Topic briefing #1

In this assignment, you will give an oral briefing of about 2 to 3 minutes to an audience of me and 2-5 other students.  

Assignment:

You are a professional political risk analyst. I am your client - an investment banker who knows nothing about international relations. I am trying to decide whether or not to spend a large amount of money building a factory in a particular country. Your job is to help me understand the risks of war in that country, so that I can know whether or not building the factory would be a safe investment.  

By now, everyone who responded has been assigned a time. If you did not get a briefing time from me (in the form of a calendar invitation) but would like to do this assignment, please let me know.    

I have emailed you a specific assignment. I will tell you which country I am thinking about building the factory in, and I will tell you about how I heard that the country has a conflict with one of its neighbors. I will also give you a specific cause of war (false optimism, pre-emptive war and misperception, or preventive war). Your job will be to explain the cause of war in ordinary language - so that I, a simple investment banker, understand it - and then to assess whether you think it is likely that those two countries will go to war for that reason. The briefing is entirely oral - do not plan on using slides. You may use notes. 

The oral briefings will all be in-person. Some will be at Ballston and some will be in Rowley Hall on main campus. They will all be during the week of February 10-14. 

Your grade will be based on how well you explain the assigned concept (false optimism, pre-emptive war and misperception, or preventive war), how well you relate it to the particular example, and the clarity of your presentation. 

You are free to meet with me, or with Anna and/or Chea-Ler, to talk through your briefing before you give it.

There are other group activities later in the semester as well; you will not necessarily be in the same groups for those assignments unless you want to.