Thank you for your email! This paper is both a little research and a little your analysis.

For this assignment you should look for a news story (either online or in a newspaper) that relates to the topics we discussed in class (for example, deterrence, credible commitments, tying hands, and ways to end conflicts, such as raising the costs of war, having another country or organization enforce an agreement that ends a war). Review the textbook and review the slides I used in class, which are available on the course website in the left hand column under the heading PPT Slides.

To find a current news story, I suggest you look at the New York Times, the Washington Post, AlJazeera, or NPR. Each of these news organizations have useful websites.

In this paper, I want you to write how the story you found connects to the class — how it is an example of the ideas we talked about in class? The goal of the paper is for you to show me that you understand the topics we’ve covered by applying it to a current news event.

I’ve attached the description of the assignment and an explanation of how I will be grading the paper. The explanation shows what I will be looking for in a paper that is excellent, good, fair or poor. Be sure to write 3-4 pages and include the news story you use with your paper when you hand it in. You can email your paper to directly to me.

I was not planning to be on campus today or tomorrow but if you’d like to meet to talk about your paper, I would be happy to set up a time to meet.