China’s Belt and Road Initiative (also known as One Belt, One Road (OBOR)), is one of
President Xi’s most ambitious foreign and economic policies. It an issue that raises both
interest and concern for China’s neighbors as well as the US and the West.
Please write a 7-page paper that:
1) Describes and discusses the OBOR, including whether the OBOR is either geostrategy, or
geoeconomics, or both (NOTE: you must define geostrategy and geoeconomics);
2) Describes and discusses the implications of the OBOR for China’s neighbors as well as the US
and the West.
3) NOTE: YOU MUST IMBED A MAP THAT DEPICTS THE OBOR
In discussing this issue, PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:
1. Your paper will be 1600–1800 words, double spaced, excluding Cover Page and
Bibliography/References/Works Cited. Ten points will be automatically deducted for any
paper that falls outside of the word range.
2. Your paper must be divided into at least three sections with the following respective
subheadings: 1) Introduction to the Question; 2) Explanation and Analysis; and 3)
Conclusion
3. Your introduction must include your hypothesis and thesis statement.
4. The introduction must contain some phraseology along the following lines: a) This paper
will argue that…; or b) This analysis will demonstrate that…; or c) This paper will make
the following points…
5. You must cite at least 10 different PEER REVIEWED sources—including refereed
journals and books. Failure to use scholarly sources will result in a ZERO grade.
6. None of the following is considered an acceptable source: dictionary; Wikipedia;
encyclopedia.
7. Do not cite any of the texts used in this course (not even earlier editions).
8. When citing, please follow this format: As Shaun Breslin and Richard Higgott maintain,
the focus on the EU is “one of the major obstacles to the development of analytical and
theoretical comparative studies of regional integration” (Breslin and Higgott 2000: 341).
Or, As Robotham (1998) puts it, not only has the Caribbean region known no other precolonial period in which relations were different but that “this is a region whose very
formation has been within the framework of global capitalism” (Robotham, 1998: 308).
Or, Region-builders “learn from the EU’s experience,” they “emulate” specific features of
the EU, or, “deliberately avoid replicating them” (Breslin and Higgott 2000: 342).
9. Your bibliography (list of sources or references) must be listed in strict alphabetical order
as in the following example:
Benedick, Richard E. 1998. Ozone Diplomacy: New Directions in Safeguarding the Planet.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Homer-Dixon, Thomas and Jessica Blitt, eds. 1998. Ecoviolence: Links Among Environment,
Population, and Security. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
Meyer, John W., and Brian Rowan. 1977. Institutionalized Organizations. Formal Structure
as Myth and Ceremony. American Journal of Sociology 83:340-363.
Newstead, Clare. 2004. Scaling Caribbean (in)dependence. Geoforum 36: 45-58.
Porter, Gareth, Janet Walsh Brown, and Pamela S. Chasek. 2000. Global Environmental
Politics, 3rd ed. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Sbragia, Alberta. 2008. Review Article: Comparative Regionalism: What Might It Be?
Journal of Common Market Studies 46 (1):29-49.
