Short Essays
Essay 1
Read Robert Keohane’s article, ‘International Institutions: Two Approaches,’ International Studies Quarterly 32 (1988), pp. 379-96. Answer the following question in 600-700 words:
“Should social inquiry be a scientific enterprise according to Keohane? Argue why or why not and be clear, using the tools of ontology, epistemology and methodology, and say what exactly makes it scientific.”
Essay 2
Identify the primary research question, theory or explanation and the ontological approach to agency, structure and change in both of the following, comparing and contrasting: (600-700 words)
• Fearon, James. “Why do some Civil Wars Last so much Longer than Others?” Journal of Peace Research 41:3 (2004), 275-301.
• Allinson, Jamie. ‘Class Forces, Transition and the Arab Uprisings: A Comparison of Tunisia, Egypt and Syria” Democratization 22:2 (2015), 294-314.
Essay 3
Identify the primary research question, theory or explanation and compare the ontological approach to the ideational and the material in both of the following, comparing and contrasting: (600-700 words)
• Krasner, S (1993) “Westphalia and All That” in Goldstein and Keohane, Ch. 9, pp. 235-264.
• Laffey, M. and Weldes, J. (1997) ‘Beyond Belief: Ideas and Symbolic Technologies in the Study of International Relations’, European Journal of International Relations, 3 (2), 193-237.
