Term Paper Assignment : International Organizations In a paper of 7-10 typed, double-spaced pages (12-point Times or Times New Roman font, minimum oneinch/2.54 cm margins) Analyze an international organization of your choice in terms of two theories of international relations covered in class, as follows: 1. Choose an international organization. (Global and regional IGOs, and NGOs, are acceptable choices. If you are unsure whether an organization qualifies, ask.) Determine whether sufficient research material is available to write a paper on the organization. If not, choose another organization. Also, if you choose a large and complicated organization such as the UN or EU, you should narrow your topic to a component or activity of the larger organization—such as the European Court of Justice or UN peacekeeping—or to a more specific topic in relation to the organization. 2. Choose some specific activity, decision, or aspect (your topic) of the international organization to analyze. For example, if you write about the United Nations, you could choose a specific peacekeeping mission, or a Security Council Resolution, or the selection of a Secretary-General, or voting patterns in the General Assembly. 3. Choose two theories of international relations covered in class (ie, realism, liberalism, neoliberal institutionalism, constructivism, critical theory—or versions of these). The theories should be relevant to the organization you choose, and should have contrasting implications regarding the organization. Also, do not choose ‘straw person’ theories; that is, theories that are weak on their face in relation to the topic. (The term comes from straw figures used as targets for soldiers learning to use a bayonet. The idea is that defeating a straw person is a meaningless accomplishment. You should choose theories that are viable explanations of the organization you write about.) 4. Analyze the topic (from point 2) from the perspective of the two theories (from point 3). To do this, you must: a. Briefly describe the organization and the topic (specific activity, decision, or aspect). This description may include the organization’s purpose(s), founding and major historical developments, membership, structure, activities, and basic decision-making procedures. However, this section should not be more than 2-3 pages, so be selective. In this section, you must discuss in what ways the organization corresponds to the actor, forum, and resource views of IOs as described in chapter 2 of the Hurd textbook. The description must be written entirely in your own words, except for properly acknowledged quotes. Do not copy sentences, even with minor word changes, from IO web sites or others’ descriptions of the IO.2 b. Explain the theories. Explain the basic theoretical logic and perspective on international organizations of each theory. c. Use the theories to analyze the organization. Discuss the extent to which the organization’s activities, structure, membership, or historical development (whatever about the organization you choose to focus on) are consistent with each theory’s expectations. Explain those expectations, and evaluate their consistency with evidence from the organization’s history and/or activities. (You may wish to separate this into two sections: one describing the organization’s actions or behavior, followed by another section discussing the extent to which the behavior fits the expectations of each theory.) Your analysis should relate to specific concepts or claims from each theory about how international organizations matter according to that theory. (For example, depending on the theory: Did the organization facilitate external balancing, reduce transaction costs, socialize members, or legitimize global capitalism?) To identify the relevant predictions or claims of each theory, review your lecture and reading notes on the theories. Do not argue that any self-interested behavior or conflict is automatically evidence for realism, or that cooperation proves liberalism correct. Such arguments display fundamental ignorance of the theories, and risk a failing grade on the paper. (See Hurd chapter 2 on why such claims are wrong.) d. Draw conclusions. What implications follow from your analysis, either for the functioning of the organization, or international organizations in general, or for using the theories you chose to analyze international organizations? What does your analysis tell us about the future of the international organization you studied (or, if you chose a defunct organization such as the League of Nations, for existing international organizations), member state policies, or the issue-area addressed by the organization? Organizational Elements Your paper should have the following elements: • An introduction and thesis: The introduction must say what your topic (the aspect of your international organization that you focus on) is, which two theories you will discuss, and what your thesis is. Your thesis (in the introduction) should be a claim about what the theories would say about your topic, and your evaluation of those explanations. (Example: “While theory X predicts that UN Security Council expansion will occur in the next decade, I argue that theory Y’s prediction that it will not is more convincing.”) • Explanations of the theories: You must explain the overall logic and key concepts of each theory. • Application of theories to the scenario: Explain how each theory would analyze and explain the activity or feature of your chosen international organization that you focus on. • Your evaluation: What is your assessment of the theoretical perspectives on your chosen scenario that you have just presented? Do they complement or contradict each other? Which is more convincing, and why? (This can go in your conclusion, or be a separate section.) General Requirements • To receive credit for the paper, you must submit a signed (by hand, not typed) copy of the “plagiarism form” available on the Moodle course web page. Scans, or photos are acceptable. If you do not have access to a device capable of scanning or taking and transferring a digital photo, you may type the text of the plagiarism form into an email, say that you agree to it, type your name as signature, and send the email to Professor Lipson; • The paper must be organized into sections, identified by headings and subheadings. Write an outline before you begin the paper; • Write in paragraphs. Section headings do not replace paragraph structure. Each section must contain at least two paragraphs. Every page must contain at least one paragraph break (that is, you should never have a single paragraph taking up a full page). • State your thesis or main point early in the paper;3 • Do not write titles of articles or books that you are referencing in the text. (For example, don’t write: “In the article, ‘The False Promise of International Institutions,’ by John Mearsheimer, he argues that realism says…” Instead, write: “Realism claims that…(Mearsheimer 1994/95, 7).” • Spelling and grammar matter, as does the clarity and organization of your writing. Proofread and revise; • Include a title page and bibliography (which do not count toward the page length guideline). Do not number the title page; • Number all pages except the title page. The first page of text should be numbered “1.” Sources and citations 1. Use Chicago author-date style for reference formatting. Follow the formatting guidelines carefully. Note that the listings of readings on the course outline are formatted according to the notes format in Chicago Notes-Bibliography style, not Author-Date style. You will have to reformat for Chicago author-date. 2. You must include in-text citations and a bibliography. Papers lacking these will not be graded and will receive no credit. The bibliography does not count toward the page count. (Note that a bibliography is not the same as a works cited list. A bibliography includes all works cited and background sources that you consulted and drew upon but did not cite. Include a bibliography, not a works cited list.) 3. Include at least (3) references to peer-reviewed academic journal articles (not newspapers or magazines) to support your analysis. This means you must include in-text citations to three articles, not just list them in your bibliography. A selected list of relevant peer-reviewed academic journals available in the library, and guidelines for finding peer reviewed journals. 4. Cite relevant readings assigned in the course. (These do not count towards requirement number 3 above, regarding the minimum number of articles.) You must cite at least three (3) readings assigned in the class, either from online course reserves or the Hurd or MacKenzie textbooks. This means you must include in-text citations to three readings, not just list them in your bibliography. 5. In-text citations must include the specific page numbers on which you found the specific fact or idea that you are citing (unless the source is an unpaginated web page or an unpaginated kindle book). If citing an amazon kindle or other e-reader book without page numbers corresponding to the print edition, provide the chapter and section title in place of a page number. For example, if using the ePub version of the 2nd edition of the Hurd textbook, to cite the explanation of ontologies (actor, forum, resource) in Chapter 2, instead of writing (Hurd 2014, 28-36), you would write (Hurd 2014, Ch. 2, “Three views on ontology: actor, forum, resource”). 6. Your bibliography must be organized alphabetically by author’s last name.
The post Term Paper Assignment : International Organizations In a paper of 7-10 typed, do appeared first on homework handlers.
