Levels of Analysis
In your first graded project, you are going to use the levels of analysis to explain a war. We have talked about a number of wars in this course, including the war in Iraq, the war on terror, World War I, World War II, and the Napoleonic wars. For this project, you will examine a war that we have not already discussed. You must select one of the following wars:
The Spanish-American War (1898)
The Russo-Japanese War (19041905)
The Arab-Israeli War (19481949)
Option A: Essay
Do some research about the war and learn about the conditions that led to it. Make sure you have a clear overview of the main events in the war. You must use at least two sources of information in your research (Internet sources are fine as long as they are scholarly sites, therefore Wikipedia is prohibited).
Write a three-page (900-word) paper in which you explain the war with an international system level of analysis, a domestic level of analysis, and an individual level of analysis. If more than two states were involved in the war you are discussing, you do not need to do a complete analysis of every state that was involved. Focus on the state(s) and individual(s) you believe were most responsible for causing the war.
Your paper will be worth 100 points, and it will count for 17 percent of your course grade. Your teacher will grade the project according to the following criteria:
SSTH 043 057 Project 1
Historical background of the war (10 points possible)
Summary of the main events in the war (10 points possible)
Use of at least two sources in your paper, cited in American Political Science Association Style. (Guides to the American Political Science Association Style Manual are available online and in most libraries. Be sure to include a bibliography at the end of your paper.) (10 points possible)
Demonstrate how relations among states encouraged the war (international systems level) (15 points possible)
Analyze how internal political conditions within one or more states encouraged the war (domestic level) (15 points possible)
Discuss how one or more individuals encouraged the war (individual level) (15 points possible)
A personal opinion of which level of analysis is most accurate in explaining the war (15 points possible)
Correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling (10 points possible)
