Assignment

The research paper for this class is your opportunity to tie together you years here at FIU as an international relations student with what has been covered in this course. The topic is up to you to decide. A good topic will engage the course literature and lectures. A good method for devising a research topic will be to reflect on areas of knowledge you have built up while at FIU and begin to re-examine those topics through the fundamental literature we have covered in this course. In order to avoid restricting your creativity, the paper will not have a page limit. You will be expected to fully engage your topic, research question, and address all the issues in that area of international relations. You can choose your own topic about an historical or current event or person as seen from the perspective of a philosopher. For example, what would Plato have said about the election of President Trump? How would Arendt have understood the popular hysteria leading to the Rwandan Genocide?

This paper and the should be formatted to be double-spaced, 1 inch margin, and 12 font. The paper proposal should be 2 pages in length. The first page explains your topic and should include,

1. A working title

2. A research question

3. 1-2 paragraphs explaining the subject of research and why this project is important for understanding international relations.

The second page will be an annotated bibliography. You will locate 4-6 sources that are important for understanding your topic and following the citation of your chosen source there will be 1-3 sentences explaining how/why this source will support your topic. Only peer reviewed journals and/or university press books are acceptable. Some popular journals like Newsweek or the Economist could be used. You must also include one class reading in your annotated bibliography.