Chinese Politics
Review Essay Assignment
5-page paper (1250-1500 words)
Write an essay answering one of the questions below, or prepare an essay on a topic of your choice. The essay should explain the research question, present your own argument, and review the relevant literature on the topic. Primary sources are not required, but you should make effective use of secondary sources.
Make sure to write well-organized answers with a clear argument. Support your argument with concrete analysis and citations to the scholarly literature, which can include but should not be limited to the readings.
Formatting:
You will be expected to refer to scholarly sources. Sources should be cited as footnotes, and you should include a bibliography formatted according to Chicago style. You can learn more about the formatting here. Please include a word count at the end of your essay (this should not include the bibliography). Your essay should be double-spaced, with twelve-point font, and one-inch margins.
Sources:
Your key sources for this paper will be the scholarly literature on China, which includes both academic books and articles published in scholarly journals such as China Quarterly, Asian Survey, China Leadership Monitor, Comparative Political Studies, etc. You may also find good primary sources through publications like the Beijing Review, The People’s Daily, or South China Morning Post.
One approach to finding relevant sources is to first locate a relatively recent article on your topic (Google Scholar is a great tool for this), and then to look at the sources cited in that article (or the sources that cite the article you found). Figure out what the scholarly debate is, and then join (and critique) that debate in your essay.
Example Essays: See Henry Rowen’s essay “When Will the Chinese People Be Free?” in the Journal of Democracy for an example of what I’m looking for. Though his conclusion has proved to be overly optimistic, Rowen’s essay provides a good example of how to use sources to make a specific argument. I should note, however, that the tone of your paper should not be as personal as his essay.
Potential Topics:
1. Examine the ideological debates taking place in China today – both within the Communist Party and outside it, in society at large. What are the different schools of thought, and how do they differ? How have the terms of these debates shifted over time? Which group of thinkers offers the most persuasive vision of China’s future, and why?
2. Many developing countries fall into a “middle-income trap” once they reach an intermediate level of development. Has China’s economic transformation stalled? Why or why not?
3. Evaluate the pattern of anti-CCP collective action in China today and make an argument about why you believe it is or isn’t a real threat to CCP rule in the next decade. You may want to include in your essay such elements as public opinion, the logic of collective action, the role of the media and Internet, and/or the CCP and government’s responses to collective action.
4. Bill Clinton once said that trying to control the internet would be like “trying to nail Jello to the wall.” Has the Communist Party managed to control the Chinese internet? What are the costs of its censorship efforts? In your answer, explain how growing access to information through commercial and social media have changed the challenges facing Chinese leaders.
5. China’s economy has posted more than thirty years of stellar economic growth. How did China successfully transition from a planned to a market economy?
6. Topic of your choice. Can be anything related to Chinese politics in the PRC era, including international relations, center-local relations, institutionalization, arguments about the 19th Party Congress, the effect of generational change, etc.