Teaching

Instructor: The Political Economy of East Asia (Spring, 2022)

  • Brown University
  • Undergraduate
  • Course Instructor: Kristine Li

As a Visiting Assistant Professor at Brown, I developed the course The Political Economy of East Asia, which was offered as an upper-level elective course for Political Science students as well as students with concentrations in Watson’s International and Public Affairs program.

Course Description: What made East Asia a region of tremendous post-war developmental success, and what lessons could East Asian countries offer to the rest of the developing world as a whole? Did certain shared cultural norms drive its success? Or was the economic success of East Asia driven by farsighted state actors that implemented the right kinds of policies? In what ways do political institutions affect economic development? Is western-style liberal democracy a precondition for spectacular market-oriented growth? In what ways do civil society and patterns of state-society relations affect socioeconomic development? In this survey course, we explore these questions that have been at the center of political science and economics debates by studying the experiences of Japan, Korea, and China.

Section Instructor: Rise of China (Spring 2017, Fall 2020)

Course Description: This course examines the century-long process of social, political, and economic transformation that has led to China’s emergence as a global power. Employing a multidisciplinary perspective, the course explores how China’s institutions of governance, modes of industrial production, and state-society relations have evolved over time, and have affected the lives of individuals in China and across the world. This course situates the Chinese experience in broader frameworks for understanding socio-political and socio-economic change in a variety of national and regional context. Lectures and readings cover the historical antecedents of China’s rise, the evolving contemporary relationship between state and citizen, the shifting nature of China’s global commercial competitiveness today, and likely avenues for socio-political change in the future.

Section Instructor: The Ethics and Economics of Wealth Creation (Fall 2019)

Course Description: What is prosperity? Whom does prosperity benefit? Which institutions and attitudes produce prosperity? What is the relation of prosperity to other values such as efficiency, happiness, equality, fairness, religious faith or personal freedom? This course explores the problem of prosperity from a variety of disciplinary perspectives: philosophical, economic, historical, religious, and literary.

Teaching Assistant: The American Presidency (Spring 2020)

Course Description: The origins and evolution of the Presidency in the American political and policy-making system. Special emphasis on the impact of presidential policies from Franklin Delano Roosevelt through Donald Trump; the presidential nomination and general election system with special focus on the 2020 election; and an exploration of the future challenges facing the winner of the 2020 Presidential election. The course will consistently relate the characteristics and history of the presidency to current events.