International Affairs

Research Paper:
The main requirement of the course is a final research paper (minimum 8 pages) due on Tuesday, December 7 at 12 midnight. The research paper must concern at least one of the following five “Arab Spring” states which experienced revolutions in 2011. The purpose is to investigate what roles the oil-rich Arab Gulf monarchs in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE played in the politics and conflicts of the revolutionary states, and how their roles adversely impacted humanitarian crises inside these countries:
1) political conflicts in Syria during and after 2011
2) political conflicts in Yemen during and after 2011
3) political conflicts in Libya during and after 2011
4) political conflicts in Bahrain during and after 2011
5) Political conflicts in Egypt during and after 2011
It is okay to choose more than one of the above five conflicts, but regardless of the conflict(s) chosen for research, it is required to investigate the roles played by at least two of the three main monarchs: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE. Feel free to write about all three monarchs if they have roles in the political conflicts (for example, all three were involved in the Syrian and Libyan conflicts). You may also choose to
juxtapose their roles with simultaneous Iranian involvement in the same conflicts listed above (for example, Iran was militarily active in Syria and Yemen) because Saudi Arabia often claims to conduct its policies in opposition to Iran’s government and its proxy forces like Lebanon’s Hezbollah. But at all times, it is required to prioritize the roles of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE as the key subject of our course.

Remember the purpose of the course is to consider the responsibilities of Global Citizenship concerning humanitarian standards in the 21st century, so your research should ultimately address the responsibilities of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE for impacting the lives of citizens in the affected countries.

Use of the course textbooks as research sources is acceptable, but the research must include at least six additional outside sources of information.

This is a research assignment, so students are encouraged to use books and academic journal articles as the primary sources. It is okay to use a few media sources and other website sources, but these should not be the majority of sources cited. The course textbooks can be used in the paper, yet they do not count toward your total number of sources which must go beyond our weekly readings this semester. Academic journal articles are available from Olin Library’s online databases like JSTOR and ProQuest. The number of research sources cited within the body of the paper should be six or more, but the total sources considered for research, i.e. those appearing in the Bibliography, which is required) should be greater than ten. When citing research sources, whether for quotations or general information, it is okay to use footnotes, endnotes, or the MLA/APA citation method, as long as one method is used consistently throughout the paper. No title page is necessary.

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