East Asia’s “miracle growth” has not gone hand in hand with a decisive move toward democracy. The course explores the reasons why democratization proceeds slowly in East Asia, and seems to be essentially decoupled from the region’s fast-paced economic growth. The course is divided into three parts. Part I introduces the specifics of East Asia’s economic development strategies as well as key concepts of democracy, authoritarianism and military rule and the tensions between these theories and the East Asian experience. Part II will focus on the economic and political development experiences of Korea, Indonesia and Myanmar in light of what discussed in Part I. Finally, Part III presents lessons emerging from the comparison of Korea’s, Indonesia’s and Myanmar’s economic and political developmental trajectories.
Please visit the Office of the Registrar for more information about this course.