Assignment
This assignment is to compare and contrast the First Gulf War and the Balkans Wars, drawing on what you have learned in the course thus far.
Required Essay Questions
1.In your reading, how did the conflicts differ in their nature? For example, was one a simple case of one stateâs aggression against another (e.g., Iraq v. Kuwait in the First Gulf War), while the other conflict was born from the breakup of a multiethnic state after the Soviet collapse? For example, did the legacy of the past, or history, matter more in one conflict than the other?
2.Compare and contrast the leadership role played by the United States in these two conflicts. Did the United States take the lead and shape the international communityâs response similarly, and did others follow the United States unreservedly?
3.What differences in cooperation do you find in the two wars? For example, did coalitions against âaggressionâ form more easily in one than the other, and if so, why might that have been the case?
4.Which international relations theories that you have studied, particularly in Module 2, best explain each war and the international communityâs response to it? Be clear how the wars are similar or different, and what aspects of theory best account for these similarities and differences.