1/19 For the projection how to frame questions in historical research, click here.
1/26 For a projection on controversies regarding the CIA, click here. For the projection on courtroom standards of evidence, click here. For a projection on claims regarding the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, click here. For a projection on Freudian slips, click here. For a projection on Occam's Razor and conspiracy theories, click here. For a projection on the use of memoirs as primary sources, click here.
2/2 For a projection on the use of memoirs as primary sources, click here.
2/9 Video on Ukraine conflict, click here.
2/16 For a projection on Boris Yeltsin, click here. For a projection on reliable sources of newspaper information, click here. For a projection on inaccuracy in newspapers, click here. For the projection on how to interpret controversy in the newspapers, click here. For a projection on "slanted" language in newspaper article on Serbia, click here. For a slanted article on Russia, click here. For a slanted article on Vladimir Putin, click here.
2/23 For the essay, "What are the Connections between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein?" click here. Rules for writing papers, click here. On students' writing mistakes, click here.
3/2 For name list on post-communist Russia, click here. For a projection on the 1996 Russian election, click here. Map of Russia/USSR. Map of Eastern Europe.
Midterm, Hist 498
March 2, 2022
Since 1945, the United States has clearly held a dominant world position. During the 1946-89 period, the US was hegemonic throughout most of the noncommunist world. Since 1989, this hegemony has been extended globally. A widespread view holds that US hegemony has had a basically benign character. First with regard to intent, the United States has consistently acted in a defensive manner. During the Cold War, the US used force reluctantly, in response to Soviet provocation. Since the end of the Cold War, the US has again assumed a defensive stance, acting to restrain new aggressor states, such as Putin's Russia, Gaddafi's Libya, and Saddam's Iraq. With regard to the effects of US hegemony: Defenders claim that hegemony has usually promoted democracy and human rights, while it has restrained tyrants who oppress their own people.
Your paper should assess how various authors that we have read in this class would criticize the above arguments. You should discuss the views of at least three of the following authors: Dube, Kaplan, and Naidu; Shoup; Layne; Petras and Vieux; Mearsheimer, Gibbs; and Robinson. Substantively, you could focus your answer on either US policy during the Cold War or US policy after the end of the Cold War (do not analyze both periods). You should also provide your own assessment. In analyzing Layne's views of the Cold War, for example, discuss how convincing (or unconvincing) you find his arguments. Provide specific reasons why you find Layne to be convincing or unconvincing.
The completed papers should be 5-8 pages long, double-spaced, and should be sent to my email address at dgibbs@arizona.edu by 5:00pm, Wednesday, March 16. Please use standard margins and type fonts, in MS Word.
3/16 For a guide on how to cite, click here. On citing primary source documents, click here. For citation guide from the Chicago Manual of Style, click here.
3/23 For an example of how to cite from an edited volume:
David N. Gibbs, "Evangelical Christianity, Big Business, and the Resurgence of American Conservatism during the 1970s," in Leerom Medovoi and Elizabeth Bentley, eds., Religion, Secularism, and Political Belonging. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2021.
To cite a journal article:
David N. Gibbs, "Reassessing Soviet Motives for Invading Afghanistan: A Declassified History," Critical Asian Studies 38, no. 2, 2006.