Term Paper Assignment:
The paper will be a 6-8 page analysis of one of the topics covered in this class (i.e. deterrence,
hybrid war, etc.). The paper will require the student to undertake some additional outside
research to find and summarize the main arguments made by scholars in regard to the topic (you
will likely find other arguments that are ignored or only briefly referenced in the papers we read
for class) and will then ask the student to provide their own analysis of those arguments using
relevant case-studies of real world wars and crises to explain why the student believes some
theories do a better job of explaining the chosen phenomenon while other theories seem to fail in
explaining the reality that we observe.
For example, when it comes to Alliances, there are roughly 5-6 main theories as to why states
make alliances. We’ll may have covered three of those theories in class. If you choose to write
about alliances, you would want to write about each of these three theories, but will also want to
do some research on alliance formation through the library or Google Scholar or another source
of your choice to see what else has been said about the democratic peace theory.
Possible Topics:
Some suggested topics along with questions you might want to answer if you write about that
topic are listed below. You ARE NOT required to write about one of these topics. If there is a
puzzle that you have been curious about throughout the class, or some other topic that seems
really interesting to you, but that is not listed below, you are more than welcome to write about
that topic. The topics below are just some examples of topics in the study of conflict that I know
a lot has been written about so there is easily enough material out there to write a 6-8 page paper
without adding a lot of filler. For each suggested topic, I have also included some key words that
can be searched on in Google Scholar or the library website to help you find articles on the topic.
Some topics from our class:
Stability of the International System
– What are the primary theories that seek to explain stability and instability in the
international system?
– Which theories seem to do the best job?
– Where do these theories break down?
o Keywords: Polarity, Democratic Peace, Capitalist Peace, Long Cycles Theory,
Offense-Defense Balance, Trade and Conflict.
Deterrence Theory/Alliance Formation
– How does one go about establishing effective deterrence?
– Why is it hard to do so?
– What are the prominent deterrent signals used throughout history?
– How do alliances influence deterrence, what is their value, how do they enhance
deterrence
o Keywords: Deterrence, Signaling Theory, Cuban Missile Crisis, Alliance
reliability, costly signals
Stability-Instability and Conflict Beneath the Nuclear Threshold.
– Can/how can nuclear powers fight one another without triggering the apocalypse?
– What are the costs and benefits of a state pursuing its goals through hybrid or grey-
zone conflict?
– What is the logic of hybrid/grey zone conflict? Why do sates engage in it? Wil
they/when will they choose to engage in open warfare rather than sub-threshold types
of conflict?
o Keywords: Asymmetric conflict, grey-zone, cyber war, hybrid war, little
green men, information warfare, disinformation and war.
The Use of Economic Power in Grand Strategy
– How do states use economics to achieve national goals?
o How do they use trade to promote peace or to avoid being attacked?
o How do they use trade to promote their own national security?
– My have states significantly turned away from conquest and instead toward trying to
dominate markets?
o How does a state dominate a foreign market?
o What do they get out of it?
o Keywords: Manchester theory, trade and conflict, security network, security
communities, belt and road initiative, markets and battlefields.
Soft, Smart, Sharp and Institutional Power.
– What are Soft Power, Smart Power and Sharp Power? (Compare and contrast the
three types.)
o How do you get these kinds of power?
o How do you use these kinds of power?
o How do you undermine and enemy’s soft/smart/sharp power strategies?
– How do you USE these forms of power? (I.e. how do they help you get what you
want.)
– Why do institutions matter to grand strategy?
o How do you use them for power?
o
o Keywords: Soft Power, Smart Power, Sharp Power, Institutions and Control,
Instintutions and Grand Strategy, Soft power and cultural imperialism,
cultural diplomacy.
The Military
– Why do states build the militaries that they have?
o Why train people the way they do?
o Why buy the equipment that they do?
o Why use the military to achieve the goals they do?
– What are the cultural and regime-based impacts of military organization and force
structure?
– What are the economic determinants of military performance and force structure?
– How does a state’s military doctrine and procurement choices reflect its threat
environment?
o Keywords: Force structure, military power, national material capabilities,
Modern Military System, air-superiority doctrine, A2/AD, Anti-Access Area-
Denial.
I also suggest picking out a case-study or a couple of cases to evaluate.
– E.x.
o If you’re writing about geo-economics, a compare/contrast between U.S. and
Chinese geo-economic strategy would be a good illustration.
o If you are writing about deterrence, comparing the Cuban Missile Crisis and
July Crisis of 1918 (right before WWI) would be interesting