The Coming Asian Century

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This course explores the contemporary rise of Asia and its impact on the future of the global economy. It will focus on the development of the Asian tigers, the 1997 ‘Asian flu’ as a key moment in contemporary globalization, and the growth of Asia’s giants, India and China. It will emphasize Asia’s role in the information economy, focusing in particular on India’s software industry, the impact of offshore outsourcing and the dominance of the Asian diaspora in Silicon Valley. The course will analyze economic issues by, for example, contrasting the protectionism of dependency theory with the Asian model of export oriented development. It will also investigate political debates examining the advantages and disadvantages of the authoritarianism of countries like Singapore and China as well as the anarchy of Indian democracy. Finally it will look at the role culture plays in the dramatic rise of Asia.