POLI 2119 - The Rise of China's Economic Power

Since the 1980s, China has been the fastest growing economy in the world (its real GDP growth rate running at an average of more than 9 per cent annually). It has become the second largest economy in world (in Purchasing Power Parity terms), the largest recipient of international capital flows and the holder of world's largest foreign currency reserves. Needless to add that China is the world's largest economy by population, home to one in five of the planet's inhabitants.

This course will guide students through the process of China's developmental experience since the 1940s until the present. Its goal is to help them develop an informed perspective on the different historical stages, economic and political rationale, and effectiveness of the economic policies and institutional changes that have shaped China's economic development. The second goal of this course is to study Chinese economic development in order to think critically about the linkages between economy and politics, as well as the role of an individual in the process of the articulation and implementation of economic policies. China's experiment with socialism and its continuous efforts to find the Chinese path to modernization make it a fascinating case study for understanding how economic change is taking place in a social development amid the tensions between institutions and 'paramount leaders'.

While recognizing the importance of an interdisciplinary perspective, this course will emphasize the application of political economy to the study of Chinese economic development.