Description
1. What is the most important legacy of China’s imperial history for understanding Chinese politics today? Define what that legacy is, where it came from, and two of the policy challenges discussed in the second half of class that are influenced by China’s past. How are these challenges influenced by the past?
2. One of the consistent themes in this class is legitimacy. Each week, we’ve talked about ways in which the CCP builds, claims, and strives to establish legitimacy. Identify three sources of legitimacy the party relies on drawing from both lecture and course readings. Explain what those sources are, and discuss what the political leaders must do to maintain that source of legitimacy. Which source is the most important? Which is the most difficult to maintain?
3. In the second half of class, we discussed ten different challenges faced by the Chinese Communist Party to maintain power. Which do you think is the most important for the party to manage? I.e. what is the biggest threat to party legitimacy? Why? Draw on the readings for that topic to discuss how the challenge relates to political power in China.
4.Find an academic journal article published in the last 5 years on one of the topics discussed in the second half of class (topic must be DIFFERENT from your answer for question #2 and the article must be different from the assigned readings). Briefly summarize the journal article. How does it relate to (1) lecture material on the class and (2) the assigned readings? What perspective or information does it provide? Which article, the one you found or the assigned reading, should be on the syllabus the next time I teach this class (i.e. which did you like better and why)?
Journals: The China Quarterly, Journal of Contemporary China, The China Journal, Comparative Political Studies, American Journal of Political Science, Comparative Politics, Journal of Politics, American Political Science Review, World Politics
5.Imagine that you’re home over spring break talking to your family and they ask about your classes. What is the one most important thing you learned in this class that should be shared with others? This can be about China specifically or about any of the broader political science topics discussed in class. Why do you think this is the most important thing to share?
