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Politics - Global BBA course

#Global BBA #GBBA

Dr. Machiko Kojima, Assistant Professor of Faculty of Economics, who is well-versed in the political field, taught ‘Politics’, a Year 1 course in our Global BBA program. Prior to joining NUCB Undergraduate School, she has worked as researcher-advisor at the Japan’s Embassy in Belgium and as officer at the National Security Policy Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This course offers a basic knowledge on political sciences, with a particular focus on Japan’s Foreign Policy through specific cases, varying from the historical background to current topics.
As our students have come all the way to Japan from various countries, it is an opportunity for them to understand the host country’s political system from an international perspective, as well as compare its foreign policy with their own countries’.
Furthermore, this leads them to think critically and strategically while increasing their diversity awareness and building their effective communication, which are our learning goals. Ultimately, it falls under our university’s mission: “The ability to bridge the gap between New Asia and the rest of the world.”

Drawing from her experience, she leads students into healthy debates and discussions based on the case that was prepared for the day and its related topics, after giving the students ample explanation about specific notions. For this, she also encourages the students to conduct online researches to find supplementary information and facts that could support their arguments.


On Week 2, the class moved to one of the heavily debated topics in Japan in recent times, since Shinzo Abe has become the country’s prime minister, the Article 9 of the Constitution. The Abe administration has already made it possible for the nation to be capable of collective self-defense instead of just individual self-defense (defending Japan’s territory and population only), by reinterpreting the article. Now, their goal is to revise the article in order to mention clearly the Self-Defense Force in the Constitution, which could widen the scope of the forces by giving them new roles. Facing criticism from opposition lawmakers, the country’s population is somewhat ambivalent in regard to this topic.

This topic brought the students to express their opinions and suggestions as to how Japan should move forward regarding the Article 9.

It should be noted that even in a business school’s curriculum, covering topics in social sciences is very important as it gives the students complementary and general knowledge that would help them succeed in any field or industry they decide to go in the end
And that is particularly true with political sciences as the business world can be heavily impacted by numerous political decisions (i.e. current trade war between USA and China) just like the opposite can also be true.