Assignment Question
We have covered a variety of security, economic, and identity topics. For this paper assignment, you will select a specific topic from 1 of these topic areas and write a 4-page paper. For example, if you believe that terrorist attacks (given Hamas’ recent strike at Israel) are fueling conflicts in certain areas of the world, then terrorist groups are a threat to international security. If you believe terrorism is THE security threat, you cannot write about terrorism in general; you have to write about a specific terrorist group to explain why terrorists are contributing to conflict, and what 3 specific types of international actors are doing to address the terrorist problem. *Be sure to narrow your topic to only 1 aspect of security, economics, or identity. For example, if you believe that cyber espionage is a major security threat, then write only about cyber espionage, and not teenagers engaging in silly hacks. If you believe that water shortages are THE threat, then write about water shortages and not about every natural resource shortage. Your 3 specific actors will be a country (perhaps the United States), an international governmental organization – IGO — (perhaps the United Nations, NATO, or the European Union), AND a non-governmental organization – NGO — (perhaps the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). You’ll write approximately 1 page on the extent of the problem you have identified, and approximately 1 page on each of these actors’ attempts to address the problem. You’ll then conclude with a paragraph on how well these efforts are working (or not), and which type of actor seems to be more successful in tackling the problem. You will need to do a little research, but your text provides a lot of useful hints already. Start by picking an issue that resonated with you. Were you surprised that wars have been fought over water in some regions of the world? Were you surprised that the US is so vulnerable to cyber espionage by other countries? Once you pick an issue, you will do a little research on how that issue has become a transboundary issue (i.e., global) over time. In the process, you’ll identify the main categories of actors: the ones causing the problem and the ones most deeply affected by the problem. Hint, these two can be the same, depending on the issue you pick. Then, you’ll do a little research on what is being done to address the problem. I have below several websites that can help you start your research. Please note that if you use info from a website that is generally not well known to the general public, you’ll have to cite it. I have a separate page on how to cite. Once you pick a topic and identify the main victims and culprits, it should be easy to select a country that is actively trying to prevent the problem from getting worse. For example, if you select overpopulation as an economic threat, you’ll probably want to write about China or India. Don’t pick a sparsely populated country as a case for overpopulation. If you select an identity issue, such as transgender hate crimes, then select a country that actually has this problem so you can explore the extent to which that government is working for (or against) this demographic. How to pick an IGO and NGO? IGOs have countries as members, and NGOs have people as members. The world’s largest IGO is the United Nations. There are many regional IGOs, and you can find a comprehensive list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_intergovernmental_organizations. And here is a list of the top NGOS: http://www.top500ngos.net/.
