CHOOSE PROMPT ONE
Overview and Aims
Your assignment is to write an analytical op-ed related to international political economy. Your op-ed should be written with an informed general audience in mind, and should blend insights from both the broader academic literature and case-specific information.
Prompts (choose one)
1. Let’s discuss the elephant in the room: Can the WTO survive without a functioning dispute settlement mechanism?
2. Deep and comprehensive trade agreements: Levelling the playing field?
3. A case for proportional representation? How can we support trade liberalisation through
electoral systems?
Guidelines and Expectations
Your submission should not resemble a standard academic essay. You will want to make your main point apparent in the opening text, and blend insights from the political-economy literature with knowledge of your specific case. Try to avoid giving definitions of terms – instead focus on demonstrating their meaning through application. Note that in professional examples of this form of writing, direct quotes are extremely rare – instead, authors convey important points from sources in their own words.
A good op-ed will have:
• A clearly articulated thesis that identifies the main points in a short introduction.
• A clear line of analytical reasoning demonstrated throughout the op-ed. Section headings
may be a useful way to highlight this
•
