Overview
You need to write a 4-page reflection essay (point deductions will be incurred if this page limit is exceeded or otherwise not met), formatted as follows*: (1) (1%) neither a cover page nor a bibliography is to be counted among the 4 pages; (2) (1%) standard 1-inch margins, with name and page #s embedded in header/footer; (3) (1%) any citation style of student’s choosing is to be noted below student’s name in header, and to be accordingly applied; (4) (1%) Times New Roman 12-point font (use of larger/smaller font will result in point deductions); (5) (1%) double-spaced; (6) (2%) essay content to consist of no fewer than 8 distinct paragraphs, each with a clearly defined and evident purpose; (7) (5%) sources cited/referenced are to be strictly limited to: (A) required: Ch. 1 of Sorensen, Moller and Jackson (2022); and A.C. McKeil (2017); and (B) optional: any other additional readings listed on the course syllabus; (8) any excessive citation, referencing, and/or direct quotation, to the extent that it impedes conveyance of original expression is subject to point deductions; and (9) (3%) essay is to be given a succinct yet interesting title.
Essay prompt: For this reflection essay, discuss this quote from A.C. McKeil’s 2017 e-ir essay, “A Brief Introduction to the Study of International Relations” (this essay is posted inside the final essay folder in Assignments):
What Ken Booth (2014) calls ‘big and important problems’ are first and foremost what brings most students to IR. Every student will have a real-world issue or concern that s/he brings to the study, and which she can make her/his specialty. It is these personally recognized public problems that make the intellectual world of IR visible to the student. It is from these problems that the questions spring. Why are these problems going on? Must they? Or, can they be otherwise? Something I have always felt is close to the spirit of studying IR, is the drive to “make the world a better place”, to address the big and important problems of the world, to throw ourselves at their betterment. The study of IR is first and foremost a study, an intellectual activity, with an intellectual world, but awareness of it and interest in it comes from real-world problems... International problems are the reason why we get to the international questions.
Ensure the completeness of your essay by including in it the following components:
First (25%), share what is the real-world issue (concern or problem) you as an individual, based on personal history and/or prior studies, bring to the study of IR, and your thoughts about pursuing it as an undergraduate specialty (you may either choose from one of those presented by A.C. McKeil (2017) – identity troubles; war and revolution; foreign policy and security; international organization; or international political theory – or from one of the other contemporary issues in IR covered through our course topics). This may (or may not) involve you connecting the issue to your choice of sovereign state you have represented in the course, this semester (it doesn’t have to). Second (25%), respond to the questions that A.C. McKeil tells us spring from your chosen issue, i.e. Why are these problems going on? Must they? Or, can they be otherwise? [For this reflection essay there are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers to these questions; rather, they are intended to inspire you to express how your experience in INS101-O changed the way you view the issue].
Third (25%), discuss the extent to which you relate to this statement by A.C. McKeil: “Something I have always felt is close to the spirit of studying IR, is the drive to “make the world a better place”, to address the big and important problems of the world, to throw ourselves at their betterment.” Provide your individual reasons (informed by your personal experience and your experience in INS101-O this semester for why you either relate or do not relate to this statement [again there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ response].
Finally (10%), based solely on the rest of the above essay, expressed according to the above components, student is to conclude with an informed opinion on the extent to which IR is—or is likely to become more (or less) effective in—addressing the issue at hand in a policy relevant manner that improves life for all beings on planet Earth.