Research and analytically discuss an international political issue of your choice
The goal of this paper is simple: for you to choose, research, and analytically discuss an international political issue that you find interesting. As our sessions will illustrate, the many and varied issues at play in today’s world are complex, heavily debated, and confusing. The point is discovering what you critically think about your chosen topic. In addition, you must compare something – typically how different countries or organizations address the issue, or how the issue has changed over time (i.e., comparing two-time frames in different places). Once you have gathered and thought about all your information, analyze the issues carefully, with the goal of explaining and understanding. Think of this as a puzzle, and your job is to attempt to explain why or how a specific problem or issue came to exist in the way it does (or, why attempts to address and/or resolve the issue have worked, or not worked).
As is obvious from a quick glance at the syllabus and text there are many major issues at play – problems of democracy, interstate relations, endemic poverty, terrorism – just to name a few. Each of these topics is complex and confusing in itself, and many of them inevitably – or naturally – interact. Furthermore, each contains related subtopics we might not address directly in the course, which you are free to pursue (pending approval of your topic). Your goal is to focus on a very specific subset of one of these major issues and attempt to analyze something about it. For example, human rights is obviously a broad category. One type of highly visible human rights is women’s rights. And women’s rights entail a whole host of problems – sexual assault, education, work/career opportunities (including fair pay), partner/marriage rights (or freedom from!); the list of problems is nearly endless. Your job is to explore and analyze an issue at this level of detail.
So, develop a topic of you own and research it, focusing on professional source materials, primarily books and acceptable journal articles (academic journals, official government and international organizations’ publications, and other similar sources – i.e., not just anything off the web or from some newsstand magazine). Information obtained off transparent and vetted websites, such as government and internationally recognized news sources (Reuters, BBC, NYT, etc.) is acceptable as well, but academic-level sources must be the basis of your research.
As a side note, Wikipedia does not count as a valid site in and of itself. It is a reference or starting point only, but if used the citation links must be followed and cited.
However, please be clear to make the proper citations if quoting a source (and remember to limit your quotations, this is to be in your words, not someone else’s!), and provide a bibliography at the end.
This paper is expected to be in the 10+ page range, not including the bibliography or endnotes/appendixes (if applicable). Standard formats are to be observed (double-spaced, page numbers, standard margins, and typewriter-font size).
