South Asia: Independence, Political Division, and Development

For Monday, please read Chapter 20 and be prepared to answer the following questions:

1. Over what issues did India and Pakistan divide in 1947? What were the roles of Nehru, Gandhi, and Mohammad Ali Jinnah in this partition? What is the legacy of the partition, relative to continuing disagreements between the two nation-states--as in the example of Kashmir?
2. Why and how did Bangladesh declare its independence from Pakistan in 1971? What has happened in Pakistan's political system since then? Why is the military so powerful in Pakistan--and how does this contribute to America's problems with neighboring Afghanistan? Why did the United States develop a close relationship to Pakistan's authoritarian governments rather than India's democracy?
3. What have been the major features of Sri Lanka and Nepal politics since the 1990s?
4. What have been the major transitions in Indian politics since its independence in 1947? What are the roles of caste and religion in contemporary Indian politics?
5. How do you explain India's remarkable economic growth since 1990? What problems persist in India? To what extent can India's rural sector share in the new prosperity?
6. Has India moved on the path that Mahatma Gandhi envisioned?
7. Why does the text conclude that "India will not break up into warring factions or regional conflict"? What contributes to this conclusion? What could be argued against it?

For Wednesday's class, please read Chapter 20 and be prepared to answer the following questions:

1. Since World War II, Asian nations have often been praised as the new economic forces in the world, especially post-1980. Is this a valid analysis?
2. What are the social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental problems still facing Asia? Address this question relative to the entire region as well as for individual countries.
3. Many Westerners think of Asia as a single homogeneous unit. Is this a valid representation?
4. What has been Asia's evolving relationship with the United States and the West in the post-Cold War era? What initiatives have Asians made to promote their own interactions and interdependencies as alternatives to those with the West?
5. How is the growing wealth and power of the People's Republic of China Affecting international relations in Asia?
6. In what parts of Asia has Islam played a prominent role in the post-WWII era?
7. How have historical legacies been used for nation-building in Asia in recent decades?

Revival & Revolution

We will cover two chapters this week.

For Monday's class discussion, please read Chapter 18, "Revival and Revolution in Japan and China," and prepare, in writing, answers to the following questions:

1. Evaluate the American occupation of Japan and how it shaped Japan's future. How did the Cold War change America's interests in postwar Japan?
2. What were the reasons for Japan's economic success between 1950 and 1990? What contributed to Japan's economic stagnation in the 1990s?
3. What explains the distinctiveness of postwar Japanese culture amid its rapid industrialization?
4. Why were the Communist forces successful in replacing the Guomindang as China's rulers in 1949? Compare China in 1949 to China at present.
5. Which aspects of Mao's policies were successful and which were not--and why? How has China changed since Mao's death, first during the tenure of Deng Xiaoping, and then in the post-Deng era?
6. Why did Taiwan and Hong Kong do so much better economically between 1950 and 1990? How have the governments of both changed since 1990, and with what consequences?

For Wednesday's class discussion, please read Chapter 19, "Korea and Southeast Asia," and prepare, in writing, answers to the following questions:

1. Why does it make sense to discuss Korea together with Southeast Asia in a chapter on post-WWII history? In what ways are their histories similar? What problems are there with this approach?
2. How did Japanese rule affect the development of a modern Korean economic and social infrastructure? How did Japanese occupation of Korea differ from its rule over Taiwan in the pre-WWII era?
3. Was the Korean War necessary? What has been its legacy in Korea since 1953? Compare and contrast the evolution of South Korea's democracy to that of Communist rule in North Korea? What are the prospects of the resolution of hostilities between the two Koreas today?
4. Was the war in Vietnam an international war, a war for independence, or a civil war? Why did the French and then the Americans return to Vietnam after World War II? How has Communist rule of Vietnam changed during the postwar era?
5. Explain the origins of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Why did the Vietnamese intervene in the late 1970s? What is the aftermath of 30 years of conflict in contemporary Cambodia?
6. Compare and contrast the differences in the development of Myanmar, Thailand, and Singapore in the post-WWII era. Why is the military so influential in Myanmar and Thailand? How does Singapore's democracy differ from that of the United States? In what ways do all three countries have to respond to clashes or potential clashes between differing ethnic groups?
7. What have been the similarities and differences in the development of Indonesia and the Philippines since World War II? Is there a case to be made that big, multicultural nation-states--in contrast to smaller, single-ethnic nation-states--stand in the way of global stability?

Japan and the Struggle for Asia, 1894-1945

For Monday's and Wednesday's class discussions, please read Chapter 17, and prepare, in writing, answers to the following questions:

1. Trace the rise of Japanese militarism in the post-WWI era. How did this counter te successes of Taishō democracy in the 1920s and early 1930s? What role did Manchuria assume in these transitions?
2. How did Japanese fascism differ from that of Germany and Italy?
3. Was a Japanese war against the United States inevitable?
4. Why was China unable to resist the Japanese advance effectively?
5. How did the war with Japan affect the fighting between the Chinese Nationalists and the Chinese Communists?
6. Why was nationalism late to develop in Southeast Asia? How did the assorted Southeast Asian nationalist movements differ from those of India and China?
7. What were the broad consequences of Japan's World War II military aggression for Asia's postwar future? How did Japanese rule alienate non-Japanese Asians?

The due date for the second film paper is Friday, 4/17/20. The editable list of films for this paper can be found as a Google Doc.

Nationalism and Revolution in China and India

For Monday's and Wednesday's class discussions, please read Chapter 16, and prepare, in writing, answers to the following questions (1-5 for China on Monday and 6-9 for India on Wednesday):

1. What were the goals of the Chinese "self-strengthening movement," and why did they ultimately fail in their efforts to reform China?
2. Sun Yat-sen is hailed as China's "man of ideas." What was Sun Yat-sen's vision of China's future? Why was he unable to bring it about?
3. What was the May Fourth Movement, and what were its goals? What did it achieve?
4. Lu Xun was the most prominent among the May Fourth Movement authors. How did his character Ah Q personify what he considered wrong with China?
5. What were the achievements and the failures of the Nanjing decade? How did the Chinese Communist Party interact with the Guomindang, and how and why did it change its strategy after 1927? 
   
6. How does the map showing the growth of India's railway network illustrate the text's assertions that these lines were built to support "a drainage economy" as well as to reinforce British military interests in India? 
7. What were the economic changes that took place under the British raj, and how were these both beneficial and detrimental to India's future?
8. How did Gandhi brig together the division between the gradual liberal reformer and the radical activist factions of the Indian National Congress How did his political and social goals draw upon India's philosophical and religious traditions? How did his tactics of passive resistance and mass protest change the nationalist movement? What was his broader impact on other Asian nationalist movements?
9. Did Gandhi's efforts actually defeat the British and his political opponents or was it something else that helped to drive out the British and create an independent India? If Gandhi's actions were responsible, specifically how did his concept of nonviolence achieve this? 

Link to Film Paper 3 List

Film Paper 2

Creating the List Together

Please find the document listing good films for consideration and add your contributions. It would be helpful if you add your initials to the items that you put on the list so that you get full marks for participation. Remember that the films' subjects should fall in the period between European advances into Asia and the end of WWII.