Team project #2

  • Due No Due Date
  • Points 20

A team in-class presentation on either April 28, April 30, or May 7.  

Teams may have anywhere from 3 to 6 people. 

Choose an issue of current concern from the list below (or propose an issue that I have not thought of, but I have to approve it). In a class presentation of about 15 minutes, explain the issue and make a suggestion for what the United States should do. 

Your presentation must include an explanation of all of the following:

  • What the issue is about, and what is at stake for the United States
  • The logic of balancing and strategic restraint, as applied to the particular issue
  • What a realist each might think about the issue
  • What an idealist each might think about the issue
  • What your suggestion is, and why the benefits of your suggestion outweigh the costs

Grades are assigned individually, as a combination of the quality of the overall group presentation and the quality of the individual component of it. The most important thing to do in the presentation is to connect an aspect of the topic to the analytical concepts we are studying. 

All team members should participate in the presentation.

I encourage you to talk with me as you are working on this assignment.

Here are some suggestions for topics. Each group should do a different one, so I will cross these out as groups reserve them:

  • Deterring China from invading Taiwan
  • Deterring North Korea from invading South Korea
  • Protecting open access in the South China Sea
  • Managing the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan
  • Managing the conflict between Guyana and Venezuela
  • Managing the conflict between Rwanda and the DRC
  • Managing the conflict between Serbia and Kosovo
  • Managing the issue of Ethiopia's relations with elements in Somalia
  • Resolving the political crisis in Bosnia
  • Resolving the political crisis in Sudan
  • Resolving the political crisis in Venezuela
  • Preventing Iran from building nuclear weapons
  • Protecting human rights in China
  • Protecting human rights in Saudi Arabia
  • Protecting human rights in Nicaragua
  • Protecting human rights in Myanmar
    or
  • Something else that your group proposes and that I approve (not about Russia and Ukraine, and not about Israel and Gaza, since I'm covering those in class separately).
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