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International Relations 125
International Political Economy
Fall Semester 2000
Final Examination
[part two]
GENERAL REMARKS
- I expect your answers to each of the two questions will be about 3-6 pages
in length, typed and double-spaced with standard margins and font (6-12 pages
combined). Recall our in-class discussion concerning length.
- Neither footnoting nor additional research is required, but I do expect
that you will refer to course materials (see evaluation criteria below). Thus,
you may find explanatory or bibliographic footnotes a convenience.
- Papers are due in my mailbox (physical or virtual) or under my office door
no later than 12 noon, Tuesday, December 12. This deadline is absolutely non-negotiable!
(For serious and verifiable emergencies, contact me at once via email.)
- You may submit your answers to bruce.moon@lehigh.edu
as an email attachment of a WordPerfect or Word file, but you are solely responsible
if the file does not reach me in readable form.
ASSIGNMENT. Answer any TWO of the following three questions.
Please indicate on the first page which questions you have addressed and then
label your answers clearly.
- CONSUMER CHOICE. Consider the following scenario: You are in the market
for a new car and have narrowed your choice to one American-made and one Japanese-made
model. Aside from typical consumer criteria (e.g. price and quality), what
additional considerations, if any, should influence your decision? Why? (If
your purchase raises issues that cannot be adequately resolved by your own
product choice, explain what other actions, such as government policy or system
design, you would recommend.) Anticipate the arguments of those who would
disagree: state them fairly and clearly, then refute them. Explain what course
of action you should choose (leaving aside the question of whether or not
you would).
- REGIONAL INTEGRATION. Compare and contrast the regional integration schemes
represented by the EU and NAFTA. Are these two best seen as similar efforts
at different stages of development or as very different efforts (perhaps reflecting
different goals, different problems in different environments, different causes,
etc.)? Refute the alternative position. Be sure that your essay states clearly
the differences you see and explains how and why they have arisen.
- B/P ADJUSTMENT. A balance of payments disequilibrium requires that a nation
undertake some form of adjustment. What options are available to a country
facing a balance of payments deficit that is placing unwanted downward pressure
on its currency valuation? The original Bretton Woods was designed to encourage
some form(s) of adjustment and to discourage others. Why? How did it accomplish
that steering toward the most desirable form of adjustment?
EVALUATION CRITERIA
- You must answer the question. Your answer must be clear. It is not enough
to merely talk around the subject, drop a few key phrases, and avoid saying
anything false. You must assert a claim, illustrate it, clarify it, elaborate
it, and cite evidence and/or argument to defend it.
- Your essay should contain references to those readings, lectures, and discussions
encountered in this course that are relevant to the question (though these
references need not be formal). An essay which ties together a theme from
these sources is always better than one which -- even if it states the same
point -- doesn't indicate familiarity with those assignments. The burden is
on you to prove that you understand the material and recognize its relevance,
presumably by applying the insights implicit in the major themes of the course.
- Essays are graded subjectively. Skillful presentation enhances an essay.
An essay written with clarity, style, organization and originality is better
than one which covers all the points but less effectively. Of course, grammar,
syntax, and spelling count; let's not pretend that you don't notice a badly
written book or that you don't find a disorganized lecture less valuable than
a skillfully presented one.
- Invariably, this assignment places you under time pressure and/or length
constraints which force you to make judgements concerning how much to write
and how to approach a question. I will gauge your skill in cutting to heart
of the matter, yet not excluding anything which is really key.
- In my experience, all essays are improved by a judicious use of a reference
to an appropriate Grateful Dead lyric (especially from Robert Hunter).