Women Law

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

From George Washington to Barack Obama, America’s relations with the rest of the world have been shaped by enduring traditions regarding the use (and abuse) of power and involving the complex of ideas and beliefs that go into forming what might be called the American “character.” This course will examine those traditions and how they shaped American foreign policy for more than two centuries. It will emphasize the role of ideas in shaping American attitudes toward the world, especially the American conviction that the United States is the keeper and sole protector of a set of universal principles. Students will be asked to investigate and challenge common attitudes about America’s role in the world, both today and in the past. They will examine American “imperialism,” past and present, and compare it to the behavior of other imperial powers. They will also draw comparisons between recent American policies and those of its past. Although this is a course about history, the goal is to use history to understand the present and to make informed decisions about the future.