Elections and Foreign Policy

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Starting with Taiwan in January and running through the US presidential election in November, the year 2024 will bring more than 40 national elections in democracies around the world. While campaigns and election results are principally understood through the lens of domestic politics, in an interconnected world, foreign policy is not irrelevant. With two wars raging, great uncertainty in the global economy, uneven recovery from the pandemic, and broad-based evidence of the threat posed by climate change, it seems likely that foreign policy will play a role in how citizens view their choices on the various election days in 2024. In this class we will use political science theory on public opinion and foreign policy, political behavior and elections, and comparative analysis to evaluate the role of foreign policy in national campaigns and electoral results in countries that hold elections in the first half of 2024 (including the elections for the European Parliament, set to take place on June 6th through June 9th). This course is an intensive, upper-level seminar. In addition to academic scholarship, this course will require students to actively engage with recent/real-time polling and analysis and reputable news sources to develop an understanding of how foreign policy issues interact with domestic policy issues to produce specific outcomes. The main assignment for this course involves connecting the insights we can draw from the first half of 2024, to develop expectations about the role of foreign policy in future elections, including but not limited to the November US presidential election.