This course will provide a comprehensive overview of law and politics of 20th and 21st-century China, in their historical and cultural contexts. It will introduce undergraduate students to distinctive paradigms and discursive patterns of law and politics in China, with the intention of fostering comparative analysis and critical thinking. The course will focus on high profile legal cases and major political events in the People's Republic of China today. The course will conclude by examining current issues in Chinese law from both sides, and by looking into China's argument for the \"Beijing Consensus,\" essentially a new type of capitalism, without Western-style rule of law. The classes will progress by way of interactive discussion and critical readings of historical documents and legal texts. This course is designed to break through the traditional Chinese learning/western learning dichotomy and interpret legal cases, political events, and cultural phenomena from a comparative perspective. It will bring to light the hidden rationales underscoring historical and ideological narratives, and will explain how frequent misunderstandings can occur when comparing cultures. Students will be encouraged to use critical thinking to argue, to test whether the incommensurability of paradigms can be reconciled, and to explore how different political systems and cultures can communicate with each other and exchange ideas effectively.
Gopher Grades is maintained by Social Coding with data from Summer 2017 to Fall 2023 provided by the Office of Institutional Data and Research
Privacy Policy