Course outline
The aim of this course is to introduce students to the international relations of East Asia. The course is divided in two parts. The first provides an overview to the region. An overview of East Asia during the 20th and early 21st centuries is provided: Attention is paid to state formation, regime types, democratization, and political culture. The second part covers developments in the international politics of East Asia since the end of the Cold War. Here the interplay between external and regional powers is analyzed, alongside the foreign policies of the main actors in the region. Special attention is also given to trends in Asian regionalism (politics, security, economy).

COURSE CONTENT
Foreign Policy Analysis investigates the processes involved in foreign policy decisionmaking.It requires an understanding of the contexts, pressures and constraints withwhich foreign policy-makers have to deal and the ability to engage in comparativeanalysis without losing a sense of historical context. The course is largely theoretical.Individual cases will be touched mainly for discussion purposes, but the major themessuch as foreign policy decision-making process, influences on foreign policy, types offoreign policy actors etc. are approached from conceptual aspect.

On November 14 and 15, 2016 the English Access Microscholarship Program held its first Alumni Reunion in Bishkek. Forty alumni from Osh, Naryn, Talas, Kant, Kyzyl-Kiya, Isfana, Bazar-Korgon, Leilek, Karakol and Dzhalal-Abad attended the meeting. The aim of the Alumni Reunion was to bring together Access alumni and create a sustainable platform for further communication.

On November 3, 2016 Johannes Stenbæk Madsen, the head of cooperation at the European Union Delegation to Kyrgyzstan, gave a lecture at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA).

On October 27, 2016 Thomas A. Shannon, Jr., the Under Secretary of United States for Political Affairs visited the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) to meet with AUCA students, faculty, and staff, along with a number of students from other Bishkek Universities. This trip was Under Secretary Shannon’s first visit to Central Asia, thus except Bishkek, he visited Astana, Kazakhstan, Tashkent and Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Malika Kanatbek kyzy is a junior in the Journalism and Mass Communications Department (JMC) at AUCA. She had an internship at the US Embassy in Bishkek, participated in the Youth for Human Rights International Summit (YHRI) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, and started her exchange semester at Bard College in the US. Malika shared her thoughts and experience with us.
 

On September 15th, 2016, Dan Hamilton, a public affairs associate from the American College of Surgeons visited the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) to lead an interactive conversation with students from the department of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The keynote address by Prof. Amanda Wooden delivered on the occasion of opening of the Fifth Annual Conference of Central Asian Studies Institute.

The Student Intellectual Life Committee (SILC) supports student-initiated projects, professional development opportunities, and student research. It awards small grants every month to the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) students. Behruz Ayubov, a sophomore in the Applied Mathematics and Informatics at AUCA talks about his grant from SILC.

On April 26, 2016 a delegation from the People’s Republic of China visited the American University of Central Asia. The delegation consisted of representatives from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the head of an International Education Initiative.