International Relations Dissertation Topics

We have provided the selection of example international relations dissertation topics below to help and inspire you.

Example international relations dissertation topic 1:

NATO and Libya: An indefensible intervention into a sovereign state.

Notwithstanding issues as to the desirability of General Gaddafi (from a Western democratic viewpoint), NATO’s involvement in the Libyan civil war helped to bring about regime change. This dissertation addresses the political motivations that enabled an organisation usually associated with peace keeping to seemingly change its operational mandate to one in which the rebel cause was directly assisted. In so doing it questions whether it is appropriate for NATO to be used as a political tool by which to further the regime change desires of its leading members (the US and the UK) and seeks to evaluate the potential damage done to NATO’s reputation (in the Eastern world) as a consequence of the Libyan expedition.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Dunne, T. and Gifkins, J. (2011). ‘Libya and the state of intervention’, Australian Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 65(5), pp. 515-529.
• Glanville, L. (2012). ‘Intervention in Libya: From sovereign consent to regional consent’, International Studies Perspectives, DOI: 10.1111/j.1528-3585.2012.00497.x.
• Kielsgard, M. (2012). ‘National self-defence in the age of terrorism: Immediacy and state attribution’, Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, Vol. 14(4), pp. 315-343.