For what purposes and how do intergovernmental institutions engage with non-state actors, including militant groups and civil society organizations, in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria since 1967? What best explains variations in their ability to achieve their
Brief introduction, including the thesis statement.
In practice, you should write the introduction last, once you know what the rest of the paper says. So for the purposes of this exercise, simply include the thesis statement.
Brief literature review
This tells the reader what are the relevant bits of IR theory that your paper contributes to. You can draw on IR textbooks, handbooks or encyclopedias of political science/IR, or the Annual Review of Political Science, for concise statements of the state of the field.
For example, is your question about identity and foreign policy? What are the main current theories in that area relevant to answering it?
Ian Boucher can help you a lot here if you can’t find relevant reference works.
Brief essential background
Keep it short. What does your reader need to know about the historical and other context of your question?
Data
This is the largest part of your paper. You should arrange this in subsections, as you present the information needed to answer your question.
Data are observations of the world. They may take the form of numerical information, but don’t have to. Most likely, in the type of papers you are writing they will take the form of information you take from scholarly, official, and journalistic sources that allow you to answer your question.
Here it is essential to make sure you are gathering and presenting information that allows you to answer all parts of your question.
Analysis
Based on the data you have presented, what can you now say is the answer to your question? Here you present your reasoning.
Brief conclusion and, optionally, implications
Implications are where you extrapolate from what you have found to make broader arguments. For example, does your answer allow you to make predictions about the future of the case(s) you studied? Does it help explain a broader universe of cases than the specific ones you looked at? Does it suggest certain policy directions for regional or other powers?