For your final paper, answer one of the three prompts below. Your paper should primarily be analysis using the theories and approaches you have learned this semester, and should draw heavily from the readings. While you will need to do outside research to better understand the war or topic you choose, you should mostly rely on readings from this course for theory and concepts. Please cite all sources (external and internal) using a consistent citation format, with either in-text or footnotes. Excellent papers will:
Be well written and clearly argued.
Explain how your chosen theories can or cannot explain the war or topic of your choosing.
Compare and contrast different theories.
Papers should be no longer than 10 pages (double-spaced, 12-point Helvetica font), excluding bibliography. While there is no minimum length, significantly shorter papers are unlikely to address the prompt in an adequate manner. Papers are to be posted on Canvas and will be docked one letter grade for each day that they are late.
Questions:
Explaining wars (1): Pick one of the wars from the list below and use two or more theories or tools from class to explain one. You can focus on 1) why fighting broke out, 2) why it developed the way it did (e.g. intervention, expansion), 3) how and why it ended, or some combination thereof.
Kosovo War
Korean War
Vietnam War
Iran-Iraq War
Nagorno-Karabakh
Kashmir conflict
A Rising China (2): The future of a US-Chinese rivalry will in part depend on what the other states in Asia-Pacific do. Pick one neighbor and explain how it is likely to behave in relation to China, with a focus on security, using two or more theoretical approaches from class.
Civil War in the Balkans (3): The EU has recently expressed concern that Bosnia-Hercegovina is at risk of civil war. Use existing theories to either explain 1) why civil war might happen, or 2) how the United States can prevent the outbreak of civil war.
First, and most importantly, you need to be VERY CLEAR about which theories you are using in order to discuss your chosen topic. We should know from the first paragraph a) what your topic is, b) what theories you are using for your analysis and c) how you plan to accomplish your goal. This is a good tool for you to utilize in your writing: Tell your reader what you plan to tell them. Tell them (and make sure you tell them everything you said you would tell them). Then tell them how you successfully told them everything you said you would tell them. Think of your introduction as your own personal checklist — did you cover everything you told your readers you would
From there, the structure is up to you, but 80% of your paper ought to be the analysis. If you are using more than half of your paper on background information, you are missing the key components of the assignment.
While the only requirement for citations is that they be consistent, please note you must choose a real citation format. You can not make up your own and use it throughout. Personally, I love Turabian (Links to an external site.), but MLA (Links to an external site.) is also a great option. You can pick any (REAL) citation format and roll with it. Please remember, citations are GOOD. I know they are a pain in the backside (believe me, I really do) but they are extremely useful in academic writing. If you aren’t convinced (I understand), check this out (Links to an external site.). Remember, citations indicate where you got information. You should be in the habit of citing ideas and influences, not just quotes you take from various writings.
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