Asian politics is diverse and rapidly changing.  Many different types of political system can be found in Asia, including communist regimes, constitutional monarchies, democracies and military-based authoritarian governments.  Moreover, seemingly entrenched systems can be overturned, as witnessed in Indonesian’s transition to democracy or Thailand’s return to authoritarianism.  The study of Asian politics not only gives insights into recent phenomena in the world’s most rapidly growing region, but also provides a setting for understanding and relating political theory to real world developments.  This course has two main purposes.  First, it will introduce students to major concepts and theories within political science and secondly will use examples from within Asia to illustrate different political science categories and approaches.  During the course, scholars of the politics of South Asia, Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as of transnational and strategic relations within Asia, will discuss particular themes within political science and relate these to their region or topic of specialization.  In this way, students will emerge with a broad knowledge of both politics as a discipline and political developments within Asia.