How would realism and constructivism have different perspectives when trying to explain the conflict between Russia and Ukraine? In what ways have race and racism impacted the establishment of the current international system?

You must write a 1,500 words (more or less 10% is acceptable) essay, choosing ONE of the questions below. Your essay should have an introduction, a core text and a conclusion. It should seek to answer the question by supporting the points you make in the essay with sources from the scientific literature and with empirical examples. You need to support your essay with at least five scientific sources, and make sure that they are well-referenced. Websites, newspaper articles, and social media posts do not count as scientific sources.

Detailed directives

Please indicate the question that you have selected, as well as your student ID (not your name) on the first page of your essay.

• Your introduction should present the topic and explain its significance. You should state right away what your main argument is (your answer to the research question). The introduction should end by presenting the structure of your essay so that the reader knows what to expect.
• You are free to structure the core of your essay in any way that you wish. However, your essay should make points that support your main argument, and these points should be illustrated with empirical examples and supported with sources from the scientific literature. It is better to develop a few points in depth than to bring up many claims that are not supported or sufficiently developed. The essay is not about sharing your personal beliefs or opinions, you should demonstrate your argument logically and support your argumentation with evidence from credible sources. It is best to structure your essay with subtitles and paragraphs so that it is easy to follow for the reader.
• Your conclusion should shortly summarise your key points, and discuss paths for future research that you would be interested to explore regarding the essay’s question.
• All essays should have a bibliography at the end that provides the full references for the work cited in the essay. You should choose a referencing system and style, and consistently use it throughout the essay. Details on how to reference using the Harvard style are available from the library guide: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/library/support/harvard.php.

Choose one question from the following list:

1. How would realism and constructivism have different perspectives when trying to explain the conflict between Russia and Ukraine?
2. In what ways have race and racism impacted the establishment of the current international system?
3. What is the impact of rising powers on the international order?
4. Why do some realists argue that war is a legitimate instrument of foreign policy?
5. Why could multipolarity be more prone to war than bipolarity?
6. What is the right to protect and in how many cases has it been utilised to justify UN intervention? Do the authors think those interventions were justified or was there any case in which the UN was misled to intervene?  
7. What does the case of East Timor reveal about the risks of UN humanitarian interventions? Does the R2P address those risks?
8. Does mainstream IR theory (especially realism and liberalism) have a blind spot in relation to empire? If so, does this matter?
9. To what extent has Britain come to terms with its colonial past? Would a larger public conversation about the legacies of the British Empire be beneficial for British society?

10. In what way, politics is gendered? Illustrate your answer using one example from debates about gender quotas, or global health emergencies or Internet/Wikipedia or war.

11. What are the main benefits and limitations of the global gender-inclusive political project? Illustrate your answer to a specific area of global politics.

12. What is ‘anarchism’? Are protests like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter (select ONE) best understood as anarchist or identity politics and why?

13. What is civil resistance? Are student protests in Latin America civil resistance or not and why?

14. In what ways, according to the author of “The Iroquois and the Development of American Government,” have the Native American Nations contributed to the establishment of democracy in the United States? Give at least three examples.

15. What are the most three important differences between the governments in Europe and Britain and those of the Native American Nations that you can deduct from the reading?

16. What were the main causes of the Arab Uprisings (aka ‘Arab Spring’) of 2010-2011 and do they overlap with the arguments of the democratisation theory, why and why not?

17. What are the improvements, if any, that have taken place regarding women rights and gender equality that resulted from the Arab Spring (give examples)?