International Politics Paper Assignment -
I. PAPER GUIDELINES
- You must write a 5-6 page research paper (double-spaced, 12 pt. font, and 1-inch margins) applying the course concepts and theories.
- The goal of this paper is for you to analyze an event (historical or contemporary) in world politics and explain why it happened the way it did using the different theoretical perspectives. You must focus on one of the levels of analysis (system, state, or individual) and at least one of the theoretical perspectives (realism, liberalism, constructivism, or a critical analysis).
- You need to use a minimum of 5 sources: 1 book or chapters from a book, at least 2 peer reviewed academic journal articles, and 2 other articles (essays from popular periodicals, newspapers, or think tanks). The more sources, the richer the analysis, so feel free to use more sources. IF you are working on a historical case, you can use primary sources and memoirs. Some of you may only be able to use journal articles, government documents, or think tank material because there are not enough publications about your topic.
- EVALUATE your sources carefully. Are they peer reviewed? Be extremely careful about information and data you get from on-line sources. I will grade you on the quantity and quality of the sources you use for your analysis. Be on the lookout for FAKE NEWS. How can you find reputable and reliable information?
II. After looking on-line and in your textbook for ideas, come up with two possible paper topics.
- What historical or current international events are you trying to analyze or explain?
- Which theoretical perspectives will you use and why? What are the strengths and limitations of the perspective (s) you are applying to explain this event?
- What is your argument, claim, or main point?
- What do you think your answer, conclusion, or finding is?
- What are the implications of your research? Why should people care about it? Why does it matter?
- What is a literature review? Abstract? You will need to include a very brief literature review (couple of paragraphs) and write an abstract of your paper (200 words).
- Which Citation Style will you use (Chicago, APA, or the MLA?)
- What library resources will you use? Borrow books, retrieve academic journal articles, look for newspaper coverage?
NEED HELP GETTING STARTED? Possible paper topics. Write about something that interests you. Start with the country or countries that you want to learn more about and go from there. Or, think about issues you care about: human rights, war, trade, nuclear weapons, terrorism, migration, the environment, peace treaties, international law, international organizations, etc.
- When/why two countries form a diplomatic relationship, alliance, trade agreement or treaty
- UN humanitarian intervention
- China's relations with any country
- US relations with any country (narrow it down to a specific agreement, event, or time period)
- The Non-nuclear proliferation treaty (NPT)
- International treaties or efforts to respond to climate change, the Kyoto Protocol
- European policies on migration and refugees
- Some aspect of the WTO, WHO, IMF, NATO, or another intergovernmental organization
- The International Court of Justice
- Any country in a region of you are interested in and its relations with another country in the region or the US
- Cuba-US relations
- Causes of WWI, WWII, the Cold War, Cuban Missile Crisis, or a proxy war during the Cold War (Korean War, Vietnam, other case?)
- One of Africa's regional economic communities COMESA, EAC, or ECCAS
- ASEAN
- CELAC
- EU and a member country or country trying to join the EU
- The spread of human rights norms and values
- Indigenous people's rights and the international system
- Transnational activism
- Women and international politics, development, health, disaster, or security
- Sexual violence and war, rape as a weapon of war
- Global Terrorism
- Cyber security and cooperation between or among states on cyber security
- Trafficking of drugs, weapons, or humans
- Technology and warfare, drones
- Systemic changes: rise of China, decline of the UK or US?
- The role of smaller countries or powers (economic, trade, or security)
Attachment:- Assignment File.rar