Published August 13, 2014
Iren Marinova of Sofia, Bulgaria, a 2014 political science graduate and current MBA
student at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, presented her research on the United
Nations (UN) at the National Social Science Association Annual Conference in San Diego,
Calif.
Her paper, titled 鈥淪ecurity Council Reactions on Iran: Multilateral versus Unipolar
Decision-Making,鈥� was the result of a year-long project that began in a comparative
politics course. Marinova worked under the direction of Associate Professor John W.
Sutherlin, who holds the Mayme and Tom Scott Professorship of Teaching Excellence
chair.
鈥淚 started with an entire class, and over the course of a semester based on student
interests and willingness to conduct more research, encouraged several to present
their projects at the Louisiana Political Science Association Annual Conference,鈥�
remarked Sutherlin. 鈥淎fter the conference, it was clear that Iren Marinova鈥檚 work
was superior and could be developed into a quality paper.鈥�
Marinova discussed her work.
She said, 鈥淚 sought to discover whether national interests define the policy-making
of the UN Security Council five permanent members and, in particular, if they implement
the sanctions on Iran upon self-interest, or if they embrace multi-lateralism to maintain
the world power balance.鈥�
She added, 鈥淚t was a very interesting experience to develop my project from a tough
final exam project for my comparative politics class to a paper worth presenting at
a national conference. The journey was not easy, but I enjoyed it, simply because
I find the topic very intriguing. I am currently in the process of preparing my paper
to be submitted for publishing in a peer-reviewed journal.鈥�
Sutherlin plans to follow the same plan this year, using his international political
economy course as a starting point to introducing students to scholarship.
Sutherlin said, 鈥淚 wanted to take the process of education and teaching beyond the
classroom and have students develop their ideas.鈥�
