Essay Requirement (Choose one of the two questions)

Question 1: One question that plans over any discussions of regional security complexes is whether China is to be considered either a great-power or has made it to the league of superpowers. Hence, in essay-fashion kindly consider into what of the two categories you would classify China, taking into account: 1) The presence China has in all world regions and the influence it exerts in these; 2) The degree to which her capabilities are balanced and 3) whether independently of the material capacities, China is being already acknowledged as a superpower by the United States and other key international actors (mostly other great powers);

Question 2: As we have seen in the Security Complex of the Middle-East, conflicts have been determined by two vectors: Israel vs Palestine/Arab/Islam and Sunni vs. Shia, with each of them having a bigger importance depending on the historical period. Taking as a starting point the terrorist attack of Hamas on Israel from Gaza that took place on the 7th October 2023 and relying on the knowledge acquired on the region in class, answer in essay-fashion in what measure do you think that the latest event and the invasion of Gaza by Israel will influence on the preeminence of one vector on the other: 1) Does confrontation of Israel and Hamas foreshadows Israel vs. Arab/Islam confrontation? 2) Will this on the contrary indirectly consolidate the Sunni vs. Shia vector in the coming years? These two are just examples of how you could focus the problem in order to answer the question.

Materials: You can use class materials to be found in the ppt as support whenever you need to rely on historical antecedents. Then, as to answer specifically to the essay question, you are asked to use a minimum of five academic sources, to which you may add some other sources (newspapers; think tank reports, etc.)

Length requirements: Five pages in Times New Roman 12, 1,5 Space (Excluding Bibliography and Title Page)

Deadline: May 20, 2024