Disciplinary Electives - SSC-PPE

ECO4005 Global Economic Issues

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 07:01:29 +0000

This module provides students with an understanding of the current economic situations of the world and related economic policies adopted by different countries. It also presents the viewpoints of different countries to the students in analyzing various important economic issues. The contents of the module are based on recent research studies and journal articles.

ECO4004 Economies of Mainland China and Hong Kong SAR

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 07:00:22 +0000

This module is designed to enable students to comprehend the economic growth and development of mainland China and the Hong Kong SAR. It covers such topics as an overview of economic development of mainland China and the Hong Kong SAR, economic reforms of mainland China, major current issues facing mainland China and the Hong Kong SAR, and economic partnership between mainland China and the Hong Kong SAR.

ECO3002 Introduction to Econometrics

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 06:59:46 +0000

This module is designed to introduce students to basic econometric methods for analyzing data in economics and related disciplines. It also enables students to use econometrics software packages for empirical analysis. The software used in this module is gretl, EViews or EXCEL.

PPE3006 Comparative Politics

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 06:58:32 +0000

Comparative politics is a major subfield of political science. It provides analytical frameworks to categorize different countries, and to understand the differences between countries in various aspects, including type of regime, economic performance, and social wellbeing, etc. More precisely, comparative politics encounters questions such as “why are some countries wealthier than the others”, “why can some countries become democratic while some fails”, and “why do issues of ethnicity evoke conflicts in some countries”. With the knowledge of comparative politics, students can analyze and explain governance performance and political situation of a country at a macro perspective. The course: (a) categorization of states and regime, (b) comparative analysis of institution and system, (c) comparative analysis of actor, (d) comparative analysis of political culture, (e) democratization, (f) historical approach of comparative politics, (g) policymaking process, and (f) research method of comparative politics and small N studies.

PPE3005 Government and Politics of China

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 06:57:46 +0000

This module offers a thorough overview of the political system of contemporary China, focusing in particular on how the Chinese Communist Party manages and maintains its power. Students will be introduced to the organizational structure of the party-state, the changing ideological legitimation over successive leadership, and the struggle over political succession. They shall also examine various state and party institutions, the politics of reforms, separatism and unification, and foreign relations. Current issues related to Chinese politics will be discussed throughout the semester.

PPE3004 Global Politics

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 06:57:01 +0000

This module is designed to enable students to identify, interpret and examine global politics from a general perspective. It is hoped that exposure to various theoretical approaches to the study of international relations imparts skills to the students which are useful in examining the major contemporary trends of global order. Topics such as great power relations, war and peace, global political economy, and human right issues are discussed throughout the semester.

PPE3003 Global Justice

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 06:55:09 +0000

This module discusses some recent debates within international political theory, in particular those on the theme of global justice. It addresses questions such as: What, if anything, does justice demand on the global scale? Is the distribution of resources across the world unfair or unjust? If so, what should we do about it? Do we have any duties of justice to people in other countries? If so why, and how should these be balanced with duties to our fellow citizens? How should we address international conflicts and global crisis? It first discusses major theories of global justice, such as cosmopolitism and nationalism. It then discusses several pressing issues, such as climate change, immigration and just war. At the end of the course, students should have an overview of some of the most important debates about global justice and be able to make use of some of the most advanced philosophical theories in assessing the issues involved.

PPE3002 Law, Morality and Religion

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 06:53:49 +0000

Law, Morality and Religion are different sources of behavior norm in a society. The public domain is usually regarded as being governed by law, and the private domain is usually regarded as being governed by moral norms and religious rules. However, it is controversial about how to draw the line between public and private. This course discusses the public-private distinction by examining various controversial law-making cases. It first examines two approaches of defining the relationship among law, morality and religion, which are liberal neutralism and perfectionism. In Part II, it discusses three issues about life and death, based on a core question: should a government uses legal power to promote certain moral view of life? In Part III, it discusses four issues related to sex, love and family, based on a core question: how much should a government intervene private spheres of citizens? In Part IV, it discusses the role of religion in law-making and how much religious freedom citizens enjoy in civic education. It also discusses the tension between Islam and the ethics of citizenship.

PPE3001 History of Chinese Political Thoughts

wtchan — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 06:53:12 +0000

This module aims to provide an in-depth understanding of selected Chinese philosophers’ views on politics. It goes beyond the introduction of the fundamental concepts in Chinese political philosophy from pre-Qin to Han, from Han to Song & Ming dynasties to late imperial periods, up to People Republic of China. Most importantly, it familiarises students with the major questions which the Chinese philosophers have been thinking of, for instance: What are the roles and responsibilities of the rulers? What is the ideal form of government? What is the best relationship between people and the state? One of the key focuses of this module is to examine the role played by Chinese intellectuals in the history of Chinese political thoughts. This course will also guide students to evaluate critically the views of Chinese philosophers.