IR373      Half Unit
China and the Global South

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

Requisites

Pre-requisites:

Students must have completed IR202 before taking this course.

This course focuses on the substantive role that China plays in the Global South where its preponderance of material power and putative developing country status confers upon it a dominant position in bilateral and regional political economies.  China's economic position, coupled to an astute use of finances flowing from its mercantilist policies, has enabled it to become the leading trading partner and a significant investor in the developing world.  Moreover, the Global South is increasingly figuring in Beijing's expanding security interests and soft power provisions.  Interpretations embedded in prevailing academic discourses like socialisation, threat and peaceful rise take on new meaning when studied through the lens of ties with developing countries.  Understanding how dynamics in this relationship are impacting upon a host of global and contemporary issues (BRICs, multilateralism, peacekeeping, the environment) is crucial to the shape of the 21st century.

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the Autumn Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.

Essay (1000 words max) on one question from Week 1-3 materials. The formative essay provides students with an opportunity to engage critically with key readings on course topics, and to receive constructive feedback to support their preparation for the summative e-Exam.

• Chris Alden & Lu Jiang. (2019). Brave new world: debt, industrialization and security in China–Africa relations. International Affairs, 95(3), 641-657. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiz083
• Gaston Fornes & Alvaro Mendez. (2018). The China-Latin America Axis: Emerging Markets and their Role in an Increasingly Globalised World (2 ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan
• David Shambaugh (Ed.) (2016). The China Reader: Rising Power (6th ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press,

Exam (75%), duration: 180 Minutes in the January exam period

Presentation (25%)

• The exam will be an on campus 'e-Exam'.
• The presentation will be a 7-minute pre-recorded video presentation together with a 300-word annotated bibliography.