TMA 02

The assignment
Cut-off date: 8 December 2019

Important: These pages provide guidance on how to write your assignment. Please ensure
you read all of this information right through until the checklist at the end.

Before you start work on this assignment, please ensure that you have read the Assessment
guidance specific to this module and are familiar with the advice in Social Sciences
Assessment Information. These sources contain support and guidance that you may need in
writing your TMA, including, for example, advice on plagiarism, referencing and the
marking system. Note that failure to comply with relevant guidance could result in the loss of
marks or other penalties.

There is one part to this TMA.

Essay

‘The international system is increasingly liberal and capitalist in nature.’

Critically assess this statement focusing on two of the following areas of change: the political
character of states; economic growth; the spread of networks; revolutions.

In addition to module material, you must also refer to and discuss material drawn from
outside the module including at least one academic journal article and one other online
source.

Word limit: 2000 words

Student notes
This question asks you to critically assess whether the international system has become
‘flatter’ or more ‘uneven’ as a result of change. In answering the question you will need to
focus on two of the four areas of change listed. Though it is a longer piece of work than for
the first TMA, you still need to think carefully about the ground that you will cover and
which materials you will draw on.

Key sources
Key materials for this task should be selected from:

 Chapter 4 ‘A world after its own image? The state system, capitalism and unevenness’,
which reviews the political evolution of the modern international system
  Chapter 5 ‘Divergence or convergence in the international economy?’, which looks at the
historical record of economic change between the national economies of the international
system and different economic theories about future convergence or divergence
 Chapter 6 ‘When it all kicks off: revolution, social protest and networks in international
politics’, which focuses on the question of political instability and its impact on international
relations and the role of networks
 Chapter 7 ‘Theoretical reflections: Marxism and network theory’ covers Marxist ideas about
capitalism, unevenness and the international system and ideas about the role of networks as
bringing about change
 online material from all four weeks of this block is also relevant including material on failed
states from Week 5; the data on GDP growth and convergence in Week 6; Theory bites video
3: Justin Rosenberg; Theory bites video 4: Kathryn Sikkink; Counterpoint and critique audio 2
and the review activities in Week 8
 the skills activities – ‘Skills 2: Searching journal databases’ and ‘Skills 3: Keeping up to date’ –
should be your main sources of guidance on the skills needed for finding the non-module
sources required for this TMA.

Approach
The claim in the question, that the world is becoming increasingly liberal and capitalist in
nature, reflects views such as those of Francis Fukuyama, which were used to introduce the
flat or uneven debate (Week 5). Liberal ideas about the spread of liberal democracy, the
claim that this will lead to greater stability in the international system, and economic analyses
(such as neoclassical economics) and evidence that the world is becoming increasingly
defined by capitalism, all form part of the context for this statement. In critically assessing it,
you will need to unpack the components of the statement and evaluate them (are they both
accurate?) as well as consider the plausibility of the overall claim about the trajectory of
change that they present.

Key challenges to the statement can come in the form of detailed consideration of the
different components (whether the states in the international system are increasingly liberal,
increasingly capitalist as well as broader challenges to this notion of change). Here, the
Marxist idea of uneven and combined development is a key contribution you should consider.
It suggests that a focus on the spread of capitalism need not necessarily go together with an
assumption about the spread of liberal democracy. The ideas about networks and global civil
society, as well as the evidence of political instability, could all be used to present a different
view of the trajectory of change, as could realist ideas, which were introduced in Block 1 and
touched on again in Block 2.

In tackling the question, you will need to choose and specify clearly which two out of the
four areas of change you will focus on. Each points towards different aspects raised by the
claim that the world is increasingly liberal and capitalist. The four areas of change you need
to choose from are:

 The political character of states.

 Economic growth.
 The spread of networks.
 The impact of revolutions.
In tackling a question such as this, you will need to give careful thought to overall essay
structure as well as selection of the material you want to draw on. Don’t feel that you have to
try to include everything in the block in your essay. Instead, draw from across the block and
select material that allows you to develop and present your analysis of the question. A
rounded answer will require good organisation and synthesis of module and non-module
sources (see below), and comparison of different ideas and evidence. Although you will have
focused on two specific areas, you will need to address and provide an overall answer to the
question presented.

Finally, in your answer you need to refer to and discuss two non-module sources and
integrate them into your arguments – at least one academic journal article and at least one
other web-based source. You were given advice on finding journal articles in Week 5 and
should follow that advice in searching for journal articles from the OU eJournal collection.
For your additional web-based source, you should utilise the kinds of sources introduced in
Skills 3: Keeping up to date (Week 8). You can also draw from the further sources suggested
in the block including sources of up-to-date data. In choosing sources, pay particular attention
to what you learned in Skills 2: Searching journal databases.

Writing a good answer

To be successful on this TMA, you should:

 be able to assess the consequences of change in the areas you have chosen to focus on
and give a coherent and rounded critical assessment of them
 draw on some of the ideas about overall trajectories of change presented in the block
and the underlying factors they relate to, and give your assessment of the direction of
change in the international system
 form a clear analysis and present it in a well-structured essay
 select and synthesise key material from the block
 make a good selection of additional sources and integrate them into your arguments
 write to a good academic standard with proper referencing.