Changes and Sea Level Ethics.” In Evidence-Based Climate Science, 197–209. Elsevier, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-385956-3.10007-5
Additional resources:
- Transparency International, 2013, Assessment of Climate Finance: The Maldives National Adaptation Programme
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