Catherine Owens Only

POLS 2010 Essay Instructions and Topics

Value: 25% Final due date: April 19th Optional draft due date: March 22nd

Instructions

This assignment will give you an opportunity to take a closer look at a

specific course topic, or a theme that runs throughout the course. You will

be asked to write an essay of 10-12 pages in length (plus your title page

and reference page). The essay should be double-spaced, 12-point

font.

You can write more if you want to. I have no problem with that, and I don’t

want you to feel that length is a limitation. However, if you write a shorter

essay, it may not fulfill all the assignment requirements and that may lower

your mark.

There are four topics to choose from, plus a “design your own topic”

option (please see topic list for details; select only one topic).

Final due date

This assignment will include an option to submit a draft of your essay to me

The final deadline for the paper is April 22nd.

2. “Liberal internationalism” today: debating its role in the

contemporary international environment

The second unit in the course focuses on perspectives on international

security. This essay topic will allow you to explore a contemporary debate

in international relations theory: is liberalism (also called liberal

internationalism) an approach which can still “work” in the contemporary

international environment? What value or benefits might there be to

maintaining the influence of liberal internationalism? How might a liberal

international vision of politics be criticized by either realism or a

postcolonial perspective on politics?

Please write an essay that fulfills the following requirements:

1) Write an analysis of John Ikenberry’s essay The Next Liberal Order

(available under the Module 4 recommended readings) that answers the

following questions:

 Why does Ikenberry think liberal internationalism is still the best

model for dealing with contemporary international politics?

 What does he mean when he talks about “Roosevelt’s” version of

liberalism? How does it address “realist” concerns”?

 According to Ikenberry, what role should the United States play in the

revival of liberal internationalism and why does the US need the help

of other “democratic” states?

Note: remember to use your own words and formulations. Do not rely on

quotations from the readings. The aim of this part of the essay is for you to

practice reconstructing the key points and arguments of another author’s

work. Value: 8 marks

2) How might a realist and a postcolonial theorist criticize Ikenberry’s

vision of an international order? Please discuss one criticism from each

position: realism and postcolonialism. Use the course readings by Kaufman

and Loomba as your primary resource for these theories. Value 8: marks

3) Based on what you’ve read in chapters 13 and 17 of Unsettling Canada:

A National Wake-Up call, discuss what value an organization like the

United Nations can have as a political resource for Indigenous peoples

trying to challenge and dismantle colonial structures. Summarize the

arguments made in those chapters and discuss how you think they might

be used to critique Ikenberry’s ideas about a liberal international order

supported by democratic states. Value: 8 marks

The remaining 3 marks are for proper academic documentation and

formatting.

Please note: this is not a grade for your “writing.” Quality of writing can

impact on an overall essay grade in different ways, so it isn’t included here.

Also, please note that an essay without citations will be returned and I will

ask you to resubmit. I am not able to grade an essay that does not cite

sources. The minimum penalty for submitting a paper without citations is

the full loss of these 3 marks. A late penalty of 5% per day may also be

applied until I receive the submission again.