Fall 2007

T C 357 • Perspectives on US Foreign Policy

Course Description

This course examines the forulation and execution of U.S. foreign policy from the early days of the republic to the present. We will concentrate on how the different instruments of national power were considered in formulating foreign policy, and how they were leveraged in its execution. In the beginning of the course, we will examine the historical underpinnings of our country's foreign policy to deal with the expansionist period, the early desire to avoid international entanglements, hemispheric primacy in the form of the Monroe Doctrine, and the repelling of foreign influences during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods. With eventual re-engagement with Europe at the dawn of the twentieth century, we will examine the Roosevelt and McKinley era in foreign policy, the early attempt to meld national and multinational interests in a collective security organization, and the pivotal role of FDR's presidency in developing visions for the Cold War, containment, and the era of the United Nations. In the second half of the course we will scrutinize how diplomacy and intelligence were used to serve the interlocking . We will pay particular attention to the contemporary foreign policy environment through consideration of contemporary case studies, and address the question "what is the appropriate role of the US in the world going forward?" This course will place emphasis on individual and group research of policy interest, choices, and decision-making.

Texts

A course text, yet to be determined Selected readings to be made available on Electronic Reserve

back