- Sample resolution: RT: The US should significantly/substantially change/alter its policy toward one or more of the following countries: North Korea, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, and or Japan.
- Sample case areas:
- Engage N. Korea
- Invade N. Korea
- Withdraw from N. Korea
- DMZ issues
- Strike Article 9 of Japan constit.
- Sanction N. Korea
- Military-$ aid to the Philippines/ change it/abolish it
- Arm Indonesia/don't arm Indonesia/
- engage, don't engage, Sumatra issues
- Troops to train troops/
- Abu Sayyaf issues
- Policy toward political/fundamental Islam in general
- Policy for specific goals: a Unified Korea/a Sumatran independence/etc (CSIS again, has a good paper on this.)
- Base closure/negotiation to close
- Statement of significance/education:
- Well, Asia's really big and at times, complex. Narrowing the topic from Asia to the selected countries allows for deep debate, but not too limited. N. Korea is just a fun topic that is definitely worthy of our attention ever since the NPT was torn to shreds and they started speaking with fuel rods and bombs. US policy toward North Korea is such a delicate issue, and there are so many options and literature to support them that debate about North Korea will just be fun. The Philippines, meanwhile, has problems of its own. Plagued by terrorism, a faltering economy, and rebel groups, the Philippines and Indonesia are historically and currently fascinating and pressing topics. Ever since Marcos' rule in the Philippines, everything that could go wrong has, and debate about trying to fix the problems will be interesting. In Japan, there is talk by Koizumi that Japan needs to be militarized. Amidst his ten trillionth reshuffling of his cabinet and the installation of some conservatives mirroring our own hawks, there is an active and changing climate in Japan that makes debate so current it couldn't possibly be boring or stale at any point in the year.
- Selected readings:
- There are so many, obviously, but here are some of the ones I have been most impressed with over the past few years of general research for school/extemp:
- U.S. Policy Toward Japan and Korea: A Changing Influence Relationship, Lee (1982). This is really good-I read it for a class and it has some interesting points made in it. I think it's generally available, maybe online. I have a copy and if anyone wants to borrow it, I'll hand it over.
- There are great informative articles that can serve as independent case ideas I think: "Japan's Reluctant Realism: Foreign Policy Challenges in an Era of Uncertain" PowerGreen (2003).
- Michael Green, U.S. Policy Toward North Korea: A Second Look (New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1998).
- You can find this on foreignrelations.org, search under the title, or type the title into google and you'll get it: Bruce Cumings, "North Korea Buyout?" The Nation, May 3, 1999.
- This website has some righteous analysis on N. Korea and Japan: www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org
respectfully submitted:
jen purcell