Example international politics dissertation topic 2:

Demophile regimes and an abandonment of the West in favour of China: A new dynamic in African foreign affairs?

A demophile is a regime ruler who claims that his or her regime provides its citizens with a lifestyle superior to that found in traditional democracies. Underlying this dissertation is an eco-political assumption: that both Western democracies and China wish to expand their trade and influence within Africa. From this standpoint the paper subsequently suggests that, unless Western democracies change their long-standing belief that it is in the best interests of all nations for all regimes to become democratic in nature, they risk further alienating African rulers and in turn pushing them towards partnership with China. Though there is a growing body of academic literature upon this subject, this is a challenging dissertation topic. It does, however, offer the researcher a real opportunity to add to the existing knowledge base and make a name for themselves within this field of international studies.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Aboa-Bradwell, S. (2011). The Demophile Deal for Africa: Blueprint for a new Western policy towards Africa. Medway: African Peoples Advocacy.
• Brautigam, D. (2011). The dragon’s gift: The real story of China in Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Carmody, P.R. and Owusu, F.Y. (2007). ‘Competing hegemons? Chinese versus American geo-economic strategies in Africa’, Political Geography, Vol. 26(5), pp. 504-524.