OVERVIEW OF PAPER-
A Post-Cold War World: The diffusion of power, expansion of transnational threats, and America’s growing rivalry with Russia and China
This paper will consider a contrast between the two following major themes. First, the post-Cold War world has been marked by a global context of expanding transnational threats demanding increased cooperation among nation-states. Second, the years since the end of the Cold War are characterized by a diffusion of power and, especially in the past few years, increased rivalry and tension between the United States and competing powers China and Russia. You will essentially evaluate the tension between the cooperation required to deal effectively with transnational challenges and the competition among the great powers that sometimes impedes such cooperation.
More specifically, you are asked to address whether cooperation on the post Cold War transnational challenges threaten national power, interests and sovereignty. This essay will address the central policy conundrum of whether the leading states can cooperate on matters vital to all of humanity at acceptable costs to themselves and everyone else?
REQUIRED:
Choose two modern transnational challenges (either terrorism, economic globalization, infectious diseases or climate change), and evaluate how national security and global security are interdependent in context of the challenges.
ALSO REQUIRED:
Answer the following two questions relating to your two chosen modern global policy challenges-
1. Why are terrorism, globalization, diseases, or climate change multifaceted in terms of how they are defined as policy problems? Specifically, how are they viewed as economic, political, and/or environmental policy problems, and also security ones? Explain these dimensions for your set of two challenging policy problems.
2. Do you find a clash between the interests of sovereign states and the demands of fully addressing your two policy problems (i.e., terrorism, globalization, diseases, or climate change)? How might these tradeoffs be resolved to find effective global solutions to your policy problems, and what, in your opinion, is the likelihood of effective cooperation on your two policy problems?
