foreign policy choices
analyze the foreign policy choices of a single international actor such as a country or international organization regarding an international event or foreign policy issue involving more than one actor at any time in the period since 1900.
The paper should analyze the foreign policy choices of a single international actor such as a country or international organization regarding an international event or foreign policy issue involving more than one actor at any time in the period since 1900. The paper should explain the nature of the issue, event or policy, and seek to offer an explanation as to why the country or organization in question made the choices it did. The explanation should be in terms of which international relations theories and levels of analysis you believe offer the most complete understanding of the action or policy you are analyzing. Your explanation and identification of those theories and levels of analysis is the central argument of the paper and should be reflected in your opening thesis statement.
The paper may focus on a specific event, such as the Falklands War or Cuban Missile Crisis or it may seek to explain a long-term policy such as Germany’s policy towards the European Community or America?s policy of containment. The policy or event chosen may involve countries or organizations from anywhere in the world with the paper’s perspective focusing on the decisions of a single actor. For example, a paper on the Berlin Blockade would concentrate on the role or reaction of the United States or the Soviet Union or Britain or France, but not on more than one of them. The event or policy in question must involve the interaction of a country or organization with some other actor or actors in international politics. For example, a paper on Iran and causes of the Iranian Revolution would not meet the assignment?s requirements because no other international actor outside of Iran would be involved. A paper on the causes of Iran’s seizure of the United States? embassy in Tehran would meet the assignment?s requirements because it involves the interaction of two states.