Assignment Three
For this assignment, you must choose one of the countries in the Asia-Pacific region that is covered in this course (China, Japan, S. Korea, N. Korea, Taiwan, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, East Timor, or the Philippines) and write a short essay answering the following questions:
Also read: Principles of Macroeconomics Project
- Looking at your specific country example, how was the nation-state created? Did it take place through revolution or was it peacefully constructed? What institutions were created to help bind the nation together?
- What were the outside influences affecting the paths taken in creating the nation-state? For example, if your country took a socialist path to nation-state building, how was it influenced? What philosophical understandings came into play? Who were the players involved?
- What are the particular characteristics of your chosen country that would make nation-state building simple or complex (or somewhere inbetween)?
- As your chosen country settled into its new form of being an independent state, what were the steps taken to develop the economy? In answering this question, first think about what type of economic system developed – was it a capitalist open market economy or a command economy or a mixed economy? What approach was taken to ensure that the economy would grow? Where there changes to the initial approach taken? If so, describe the various stages of economic development.
- Does the state (government) have a hand in managing the economy in your chosen country? How involved is the government and in what way? Offer examples of how the government is involved.
- We reviewed theoretical approaches to political economy in your lecture videos. Discuss which approach best analyzes your country. For example, did your country take a modernization capitalist market economy approach or did it take a socialist command economy approach to this political economic development? Or perhaps it took a statist approach that involved a mixed economy.
In order for you to be successful in your assignment, you must do some research to learn about your chosen country. In this regard, you can refer to the video lectures, the assigned readings as well as expanding your research to articles accessible online. Please try to use peer reviewed articles that can be accessed through the Camosun College Library databases such as Ebscost Host.
This assignment is work 10% of your grade and is due October 18th. Please send in your essay through the Camosun email system (hlansdow@camosun.bc.ca) or through D2L messaging.