US Foreign and Security Policy

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course is intended to provide a detailed understanding of the history and contemporary nature of US foreign and security policy, in terms of both general approaches and strategies concerning particular issues and regions. It will introduce students to the leading academic debates on the underlying motivations and forms of US policy, and to the leading contemporary public debates on what present and future US policies ought to be. The first part of the course will deal with the history of the external relations (both diplomatic and military) of the United States, and US domestic developments insofar as they have shaped external policy: for example, the impact of the Frontier experience and Frontier cultural imaginaries on US attitudes and behavior. The second part will cover the main theoretical approaches and debates concerning the origins and nature of US policy. The third part will deal with US institutions, parties, groups, and forces responsible for creating and shaping US foreign and security policy. The fourth part will deal with US policies concerning specific issues, countries, and regions of the world, including the past history of US engagement in these areas. The final part of the course will look briefly at the possible future issues and challenges facing US policy, and how the USA is likely to respond and behave.