ISD Capstone:Challeng US Power

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

The United States’ ability – or willingness – to project power and influence is in a state of transition as it navigates between an emerging China, a revanchist Russia, and an aspiring India, in addition to Iran and other regional powers. Will the new President aim to reassert the United States’ status as the Indispensable Nation? Through case studies, this class will examine how the new Administration should deal with China and tensions in the South China Sea; Russia’s interventions in Ukraine and Syria; Iran’s long-term regional ambitions and the future of the nuclear deal; as well as U.S. efforts to work with India on climate change and differences over the international trade system – all with a view to maintaining U.S. influence on the world stage. This course is one of three that fulfills the capstone requirement for the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy’s Certificate in Diplomatic Studies (CDS). Students will be required to complete a joint report outlining “over the horizon” policy initiatives for projecting U.S. power and maintaining global influence. The instructor is a career Foreign Service Officer and currently a State Department Rusk Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. He has served overseas in India, Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, as well as on the Iran Desk in Washington.