Attendance of lectures is strongly recommended, but not technically speaking compulsory. The final evaluation of each student is going to be based on three factors: seminars, a final essay, and a final exam.

1) Seminars:

During the 9^th and 12^th weeks of the semester, two seminars will take place.

The first seminar will be concerned with the following question: “Which country is to blame for the US-Chinese trade war and technological competition?”

Students shall be divided into two equally large groups, one of which will advocate for the position that the cooling of relations is the fault of the United States, whereas the other group will attempt to prove that it is in fact China who caused the dispute. In order to stake out this position, each student is going to write a position paper, at least 3 norm pages long, and submit it at least 2 days before the seminar.

It is recommended to explain your position on issues such as: China’s compliance with WTO agreements, its alleged theft of intellectual property and mistreatment of foreign investors, the costs of the trade war for consumers in the US and for American companies, the national security implications of China’s growing GDP and America’s dependence on China, or the relevance of human rights considerations (Honk Kong, Xinjiang etc.). However, it is not necessary to cover all of these topics and in fact it is allowed to focus on topics that favor your side of the argument.

The second seminar will be concerned with the EU’s policy towards China. Here, students will be divided into groups of 5. Each group is going to prepare a presentation in which they will propose an EU economic policy towards China in an assigned area, such as import tariffs, Chinese investment in the EU, or the Belt and Road Initiative.

There are going to be no assigned positions, so each group must find its own approach, and in general chose between a more liberal, free trade orientation, or a more protectionist and strategically minded position. It is again recommended to justify your position by appealing to for example WTO law, principles of free trade, openness and transparency, or to Europe’s geopolitical interests, normative preferences, or to its relations with third countries, such as the United States.

In total, a student can obtain at most 5 points for each seminar. The evaluation will take into account both the quality of the position paper and the student’s active participation in discussion.

2) Final essay

At the end of the semester, each student will write an essay, in which they are going to impersonate a Chinese intellectual contemplating what role their country should play in the world economy by 2050. Essentially, students are invited to attempt to take a look at the world from a Chinese perspective and write down the ideal path for China for circa the next thirty years. It is recommended to cover themes such China’s GDP, its role in manufacturing and technological innovation, its position and influence in international organizations such as the WTO, IMF and the WB, and its role in global or regional trade and finance. It is allowed to branch into the geopolitical realm and mention Chinese aspirations for Taiwan, Honk-Kong et cetera, or its ideal future relations with the United States and Europe, but the bulk of the essay should be devoted to economic phenomena.

There is no single correct way of how to write the essay, after all, the text is supposed to be normative (how things should be) and must include a significant amount of speculation. In order to be successful, the essay must describe goals and aspirations that are desirable and plausible, and in doing so, demonstrate knowledge of important currently existing institutions or concepts. For example, if you are going to write about the Belt and Road Initiative or the IMF, it must be apparent that you know what it is and why it is relevant today.

The deadline for submitting the essay is the 21^st of December 2022. The essay must be at least 4 norm pages long. The maximum amount of points a student can gain for the essay is 5.

3) Final exam:

The course shall be concluded by a written exam comprising four open-ended questions. Each answer will be given up to 5 points, therefore, the maximum possible amount of points a student can obtain from the exam is 20.

Evaluation:

In order to successfully complete the course, a student needs to acquire at least 20 points. Points are going to be translated into grades as follows:

35-32,5 points - „A“

32-29,5 points - „B“

29-26,5 points - „C“

26-23,5 points - „D“

23-20 points - „E“

19,5-0 points - „F“