Seminar II Problem Formulation

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Seminar II Problem Formulation

• Poul Thøis Madsen
• Corrie Lynn S. McDougall

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Outline

• General Comments
• a. The (lacking) use of theory
• b. The (lacking) focus Specific Comments to some
  projects illustrating the problems of
• Specific comments
• a. focus, tension, theory
• b. Problem formulations that arent problem
  formulations
• c. Problem formulations that are too vague
• Questions to our hand written comments
• A few words on the last seminar

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1. General Comments, a

• 1. How to use theory?
• Like to force you to think about this as early as
  possible
• E.g. to understand and explain why the EU acts as
  it does (complicated organisations/hidden
  causalities etc.)
• Not a lot of words about the theories or just
  listing theories (rational choice, integration
  theories)
• Limit yourself to 2-3 perspectives/theories
  (focus!)

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1. General Comments, b

• 2. The problem of not having a clear focus
• Why integrating Turkey? Or what will the
  consequences be? Problems of consistency and too
  many and too diverse questions (brain storms)
• CFSP-policy or CFSP-sceptical countries? UN/EU or
  an individual country? What is the focus?
• Identify the main tension what puzzles you?
• Too many levels of analysis/international
  organisations e.g. NGO,GO and IGOs. Beware of
  being too ambitious.

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2. Specific Comments on focus, tension and
theory, a

• Does the EU play a major role in the
  Israel/Palestine conflict. Past, presence,
  future. Focus?
• How do the resolved territorial conflicts in
  Georgia, particularly in Abkhazia, affect the
  development of the country? What puzzles you?
• How do European Union and Danish integration
  policies correspond with the practice of
  integration on the municipal level in Denmark?
  Where is the tension?
• In all (9) but one project the use of theory is
  unclear!

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Problem Formulations that arent problems, b1

• Considering the causes and implications of the
  international sex slave trade, what actors at the
  national and international levels have been most
  successful in reducing or eliminating the trade?
  Have governments, IGOs or NGOs/INGOs been most
  successful, and what mechanisms have they
  utilized?
• Possibility According to Thai law prostitution
  is illegal, why then has the Thai government,
  through its Tourism Authority of Thailand, in
  fact been promoting the national sex industry.
  How have these practices affected the social and
  economic development of the country?

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Problem Formulations that arent problems, b2

• In this project we, therefore, want to look into
  the education system of a developing country in
  Africa. To see whether the education system works
  and whether the education system is creating the
  needed development. Furthermore we wish to find
  if there are any alternative education systems or
  models that might be better at achieving
  development.
•  
• Possibility Despite efforts to address the
  issue of Human Resource Development (HRD) in
  Uganda, social and economic indicators depict a
  miserable situation. What contributions have the
  Ugandan government made towards improving the
  formal education system in the country? What
  have been the main limitations to this process?
  Are there any alternative (informal)
  opportunities?

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Problem Formulations that arent problems, b3

• Why should the International Community have
  intervened in the ethnic conflict in Rwanda that
  led to genocide in 1994?
•  
• Possibility What circumstances prevented the
  Internl Community from acting sooner, and what
  has been done to ensure that a atrocity such as
  this never occurs again.

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Problem Formulations that are too vague, c1

• The issue at hand is that foreign aid has become
  an instrument of foreign policy. To illustrate
  this, the definition of the US Agency for
  International Development (USAID) claims that the
  agency provides economic, development, and
  humanitarian assistance in support of the
  foreign policy goals of the US (USAID 2004).
  This fundamental shift in priority may be what
  has led to the stagnation if not backwards
  movement of the development process. In order
  to halt these current wasteful and detrimental
  practices we must ask how has the use of foreign
  aid as a means of political manipulation entailed
  the failure of the development project?
•  
• Possibility The World Banks mission is to
  fight poverty and improve the living standards of
  people in the developing world. In Kenya, like
  many developing countries, the Bank has been
  pursuing policies of structural adjustment to
  promote growth in order to create jobs and
  empower the poor. How then, can the increasing
  poverty levels in Kenya be explained?

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Problem Formulations that are too vague, c2

• Assuming that a degree of self-sufficiency is a
  precondition for sustainable development, how
  has/have communities maintained self-sufficiency
  in the face of pressures imposed by the world
  order?
•  
• Possibility What are the challenges involved
  with the expansion of market liberalisation as a
  result of the mining industry in Bolivia, and how
  has if affected the self-sufficiency of the
  indigenous population against disruptive social
  and environmental effects.

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Questions to our hand written comments??