Foreign Policy Making in Chaos

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This seminar on US Foreign Policy Making: Chaos v. Continuity will focus on the process, players and perspectives related to making and influencing US foreign policy now and in the past. We will examine the role of major players within the executive branch such as the President, National Security Council and Departments of State and Defense as well as the interagency process that has historically attempted to coordinate policy; the foreign policy role of Congress, and the influence of foreign governments as well as non-governmental interest groups and the media. We will make extensive use of current materials (media and think tank analyses, journal articles, speeches and congressional testimony) related to foreign policy players and their perspectives, as well as current and historical cases studies focused on the foreign policy making process. A further range of views and perspectives will be incorporated through guest appearances by diplomats, military officers, intelligence officials, congressional staffers, political appointee officials, NGO representatives and others directly involved in making or influencing US foreign policy. The instructor is a former US diplomat and congressional staffer who now serves as Director of Studies at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and oversees the undergraduate certificate in diplomatic studies.