The COVID-19 pandemic

chose to study one of the following topics in a country of your
choosing:
• The COVID-19 pandemic
• Interstate war or civil war
• Human rights
• International trade
• Climate change and the global environment
• Another topic (if you obtained my prior approval)
In your reading response, you focused on a specific outcome that you wanted to better
understand in your chosen country. You also defined the key actors and interests, interactions,
and institutions related to this outcome.
Your final paper should:
1) Provide brief background of the topic, country, and specific outcome you chose.
2) Present a theory, or argument, to explain the outcome you have chosen. To keep
things simple, your theory should emphasize a single factor – or, at most, a set of two
factors – that you think are the most important causes of your outcome of interest
(example below).
3) Present evidence that you have gathered, based on background research, in support of
your argument. It is also acceptable to present what kind of evidence you would ideally
look for to test your argument, if such evidence is not readily available to you today.
4) Consider a rival argument to your own. In other words, what is an alternative
explanation for the outcome you have chosen? Does the evidence favor your argument
or the rival argument? (Or, in an ideal world, what kind of evidence would you need to
weigh these two arguments against one another?)