28 Dec Technical Requirements:

NSEC612 National Security and Diplomacy

Week 1 Forum

Theory of Diplomacy

Discussion Questions: Most political scientists, historians, policy advisors and other professionals in politics (or geopolitics) and foreign relations see the U.S. national security policy and diplomacy following in a liberal or realist tradition. Define liberalism and discuss the historical background of the theoretical viewpoint. Also, examine the latest National Security Strategy (President Trump’s 2017 NSS), assess the realist and liberal principles reflected in the document. Then compare it the current NSS to the 2015 NSS (signed by President Obama), what principles differ?

NSEC612 National Security and Diplomacy

Week 2 Forum

Practice of Diplomacy

Discussion Questions: What does “diplomatic” mean for the United States and how does the nation use this concept to implement the NSS? Also, discuss the National Defense and National Military strategies and how these documents correlate to the NSS? Do these documents have any effect on the nation’s diplomacy? If so, how? If not, why not? Finally, how does the Quadrennial Defense Review play a role?

Instructions: Fully utilize the materials that have been provided to you in order to support your response. Your initial post should be at least 500 words. Please respond to at least two other students. Responses should be a minimum of 250 words and include direct questions. You may challenge, support or supplement another student’s answer using the terms, concepts and theories from the required readings. Also, do not be afraid to respectfully disagree where you feel appropriate; as this should be part of your analysis process at this academic level.

NSEC612 National Security and Diplomacy

Week 3 Forum

Alliances and Partnerships

Discussion Questions: In his Farewell Address, George Washington warned against entangling alliances. However, the United States acknowledges the importance of specific strategic partnerships and alliances. Assess the rationale for Washington’s warning and the merit of U.S. relationships with its major allies within the European Union, the United Nations, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NOTE: Give a brief background of the European Union, NATO, and the United Nations, along with how each entity is correlated to another before answering the latter question.

NSEC612 National Security and Diplomacy

Week 4 Forum

Cultural Aspects of Diplomacy

Discussion Questions: Examine and give a brief background on the negotiations with Russia to reverse its occupation of the Crimea. What was the United States’ level of involvement? How did this affect American diplomacy? Global diplomacy? Define your negotiation style and give examples of negotiation strategies.

NSEC612 National Security and Diplomacy

Week 5 Forum

Department of State and Foreign Aid

Discussion Questions: What are the challenges of balancing protection of U.S. diplomatic missions with the needs of U.S. public diplomacy? Also, discuss the Department of State’s initiative on foreign aid and how it influences international relationships.

NSEC612 National Security and Diplomacy

Week 6 Forum

Role of the Military

Discussion Questions: Define the meaning of soft power and how it influences military operations. How can the military use “soft power” to advance U.S. national security interests?

NSEC612 National Security and Diplomacy

Week 7 Forum

Civil Society and International Organizations

Discussion Questions: When it comes to conducting major military actions abroad, the United States has sought and obtained (although sometimes ex post facto, e.g. Kosovo) United Nations approval. Why? Have there been conflicts where the UN did not approve? What are the consequences of military conflict without UN approval? Give examples to support your conclusions.

NSEC612 National Security and Diplomacy

Week 8 Forum

Future Challenges

Discussion Questions: What are the challenges of negotiating with a “culture” instead of with a nation-state or other single entity? How can those challenges be overcome? Does culture have to be considered when negotiating? Why or why not?

NSEC612 National Security and Diplomacy

Week 2 Assignment

Research Question/Hypothesis Assignment

For your FINAL research paper in this course, you will demonstrate your ability to synthesize discipline specific material. This is a task-based exercise, 12-15 pages in length. For this assignment, you are required to choose a current ongoing conflict and to assess the prospects for peace. This conflict can be an event that will be included in your final assignment. Please see information below.

Title Page of the Paper: The title of your paper should be brief but should adequately inform the reader of your general topic and the specific focus of your research. Keywords relating to parameters, population, and other specifics are useful. The Title Page must include the title, name, course name and number, and Professor’s Name.

Introduction, Research Question, and Hypothesis: This section shall provide an overview of the topic that you are writing about, which is in line with this course’s overview and objectives. It shall include a concise synopsis of the issues, and why the topic presents a “puzzle” that prompts your research questions, which you will include.

References Page: This assignment should have a minimum of 10 scholarly and/or peer-reviewed references you will use for future assignments (i.e. literature review and theoretical framework). NOTE: www.history.com, www.military, news media outlets, and nonprofit websites are not considered scholarly and/or peer-reviewed sources. Wikipedia is not an acceptable source.

Technical Requirements:

Length: 1-2 pages, double spaced, 1″ margins, and 12 pitch type in Times New Roman font, not including cover and reference pages.

Citations/References: You must use Turabian formatting standards, parenthetical style for this assignment.

Submission: All work is to be submitted as an attachment to the assignment link by 11:55 pm on the due date. All work should be prepared in Microsoft Word format and submitted as an attachment.

NSEC612 National Security and Diplomacy

Week 4 Assignment

Literature Review & Theoretical Framework Assignment

For this specific assignment, you are essentially writing the next element of your final research paper outlined below.

Review of the Literature: All research projects include a literature review to set out for the reader what knowledge exists on the subject under study and helps the researcher develop the research strategy to use in the study. A good literature review is a thoughtful study of what has been written, a summary of the arguments that exist (whether you agree with them or not), arranged thematically. At the end of the summary, there should still be gaps in the literature that you intend to fill with your research.

Theoretical Framework: In additional a literature review, research studies should have theoretical/conceptual frameworks, which guides the entire study. Such paradigms are used to explain, justify, predict, and become an expert in a topic, which is predicated on the topic’s problem and phenomena.

Reference page: For this assignment, the reference page must have at least six to eight (6-8) peer-reviewed sources for the literature review portion.

Technical Requirements:

Length: 6-8 pages (not including cover and reference pages), double spaced, 1″ margins, and 12 pitch type in Times New Roman font.

Citations/References: You must use Turabian formatting standards, parenthetical style for this assignment. You must include at least six to eight sources, which must be peer reviewed journal articles.

Submission: All work is to be submitted as an attachment to the assignment link by 11:55 pm on the due date. All work should be prepared in Microsoft Word format and submitted as an attachment.

NSEC612 National Security and Diplomacy

Week 7 Assignment

Research Paper

Assignment Instructions

The three main sections you should add to what you have written for this submission are the Methodology and Research Strategy, Analysis and Findings, section and the Conclusions/Recommendations. Please be sure to make changes to the sections you have previously submitted based on feedback you have already received.

Methodology and Research Strategy: This section provides the reader with a description of how you carried out your qualitative research project, and the variables you identified and analyzed. It describes any special considerations and defines any limitations and terms specific to this project, if necessary. This section can be brief or more complicated, depending on the project.

Analysis and Findings: are not the same as conclusions. In the analysis component of this section you identify how you analyzed the data. The second part is the finding you got from your analysis of the data. The findings are the facts that you developed, not your interpretation of the facts. That interpretation is conducted in the conclusions and recommendations section of the paper. Findings will come from the prior research you examined and your analysis of those prior findings to create new findings for your paper. While there may be some facts that are such that they will stand and translate to your paper, the intent is to create new knowledge, so you will normally analyze the data to create your own findings of what facts that data represents.

Conclusions and Recommendations: is the section where you give your interpretation of the data. Here you tell the reader what the findings mean. Often the conclusions and recommendations sections will mirror the findings in construct as the researcher tells the reader what that researcher sees as the meaning of that data, their conclusions. Then, drawing on those conclusions, the researcher tells the reader what they believe needs to be done to solve/answer the research question. This section may include recognition of any needs for further research and then finishes with a traditional conclusion to the paper as a whole.

Technical Requirements:

Length: A minimum of 12-15 pages (including the other sections you have written, but not the cover, or reference pages), double spaced, 1″ margins, and 12 pitch type in Times New Roman font.

Citations/References: You must use Turabian formatting standards, parenthetical style for this assignment. You must include at least ten (10) sources, and eight (8) of which must be peer reviewed journal articles.

Submission: All work is to be submitted as an attachment to the assignment link by 11:55 pm on the due date. All work should be prepared in Microsoft Word format and submitted as an attachment.