Cady Deck, Certificate '19 + Johns Hopkins SAIS MA '20
shares her favorite class at SAIS.
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| SAIS Paul H. Nitze Building - located just steps from many of the nation’s most prestigious think tanks, research centers, and global corporations as well as famous landmarks like the White House and the U.S. Capitol. |
Every HNC Certificate + SAIS MA student has to take two Asia
Studies classes, and one China Studies class at SAIS in addition to taking
economics classes and fulfilling core requirements. One of my favorite classes
this semester is a Southeast Asia Studies class called Leaders, Followers, and
Political Power. This is not a class about the “great man theory” of history.
It is a class designed to answer two main questions: why do leaders lead and
why do people follow them. Over the course of the semester, we have analyzed
how leaders attain power utilizing different combinations of coercion,
charisma, traditional authority, economic reward, or appeals to identity,
ideology and nationalism. We have also looked at reasons people follow leaders,
both psychological and political, which is especially interesting at times when
leaders do or condone terrible things.
One of the benefits of going to a school in DC is that a lot
of the professors are former government officials. In fact, two of my
professors this semester have had long careers in the government. Professor Karl
Jackson, for example, has an especially interesting history, which makes
classes very exciting. He served as the national security adviser to the vice
president, special assistant to the president, senior director for Asia on the
National Security Council, among other positions. In other words, he had unique
access and opportunities to meet with a lot of world leaders, especially Southeast
Asian leaders. Every week students present on the readings and answer questions
from the class and the professor. Afterwards, we discuss leaders’
personalities, their leadership qualities, the characteristics of their
followers, etc. During the lectures and class discussions, Professor Jackson frequently
interjects with personal anecdotes, telling us his own impressions of the
leaders when he met them back in the day. Learning about leaders from their
autobiographies or other biographers is interesting, but the opportunity to ask
Professor Jackson about his personal interactions and first, second, or third impressions
of the leaders is unparalleled.
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| Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies is located in DuPont Circle, a vibrant area in the heart of Washington, DC. |
My initial interest in this course actually came from a
class I took at the HNC. In the China on the Border: Provincial Relations on
the Periphery class, I wrote my research paper on China-Southeast Asia
relations, specifically focusing on China-Myanmar relations. I even had the
opportunity to travel to the China-Myanmar
border over spring break, where I examined the refugee/border
resident situation. I focused on the China side of this relationship, but grew
more interested about politics in Myanmar, especially the government’s response
to all of the ethnic conflicts within Myanmar. At SAIS, I wanted to explore this interest in Southeast
Asia and expand my knowledge on regions other than China. In the Leaders class,
I am writing my semester research paper on Myanmar’s current State Counsellor
Aung San Suu Kyi. I have gained a better understanding of Southeast Asian
politics and leaders, but more specifically, Burmese politics and Suu Kyi’s
leadership style and motivations.
Knowing more about the broader region, the domestic politics
of surrounding countries, and their leaders is a different angle from which to
analyze challenges or areas of conflict in regional relations. At the HNC I
learned a lot about the Chinese perspective on various political, social, and
economic issues domestically and globally. As a China Studies concentrator,
that perspective is invaluable. Coming to SAIS complements my experience at the
HNC because I can pursue other interests that may also be helpful in
understanding future relations between China and other countries. The Leaders
class this semester is just one example of the way in which students can expand
on what they learned at the HNC at SAIS.
Written by Cady Deck, Certificate '19 + Johns Hopkins
SAIS MA '20
