PSC 200
Research Paper

The purpose of this paper is to better understand failed states and explore the causes of state failure. A failed state is a country whose government is not able to provide security, law, property rights, banks, schools, and hospitals to its people. Failed states are characterized by chronic violence, corruption, deteriorating infrastructure, and predatory ruling regimes. In some failed states, rule by the gun wipes away any pretense of public authority. I suggest you to review the section in the textbook which discusses the topic of failed states (p. 51-58).

Paper’s format
This research paper is a case study which examines the causes of state failure in one of the Top Twenty Fragile States. The textbook provides the list of the Top Twenty Fragile States (p.50-51). 
Paper’s length: 6-8 pages (not including cover and reference pages), typewritten, double spaced, 1 inch margins, Times New Roman, font size 12 in MS-Word compatible format. The paper should contain cover and reference pages.

The paper has seven sections:
1. Cover page (paper’s title, student’s name, course name and number)
2. Introduction (0.5 pages). In this section, you should provide an overview of your country’s major challenges that explain its state failure.
3. State failure: Cause #1 (for example: Lack of civil rights) (1-1.5 pages)
4. State failure: Cause #2 (for example: Economic underdevelopment) (1-1.5 pages)
5. State failure: Cause #3 (for example: Poor education) (1-1.5 pages)
6. State failure: Cause #4 (for example: Major health issues) (1-1.5 pages)
7. State failure: Cause #5 (for example: Government corruption) (1-1.5 pages)
8. Conclusion (0.5 -1 page). Discuss and reflect on your main findings. 
9. Reference 

Discuss any five of the nine possible causes of state failure, listed below (obviously, in the context of the country that you selected).

Possible causes of state failure:
1. Lack of civil rights (racial discrimination, gender discrimination, religious discrimination…)
2. Lack of civil liberties (lack of freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly…)
3. Economic underdevelopment
5. Poor infrastructure: transportation, roads, communication, water and electric systems, sanitation
6. Ethnic and religious violence
7. Poor education
8. Major health issues and poor health care system
9. Government corruption

Sources and citation
A minimum of eight sources is required, among which four should be scholarly sources. Scholarly sources include: books, journal articles, and magazine articles, government documents and reports from intergovernmental organizations. Scholarly sources do not include textbooks, encyclopediae, dictionaries, atlases, articles from popular magazines or non-peer reviewed periodicals (such as newspapers), Wikipedia. At least two of these legitimate sources must be books. Newspapers are not considered scholarly sources. Do not use Wikipedia as a source for your paper. Do not use the textbook as a source.

In order to find books: you may use the books in our library or Google books (http://books.google.com/). 
In order to find journal or magazine articles: you may use Proquest and JSTOR (our library’s website) and Google scholar.
Examples of reputable news magazines: Economist, Time, Newsweek, Slate, Foreign Policy, Harvard International Review, National Interest. 

When you use the word of an author verbatim and you are directly quoting from a text, ensure that it is indicated by quotation marks. It must be single-spaced and indented as well. Remember, plagiarism is a grave offense!

AVOID PLAGIARISM. You must provide full citation of all sources. If you rely or depend on the ideas, claims, assumptions or data of another author or source you must cite the source. Otherwise, that is considered plagiarism. You are to utilize either the APA or MLA style in the use of citations. If you are not familiar with these citation styles, consult with the reference librarian.

Always cite sources within the text, at the end of a sentence or a paragraph you quote, even if 
they are not exact quotes. Use author’s name and year of publication (and page numbers 
whenever available/possible) in the parentheses: for instance, (Jones 1997:45). ALL cited 
sources must be included in the reference (work cited); ONLY the cited sources must be 
included in the reference. See below for examples of reference source citation.

Examples of Source Citations (Reference)

(an article/chapter in a book)
Drinan, Robert. 1998. “The good outweighs the evil.” Pp. 54-62 in The Gun Control Debate, edited by Lee Nisbet. Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books. 

(an article in a journal)
Kleck, Gary. 1998. “Crime control through the use of armed forces.” Social Problems 35(1):1-19

(a book)
Wetstein, Matthew. 1996. Abortion Rates in the United States. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.

(an article in a news magazine)
Lacayo, Richard. 1995. “A small-bore success.” Time. February 20. Pp. 47-8. 

(Internet sources)
Sawhill, Isabel J. 1998. “Welfare reform: an analysis of the issue.” The Urban Institute. Http://www.urban.org/org/welfare/overview.htm (date of document creation or publication; if it is not available, substitute with the date you visited the site/downloaded, and indicate it is “date visited.”) 

Electronic sources which may help you:

1. CIA: The World Factbook
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ 

2. The Economist
http://www.economist.com/countries/ 

3. BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/default.stm 

4. Countries of the world
http://www.infoplease.com/countries.html

5. U.S. Department of State
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/

6. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/#wrapper