Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Hello all! The purpose of this sheet is to suggest some potential ideas for topics that may
help you in crafting your essays. I am also posting a rubric to the L@G site which
provides a bit more detail on assignment expectations to the course website. However,
the rubric essentially replicates the expectations laid out in the course guide, that in the
structure of the essay, you should offer 1) a clear introduction; 2) a literature review that
sets out the limits of alternative arguments; 3) a concise theoretical discussion of the
assumptions underlying your approach; 4) a structured, focused presentation of the
evidence, and; 5) a conclusion that restates the arguments and offers some observations
based on your research.
1) To remind you of whats at stake in the key theoretical debates and to drop
some hints in the process about potential key definitions and articles to cite
2) To review each essay question and suggest some potential empirical topics. The
point in doing is not to restrict what you can write about, but suggest some topics
that might be useful, highlight some relevant evidence, and help you in deciding
what you specifically want to address in your essays.
The goal is for everyone to feel in command of their argument and evidence well in
advance of the end of the term.
Likewise, if you answer # 4, you might engage the arguments of Barkin and Cronin
(1994, 108) regarding the variable nature of sovereignty, which they argue is neither
fixed nor constant, but rather subject to changing interpretations as they stress a
historical tension between state sovereignty, which stresses the link between sovereign
authority and a defined territory, and national sovereignty, which emphasizes a link
between sovereign authority and a defined population emphases added) More recently,
one might argue that notions of sovereignty have been expanded further to highlight the
notion of sovereignty as a responsibility in a way that has given rise to recent notions
of a responsibility to protect.
II: Topics: So, what might be a good topics that correspond to these research
questions? Lets look at each one and then list a few potential ideas. These are only
suggestive You should feel to develop your own interests.
1. When US President Harry Truman set out to justify US involvement in the Cold
War, he deliberately exaggerated the ideological and global nature of the Russian
threat, constructing a struggle for liberal values that took on a life of its own.
2. When US President George W. Bush set out to justify US involvement in the War
on Terror, he deliberately exaggerated the ideological threat and potential
existence of weapons of mass destruction, leading to a US overreaction
Afghanistan/Iraq.
3. When US President Donald Trump proposed a Muslim ban in the 2016
presidential campaign, he spoke to prejudices and fears in ways meant to reshape
not only US foreign policy but also domestic identities and citizenship rights.
(*Please note that in your packet you have a number of presidential addresses by US
presidents to draw from. While you do not need to focus on the US context as there
have been demagogues in every society this might be a useful first check resource if
you are inclined to focus on demagoguery in a US setting.)
4. Highlight in the role of US isolationism and liberal naivet in limiting its response
to mass atrocities in Rwanda (See the Samantha Power readings)
5. Highlight the role of institutional pathologies in the UN, where concerns about a
loss of US support for efforts to prevent mass atrocities led the UN to fail to act to
prevent mass atrocities in Rwanda (See the Michael Barnett readings)
Kahneman, Daniel. 2011. Thinking Fast and Slow. New York: penguin
Power, Samantha. 2002. A Problem from Hell. New York: Basic Books.
Tulis, Jeffrey. 1987. The Rhetorical Presidency. Princeton: Princeton University Press