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Programmes and Courses

Course syllabus War and Geopolitics in East Asia in the 20th and 21st centuries

Swedish name: Krig och geopolitik i Östasien på 1900- och 2000-talet

Course code:
1MH088
Valid from semester:
Autumn Term 2026
Education cycle:
First cycle
Scope:
7.5 credits
Progression:
G1N
Grading scale:
Three-grade scale
Main field of study:
History with specialisation in Military History
Department:
Department of Military History
Subject:
History with Specialization in Military History
Language of instruction:
The teaching is conducted in English.
Decided by:
Forsknings och utbildningsnämndens kursplaneutskott (KUS)
Decision date:
2026-01-20

Entry requirements

General entry requirements + History A. Or: History 1b alternatively History 1a1 + 1a2, English 6.

Course content and structure

The course focuses on East Asian military history and geopolitics in the 20th and 21st centuries. It aims to enable the student to understand how different political entities in East Asia have sought to preserve their political integrity and independence in the international system. Through the course the student gains knowledge of how states in the region were influenced by the political, economic, cultural and ideological pull of great powers, but also how the local and regional development influenced global security and geopolitics.

By studying the interplay between local, regional and global events, the course provides insights that makes it possible for the student to challenge a Western-centric world view. Moreover, the course investigates how the historical legacy and memory of war linger on and influence present-day relations.

The course combines lectures and seminars, where the lectures provide the thematic framework. During the seminars, the student develops analytical skills and trains oral communication. The course is examined through a written home exam in which the student analyses and presents chronological as well as thematic perspectives.

Type of instruction 


  • Seminars
  • Lectures
  • Independent literature studies

Objectives

Upon completion of the course the student should be able to:

Knowledge and understanding
  • understand and summarize the geopolitics and military history of East Asia based on global historical reasoning
  • understand and explain how the political, economic, cultural and ideological development in East Asia relates to great powers and military development

Competence and skills 
  • analyse East Asia's military history and political development through global history
  • explain the relationship between local, regional and global factors in the region's military historical development

Judgement and approach
  • critically relate to the relationship between Western historiography and Asian history, as well as the historical foundations of today's development.

Examination formats

The course is assessed through active and constructive participation in mandatory seminars and through an individually written home exam.

The examiner may determine that supplementary work is required in order to achieve a passing grade. In such cases the student will have three working days to complete the supplementary work once agreed, unless previously accepted exceptional circumstances exist. Exams which are submitted after the due date will not be marked unless previously accepted exceptional circumstances exist.

Grading


The student is graded on a three-point grading scale: Pass with Distinction (VG), Pass (G), Fail (U). For the grade Pass (G) on the course, the student must achieve the grade Pass (G) on the seminars, and the grade Pass (G) on the home exam. For the grade Pass with Distinction (VG) on the course, the student must achieve the grade Pass (G) on the seminars, and the grade Pass with Distinction (VG) on the home exam. Grading criteria are reported at the latest at the start of the course.

Restrictions in number of examinations


There is no limit on the total number of examination opportunities.

Transitional provisions

When the course is no longer offered or when the course content has changed substantially, the student has the right to be examined once per semester during a three-term period in accordance with this syllabus.

Other regulations

  • The course cannot be included in a degree with another course whose content fully or partially corresponds to the content of this course.
  • If the Swedish Defence University has formally decided that the student is entitled to receive special educational support due to a disability, the examiner may decide on alternative forms of examination for the student.
  • Upon completion of the course, the course director will conduct an evaluation, which informs any changes to the course.
Reading list decided date: 2026-03-17
Albana, Alessandro & Antonio Fiori, “China and the BRI: Challenges and Opportunities for Southeast Asia”, in Pramod Jaiswal & Deepak Prakash Bhatt (eds.), Rebalancing Asia: The Belt and Road Initiative and Indo-Pacific Strategy, Springer Nature, Singapore, 2021: 11 pp.
Asia Rising: A Handbook of History and International Relations in East, South and Southeast Asia, Ryo Sahashi, Yasuhiro Matsuda & Waka Aoyama (eds.), Springer, Singapore, 2024: 143 pp.
Bellamy, Alex J. “The Other Asian Miracle? The Decline of Mass Atrocities in East Asia”, 1-19, in Global Change, Peace & Security, 26:1 (2014): 19 pp.
Chamberlin, Paul Thomas, The Cold War’s Killing Fields: Rethinking the Long Peace, HarperCollins, New York, 2018, chapters 5, 6, 7, Conclusion: 127 pp.
Crawford, Timothy W., “Powers of Division: From the Anti-Comintern to the Nazi-Soviet and Japanese-Soviet Pacts, 1936–1941”, in The Challenge of Grand Strategy, Jeffrey W. Taliaferro, Norrin M. Ripsman, & Steven E. Lobell (eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2012: 33 pp.
Dower, John W., “The San Francisco System: Past, Present, Future in U.S.-Japan-China Relations”, in Asia-Pacific Journal, 12:8 (2014): 41 pp.
Eriksson, A.-K., “Exploiting Humiliation: Politics as History in the ‘Comfort Women’ Issue”, in Feminist Theory, 2025: 15 pp.
Goddard, Stacie E., “The Rise and Fall of Great-Power Competition”, in Foreign Affairs, May/June 2025: 17 pp.
Hane, Mikiso & Louis G. Perez, Modern Japan: A Historical Survey, Taylor & Francis Group, Oxford, 2012, chapter 13: 40 pp.
Hansson, Eva, Kevin Hewison & Jim Glassman, “Legacies of the Cold War in East and Southeast Asia: An Introduction”, 493–510 in Journal of Contemporary Asia, 50:4 (2020): 18 pp.
Hata, Ikuhiko, Comfort Women and Sex in the Battle Zone, Hamilton Books, Lanham, 2018, kapitel 1: 21 pp.
Igarashi, Yoshikuni, Bodies of Memory: Narratives of War in Postwar Japanese Culture, 1945–1970, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2000, chapter 1: 46 pp.
Jacob, Frank, “Genocide and Mass Violence in Asia: An Introduction”, 1–12 in Genocide and Mass Violence in Asia: An Introductory Reader, De Gruyter, Berlin, 2019: 12 pp.
Jervis, Robert, “The Impact of the Korean War on the Cold War”, 563–592 in Journal of Conflict Resolution, 24:4 (1980): 30 pp.
Keith, Ronald C., Deng Xiaopeng and China’s Foreign Policy, Routledge, London, 2018, chapter 1: 67 pp.
Klein, Christina, Cold War Orientalism: Asia in the Middlebrow Imagination, 1945–1961, University of California Press, Berkeley, 2003: 47 pp.
Lee, Jung-Hoon, “Normalization of Relations with Japan: Toward a New Partnership”, 430–456 in The Park Chung Hee Era, Byung-Kook Kim & Ezra F. Vogel (eds.), Harvard University Press, Harvard, 2011: 27 pp.
Lenhard, Johannes & Raffaella Taylor-Seymour, “An Interview with Michael Herzfeld: Cryptocolonialism, the Responsibility of the Social Sciences and Europe”, King’s Review, 2014: 4 pp.
Li, Lin, “‘Comfort Women’ Memorials at the Crossroads of Ultranationalist, Feminist, and Decolonial Critiques”, 89–116 in Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 43:3 (2022): 28 pp.
Li, Xiaobing, The Cold War in East Asia, Routledge, Abingdon, 2018, chapters 1, 3, 4, 6, 11–12: 123 pp.
Lüthi, Lorenz M., Cold Wars: Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2020, chapter 6: 24 pp.
Millwood, Pete & Covell F. Meyskens, “Introduction: Cold War China, Decolonisation, and the Making of International Order in Asia”, 1–8 in Cold War History (2025): 8 pp.
Norma, Caroline, The Japanese Comfort Women and Sexual Slavery During the China and Pacific Wars, Bloomsbury Academic, London, 2016, chapter 1: 27 pp.
Novak, Royce, “Vietnamese ‘Comfort Women’: History without Memory”, 720–746 in Women’s History Review, 34:5 (2025): 27 pp.
Paine, S. C. M., The Wars for Asia, 1911–1949, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2012, chapter 1, 9: 40 pp.
Pennanen, Henna-Riikka, “Educating the United States on the ‘China Threat.’", 1–23 in International Relations (2025): 23 pp.
Postwar Japan as History, Andrew Gordon (ed.), University of California Press, Berkeley, 1993, chapters 2–3: 43 pp.
Research Team of the War and Women’s Human Rights Center, “Introduction: The Stories of the Survivors of the Japanese Military Comfort Girls-Women”, 1–12 in Stories That Make History, De Gruyter Oldenbourg, Berlin/Boston, 2020: 12 pp.
Ruskola, Teemu, Legal Orientalism: China, the United States, and Modern Law, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2013, chapter 1: 36 pp.

Said, Edward W., Orientalism, Penguin, London 2003 (other versions/languages are also fine), Introduction: 30 pp.
Scott, David, China and the International System, 1840–1949, State University of New York Press, Albany, 2008, chapters 1, 7, 8: 67 pp.
Sørensen, Camilla Tenna Nørup, “Intensifying U.S.-China Security Dilemma Dynamics Play out in the Arctic”, in Arctic Yearbook, 2019: 15 pp.
The Cambridge History of the Cold War, Melvyn P. Leffler & Odd Arne Westad (eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2010, chapters from: 116 pp.
Ushiyama, R., “‘Comfort Women’ Must Fall?”,1255–1271 in Memory Studies, 14:6 (2021): 17 pp.
Walker, J. Samuel, “Recent Literature on Truman’s Atomic Bomb Decision”, 311–334 in Diplomatic History 29:2 (2005): 24 pp.
Total: ca. 1370 pages