The aim of this assignment is to allow you to acquire deeper knowledge of particular international organizations active in one issue area.
The paper should consist of the following sections:
(a) a description of the main IGO or NGO active on the issue area (approx 1 page). Here you need to give:
-a brief background information (history of the IO, what kind of an IO it is (IGO or INGO?), the issue area in which it works, what exactly its mission is, where its membership and funding come from)
-examples of its work (what kinds of things does it do?)
(b) a comparative analysis which explains the behavior of the IO, using two of the theoretical perspectives (approx 2-4 pages). To do this:
-first give a brief explanation of what each theory says about IOs. Use of class notes is OK in this first part for giving a brief overview of the theoretical approaches, but you MUST use and show familiarity with the appropriate course readings as well (i.e. quote and reference the appropriate texts).
-Then use the two theoretical perspectives to provide alternative explanations of the behavior of the IO of your choice within your issue area. This section requires you to use academic sources that you will have to locate yourself by doing research. These sources do not have to be specifically on the IO that you are analyzing but they have to be on the same kind of IOs (IGO or INGO) in the same issue area as the one you analyze. It is important that you identify the kind of empirical evidence about the IO that the different perspectives would rely on. Use comparative language in your text, to compare and contrast the explanations with each other (i.e. “in contrast with the Realist explanation, the liberal answer focuses on…” or “like the Realist answer, the critical explanation is also concerned with…”).
-The organization of your paper should be something like:
*Introduction: What is the topic, what is the question you are exploring in this paper, how will you do it?
*Description of the IO
*Analysis:
Theoretical approach 1: basic assumptions and conclusions regarding IOs followed by analysis of the IO by using these theoretical tools
Theoretical approach 2: basic assumptions and conclusions regarding IOs followed by analysis of the IO by using these theoretical tools where you also compare these findings with theoretical approach 1.
*Conclusion: Summary
Additional instructions:
(1) To do this assignment, you must find some academic sources on your IO independently in addition to the relevant readings of class. The following data bases may be useful to find your sources:
Libris: http://libris.kb.se/form_extended.jsp?f=ext
Academic Search Elite: go to the HV library webpage and search under Databases
Google Scholar
Use these academic sources to find the kind of evidence which would lend support to your theoretical arguments about the behavior of the IO.
The majority of your references should be academic journal articles/books rather than online sources. Especially the second section of your paper where you analyze the behavior of your IO, you have to use academic sources and they should not be from among the course readings, i.e. you need to find several (at least 2 for each perspective) academic sources to use in your analysis.
Be sure to structure your paper appropriately, with an introductory paragraph that introduces the topic and ends with a clear statement of aim and either argument or questions. End the paper with a concluding paragraph that sums up your findings.
