84-307 Economic and Political History of Contemporary China
9 units, Carnegie Mellon University
Global politics is increasingly being shaped by the arrival of China as an economic powerhouse, which is increasingly being viewed as a challenger to the Western model of governance and has been posited as an antiwestern economic blueprint for development. To understand China and its role in global affairs, this course examines the economic and political history of China over the last century with an emphasis on the postWWII period. Focusing on Chinas evolution over this time will introduce students to compelling illustrations of theories of economic development and the politics of economic reform, the intersection of political governance and economic outcomes, how authoritarian regimes function and make decisions, and how politics can lead to humanitarian catastrophes such as the Great Leap Forward and Tiananmen Square. The course will also cover important aspects of Chinese foreign policy and how it is evolving from the years of Mao Zedong, to Deng Xiaoping and currently under Xi Jingping. This course will also enable a more mature understanding of socialism as an economic ideology, how it contrasts with a purely marketbased approach, and how modern China fits within this framework.
Prerequisites: none listed
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