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International Relations 125
International Political Economy
Fall Semester 2000
Final Examination
[part two]

GENERAL REMARKS

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.)
  4. 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.

  1. 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).
  2. 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.
  3. 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. In my experience, all essays are improved by a judicious use of a reference to an appropriate Grateful Dead lyric (especially from Robert Hunter).