Topic: Improving Mexico’s relations with the Southern American continent using Public Diplomacy
How the study sheds light on a PD issue? How does it contribute to social science?
Avoid generalizations [e.g., “the economy has grown a lot,” NO; “the economy expanded at a 2.6% percent rate during 2018 (Sánchez, 2019),” YES].
Topic: “Public-private partnerships for public diplomacy: The role of Evergreen in advancing Taiwanese national interests around the globe.”
Main RQ: “How can corporations collaborate with governments in their PD strategies?” Specific RQs: “What are the conditions in which companies collaborate with governments in their PD efforts?” “What can the case of Evergreen say about this question?”
Hypothesis: Yes.
Context: Evergreen –a shipping, transportation, and associated service companies conglomerate from Taiwan— did act as its government’s emissary and representative in the 90s in Central America, expanding its ports, airport connections, hotels, investments and businesses as a way of securing Taiwanese presence where diplomatic ties were not possible because Taiwan was not recognized or China threatened them.
description of obstacles that Taiwan had in establishing IR in the region during the period of study and what Evergreen is, justification of the research, and the method, referencing everything. That is: what you have researched (RQs), why (relevance and context), and how (method).
Justification: Although this was an exceptional case (after all, how many Taiwan’s there are?), the justification is that such research sheds light on how and in what circumstances governments and corporations work together for national/common interests.
Method: Based on three case studies (including the building of the Evergreen port in the Panama canal) and historical documents, produce an analytical framework that allows comparisons between the cases so patterns can be extracted.
Timeframe: From the handover, the Panama Canal in 1999 until the last big investment Evergreen did in Central America in 2008.
