The paper will examine an actor and an issue with which the actor is involved in

The paper will examine an actor and an issue with which the actor is involved in international relations. As you recall from the paper topic, the actor cannot be the US national government, and should have drawn some media attention in the last two years.
The paper should introduce your topic and then situate your actor and issue in regional and historical context. This may involve using some descriptive facts and offering other background information.
The paper must examine the issue and actor in light of four concepts from our course. Concepts may be drawn from class lectures or course readings. Be sure to define concepts in your paper.
The paper should identify a public statement made by the central actor and critically assess it in terms of the manipulation of symbols for strategic purposes. The paper should include a prognosis (an informed suggestion for what the future holds) for your actor and issue that follows from the thesis and arguments related to the conceptual analysis.
An adequate paper will have a coherent thesis, meet the above requirements, integrate course concepts appropriately, and utilize a minimum number of outside sources (defined at the annotated bibliography stage). A good paper will fulfill these conditions and systematically consider plausible alternatives to make a persuasive case. An excellent paper will go beyond these steps and demonstrate mastery of course material and superior insights into the chosen topic.
The paper should draw upon the sources required for the annotated bibliography. All sources used must be fully cited according to an established citation style (eg., APA, MLA). Further questions regarding the paper may continue to be raised in class. The suggested length of the paper is 14-16 pages.