Senior Capstone Project

01

I settled on the intersection of government and economies, ultimately reaching my overall topic: How have authoritarian governments altered the trajectory of post-Cold War economies? 

Research
October-December

I am currently at the beginning of the research phase. Some of my sources include: GDP growth data from World Bank, a Congress.gov article on China, a state.gov article on Russia, and a Morgan Stanley insight on China. 

​

I want to better understand the structure of government in China and Russia, as well as the state of their economies throughout past decades. My goal is to compare China and Russia as authoritarian governments, and potentially other countries as well. By the end, I hope to become knowledgeable about these countries and try to challenge my biased opinions as an American.

​

Some of my guiding questions are: 

• How have the economies in China and Russia evolved over past decades?

• What are the structures of these countries’ governments?

• How do their governments relate to one another? How are they different?

• How do these governments rely upon tactics of capitalism and free markets?

• How do personal freedoms and the effects of government dictate how citizens act and contribute to the economy?

• Is economic growth driven by human rights violations?

• How does the structure of government affect quality of life?

• Does economic prosperity necessarily correlate with quality of life?

• Why do similar and opposite forms of government cause such diverse economic results?

• What does the class divide look like in these countries?

• To what extent are these countries oligarchical?

• What were the lasting effects of the Cold War? How were these countries’ economies different before?

• What does the future of these countries’ economies look like?

Research Paper
December-January

Products
February-April