+1 862 207 3288 The global problems of conflict, poverty, debt, disease, environment and human rights are vast subjects. For this week’s assignment you
will select specific issues within three of these general categories. Suggested issues are provided below but you may select others
that interest you. You must explore three of the general problem areas. For example, for conflict, you can choose to look at piracy,
Afghanistan or Ukraine as a case study to see how internationalists have tried to resolve the issue and whether or not they have been
successful (or for ongoing issues, what are the prospects for success of international efforts?).
Possible issues you can explore (you may choose other global issues of interest as long as they fall within the six categories:
Poverty
poverty in Africa or Asia
dealing with natural disasters in poor countries
Disease
spread of disease like SARS and bird flu
AIDS in Africa
Environment
global warming (climate change)
ozone depletion
resource depletion (eg. Amazon rainforest or copper)
pollution in the ocean
Conflict
piracy (eg. Gulf of Aden, off Somalia)
war in Afghanistan, Iraq, South Ossetia, Congo, Sudan, etc.
NATO expansion and Russia
US missile defense (or National Missile Defence – NMD)
Debt
global trade
HIPC (Highly Indebted Poor Countries)
G8 or WTO summits
Human Rights
torture
violence against women
government suppression of free speech and democracy (egs. Tunisia, Egypt; Libya; Yemen; Syria in the 2011 “Arab Awakening”)
You may use the textbook as a resource but you are also expected to conduct additional research for this assignment.
This is a major assignment – worth 22% of your Unit 3 mark. Please give this assignment the attention and time it deserves. See the
assignment tips below.
Assignment – Contemporary Global Issues
This assignment has two (2) parts. You must do both.
For the purposes of this assignment, you’ll be studying international governmental organizations. That is, members of the international
organization are nation-states. Do not include NGOs, for example, the Red Cross or Greenpeace, because these are independent of
governments, even though their work is global.
Part 1
Conduct research on three global issues of interest that fit within the six general categories: poverty or debt; disease or
environment; and human rights or conflict. That is, you will research three (3) specific issues – case studies – one (1) each for
three of the six general categories. For example, for Conflict, you might choose to conduct research on ocean piracy. If you are
unsure about what to research, a list of issues is provided above. You may NOT do an issue you have done in any previous assignment.
For example, peacekeeping has already been assessed. Or if you researched WHO and Ebola in a previous assignment then you’ll choose a
different organization and issue in this assignment.
Complete the table (download here). Cells will expand to fit your answers. You may do this as a Powerpoint presentation instead of
in the table format.
Part 2
Write a one-page response to the following question:
Based on your research and what you have learned in the course so far, should Canada pursue internationalism to resolve global
problems?
Explain your answer.
Use examples and/or evidence to support your position.
Use the specialized terms and concepts you learned in this unit.
Download the assignment here.
Complete the self-assessment rubrics.
Submit both parts of the completed assignment AND rubrics to theContemporary Global Issues dropbox.
Assignment Tips – Focus your research
Part I: Focus your research
For the Part I Table, you have three issues to research. Given your limited time to do this it is important that you focus your
research to avoid being overwhelmed. The tips below will help you to stay focused, thereby ensuring the most efficient use of your time
to complete this assignment.
In the Part I table, it is the third column where you want to get specific supporting evidence to support your evaluation of success.
So it is in the third column where the higher order thinking comes in to play. This is where your research and thinking time should be
focused for completing the Part I table.
For the first and second columns, limit yourself to just enough background research to be able to summarize the issue and describe one
or two international efforts for each issue. Look at a specific country where this issue is taking place for column #1 and specific
international efforts and organizations attempting to address the issue in that country for column #2.
It will be those same efforts you mention in column 2 that you’ll be evaluating in column 3. They key is to stay focused. Don’t get
distracted by researching other efforts to evaluate. In column 3, evaluate the same international effort/organization you researched
for column 2. Don’t make more work for yourself by introducing something new in column 3 that you didn’t have in column 2.
Understand your chosen global issues. For column #1, focus and limit your research to answering the following questions. Keep this to
one paragraph – summarising skills are important (See Student Tools).
What is occurring, and where is it primarily occurring (2-3 sentence summary)
When did the issue arise? When do you feel the issue will hit the highest point of crisis (or has it already)?
What is the nature of the issue: does it represent a challenge, an opportunity or both?
Why is the issue a global problem? (in other words, why should we care? How does it affect us?
Try to avoid issues that happened just recently or two new to make a meaningful assessment. You can’t really assess an international
effort if it is just weeks old, unless you were evaluating rapid response of international organizations – so how well prepared for
sudden crises.
Part II: Use your research
To answer the question in Part II, utilize the research and analysis you’ve already done in the Part I table. Draw on your research and
conclusions in the table to support your response to the Part II question. You have already done your research and analysis in the
table. There’s no need to do additional research now; use what you have. Don’t create more work for yourself (unless you don’t have
sufficient evidence to support your arguments).
Part II is a standard written response where you need to take a position – state your opinion – and then defend it with arguments
supported by evidence/examples. For help on how to use your evidence and analysis to support your opinions, see the Student Tools
section of content to hone these skills, particularly Paragraph Writing, Supporting Evidence and even Essay Writing pages (the latter
will still help even though I’m not expecting a formal essay for Part II). Don’t be fooled. These are skills. You aren’t born with
them. You get better only by learning about and practicing skills. Just like any athletic, art or other skills.
Research: where to look?
Find at least three websites that can give you more information on each of the topics you chose. At least two of those sites must be
reputable news or current events sites (for example, BBCnews.com, CBC.ca, Guardian.co.uk, CNN.com, OpenDemocracy, and many others) and
one should be the website of the organization you are looking at in column 2. In other words, go beyond what the organization is saying
about themselves.
If you are using Wikipedia*, you cannot include that as one of the minimum three sites you are looking at.
*Note: Wikipedia is a controversial site. Some instructors ban the use of this resource, while others encourage the idea of a global
open source platform to share information. If you do use Wikipedia, think of it as a starting place only – for example, their
references section can be a starting point for sources you could look at in your research. Reliance on Wikipedia also tends to result
in descriptive/narrative responses simply because encyclopedias are essentially designed for information retrieval, not critical
thinking, which is what you are being asked to do in all assignments. Therefore, at this level, in this course, the use encyclopedia
type sources is discouraged.
See Evaluating Websites in the course introduction or use this website evaluation checklist to ensure you are using valid and reliable
sources to support your opinions.
Citing Sources: Cite the sources you have used in proper format – see Citing Sources in the course introduction or Student Tools
section.
Review Supporting Evidence in Student Tools.
