You should by now have selected a country to study in depth, and on which you will write a 4-6 page country study paper. At this point, I expect you have some basic information on the country (demographic, economic, political), and have been doing some additional research on current events in that country, or recent issues & problems.

For the paper itself, I expect you to cover and present two basic kinds of information. First, I would like a fairly thorough report describing your country. How big is it? Where does it exist? Who are its neighbors? For this section, you should be able to rely on the kind of information you collected in your library exercise. In particular, I would like a thorough description of the political characteristics of your country. If it is a parliamentary democracy, for example: what are the major political parties? Who is the head of State? Does your country usually have a majority party in government, or a coalition? When was the last time elections were held? What were the circumstances that led to the election? If your country is not a parliamentary democracy, is it a presidential system? Describe it. Is it a different form of government (single-party, theocracy, etc.)? Describe it. You may find some of the web resources suggested for the country study useful here, and most likely you will have to rely on some research above what you did for the initial library exercise. The CIA, State Department, and Congressional Country Studies on line might be helpful to you (see following), and many countries have their own web pages -- you might explore finding some of these. Of course, you can always make use of the printed resources in the Library.

The second category of information I would like you to present in your papers is more current, issue-oriented material. For example: In your country, what are the main issues politically? Economically? Is your country currently involved in any wars? How has your country come up in the news lately? Describe the issues thoroughly, and make an attempt to relate them to the political concepts studied in PO101, or outlined in the first part of your paper. For this section of your paper, you will want to do research in more current sources such as newspapers, newsmagazines, journals such as Foreign Affairs, etc. Most of you have chosen countries that have been in the news fairly consistently over the last several years. Try to get as current information as possible. If your country is a bit more obscure, you'll have to settle with whatever historical material you can find. Feel free to consult with me (or a librarian) for assistance in this area.

The paper should be well written. Watch your grammar and spelling. Make sure your material is arranged logically and that it flows well from one topic to another. This paper is one that should be organized to neatly and methodically present information -- it is a descriptive paper (as opposed to a paper making and supporting an argument). All sources you use should be listed in a bibliography (in addition to your 4-6 pages of narrative). Direct use of source material should also be noted in the text. Please feel free to call me, e-mail me, or stop by if you'd like help with the paper. I would be willing to look over rough drafts, or assist in whatever way is helpful to you.