You may use examples from lectures and readings (including primary sources and articles) in order to support your arguments. Please write your essays in an academic style, i.e. introduction-body paragraphs-conclusion format. You may craft imaginative theses but in order to be persuasive you must back up all generalizations with historicalevidence. Essays will be judged on clarity of argument (i.e. you must have a thesis that develops over the course of the essay), accuracy (speculation is not historical evidence), organization (argument should flow smoothly and not be choppy), and last but definitely not least, spelling and grammar.
Page limit: 2 single-spaced pages (or 4 double-spaced pages) per essay.
Write an essay in response to any one of the following:
1) Francis Fukuyama's wrote his landmark essay "The End of History" to suggest that the victory of the western alliance ("liberal democracy") over the Soviet Union meant the end of history and the spread of democracy all over the world. Was he right to think so given the USSR's condition in 1989 or do you think it was irrational exuberance? [Note: all generalizations needed to be supported with concrete evidence and must discuss the end of Soviet Union historically, not emotionally]
OR
2) Why did the "American century" lead to anti-Americanism?
OR
3) What factors underpinned the resurgence of Asian countries China, India, Japan or Turkey? Discuss with reference to any two countries, restricting yourself to any two of the following categories:
a) politics
b) economics
c) society
d) culture