Poir297: Theories Of World Politics- Assessment Answer

Internal Code: 1HAED

Essay Writing Assignment:

Task:

1. Use one of the theoretical approaches covered in this unit to analyse ONE of the following: establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; international engagement with China’s Belt and Road Initiative; UN Security Council action in respect of Syria; UN Security Council action in respect of Yemen; negotiations conducted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; China’s disputes over maritime boundaries in the South China Sea.
   Write your essay question in the following form at the top of your paper. “How does [X] theory help to explain [issue].” In your answer, reflect both on what the selected theory can explain and also on the theory’s limitations.
2. Is the ‘democratic peace thesis’ the most important practical contribution of liberal international relations theory?
3. When and why do states cooperate? Engage with at least three different theoretical perspectives in your answer.
4. ‘Since the idea of ‘national interest’ is nebulous, Realist theory is conceptually incoherent and lacking in explanatory power’ Critically analyse this claim.
5. Does English School theory help us to understand states’ responses to the ‘Responsibility To Protect’?
6. Robert Cox has argued that ‘theory is always for someone and for some purpose.’ Critically evaluate this claim with reference to ONE of the approaches studied this semester.
7. Do constructivist accounts of ‘international norm dynamics’ help us understand changes in international responses to refugees during the twenty-first century?
8. ‘Post-structural theories have few practical implications.” Critically analyse this claim.
9. ‘Feminist scholars have offered a powerful critique of international relations theory, but they have not added to our understanding of the causes of conflict.’ Critically analyse this claim.
10. ‘Capitalism, rather than anarchy, is the defining feature of the contemporary international system’. Critically analyse this claim.
11. ‘International Relations theory has largely evolved in response to the historical experience of the US; its weaknesses reflect these origins.’Critically analyse this claim.