For the paper each student will choose a theme or topic similar BUT NOT EXACTLY THE SAME as the variety dealt with in the course—meaning you CANNOT write about the “Armenians” or “Greek Independence” or “The Bulgarian” or 1860 “Syrian crisis.” Some topics or themes you can write about could include, but are not limited, to the following examples: The reasons for or against humanitarian
interventions in 20th or 21st century troubled locations such as, but not limited to, Darfur, Cambodia, South Africa (during the apartheid years), Rwanda, Chechnya, the Congo, Guatemala, Myanmar, the U.S. during the Civil Rights era, Kosovo, Tibet, Syria in the 21st century. A description of the problem causing outside concern, the issue of obtaining adequate knowledge of the situation, along withan analysis of the reasons (from newspaper or other media sources, or governmental discussions) for or against intervention is to be presented in the paper. Another possible topic for the paper is a critical analysis of the arguments presented by scholars or officials in favor or against the “concept of intervention”, using one of the various historical instances as the starting point. All the materials, readings or videos listed above can be used EXCEPT for the Instructor’s Lessons and the required book for the course by Gary Bass! ALL TOPICS AND SOURCES HAVE TO BE DISCUSSED WITH THE INSTRUCTORY JUNE 30. To be a bit more specific, if you choose to write about an historical event (as opposed to an analysis of the concept of, or philosophy behind, humanitarian intervention), here are a set of questions that should be useful in considering how to process or organize the paper.
1. What was the event (atrocity, massacre, large scale disruption of life), where and when did it happen?
2. How did the outside world learn of the event? When was the information available? Were the bearers of the information considered credible—were they officials, reporters, actual witnesses?
3. How was the information received by government officials, the rest of the media, prominent individuals?
4. How did those from outside countries who learned of the events respond? Did the information become a political issue between different political groups in those societies? Were there discussions in the media, within the government? Were there attempts to motivate a response, and what type of response—positive or negative? Was there a public outcry and were there demonstrations or mass meetings or fund raising?
5. What was the international situation like? Could governments act on their own or did they have to consult with others?
6. What, if anything, was the response to the crisis? Were actions taken, did a humanitarian intervention occur—why or why not? If one did occur, was it successful? How was success measured? Your effort to present a logically analyzed theme, based on the primary and secondary source material, is as important as the topic/issue you choose to study. Not all readings or videos you came
across when researching the topic need to be presented in the paper. However, reference to the source material you do use is required. Accurate quotations from the articles or books are necessary, as is correct notation of the quote and its source (title of the article or book and page number or specific
reference to segments of videos which you have identified are sufficient for materials listed on this Syllabus). If you are using outside sources standard reference models are to be employed. Plagiarism, the direct presentation of another individual’s words without acknowledgement is ILLEGAL, easy to detect, and completely unacceptable! Changing a word or two in a sentence written by someone else, Paraphrasing, without citing the author of that statement also is an aspect of Plagiarism. The point is to use your own scholarly abilities to present a reasoned and rational analysis of an historical issue.
The paper should be no less than seven double-spaced printed pages. Cover (title) page and bibliography are not counted towards the seven pages. Spelling and grammar should be checked, and
double checked, before the paper is turned in. Lateness will, of course, affect your grade.
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