This essay assignment is for White #2 and Red #2 groups. It is due on 6 March.

Pick one of the topics below.

1. Defend or criticize this assertion:

"The primarily European contribution to UNPROFOR during the wars of the Yugoslavian secessions and to other UN-authorized peacekeeping missions, like Congo/Zaire, show that European states and the European Union are willing to take on political-military challenges that the USA is unwilling to confront. The 'capability gap' is irrelevant; it is a 'commitment gap' that separates Europe from the USA -- European governments and publics are willing to commit to solving a range of international problems that the US shirks from confronting."


2. Defend or criticize this assertion:

"The European Union may never be a superpower in the military sense because of its reluctance to spend money on its armed forces. But it is a superpower in the economic and political sense by acting as a major economic actor and by coordinating aid and monetary policies. In this sense, it is does challenge the United States as a world actor."


3. Defend or criticize this assertion:

"The evolution of the EU shows that economic integration has generated a common sense of political community in Europe. The harmonization of regulations, the near elimination of internal customs and immigration controls, and the adoption of the Euro are more than technical economic matter - they have created a common sense of European political identity."

Formatting Rules for Essays

Essays must be typed or machine-printed and stapled (no paper clips or folders). Do not use colored paper. Keep a copy of your submitted essay. Use fonts no smaller than 12 points. Use a serifed font, like Times New Roman or Palatino and not sans serif fonts, like Arial. (While sans serif fonts are easier to read on monitors, they are harder to read, for me at least, on printed paper.)

Have separate title page with 1) your name 2) your team and essay # (e.g, Blue #1) and 3) your student ID number printed on it.

Do not put your name or ID number on the pages of text (I grade "blind"). Text should be double-spaced and have 1-inch margins. Number the pages of text.

Put the number or the first few words of the topic that you are writing on at the start of the first page of text.