COURSE SCHEDULE
NOTE: I reserve the right to modify the reading assignments, and on occasion, I will add a reading (and more rarely, subtract one).
Part I - The Ameican National Style
Week I
Class 1 - Course intro + syllabus review + the geography of American power
Class 2 - America’s power and purpose: a long-term perspective
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Readings:
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Hook and Spanier, Preface and Chapter 1
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National Security Strategy of the United States of America, The White House, Washington D.C., December 2017, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf , Preface and Introduction
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Walter Russell Mead, “The Jacksonian Revolt,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 96, No. 2 (2017), https://jculibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/6943939659 .
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Key documents:
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George Washington, “Farewell Address,” Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, September 19, 1796, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/200675
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John Quincy Adams's Warning Against the Search for "Monsters to Destroy," 1821, https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/jqadams.htm
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John L. O'Sullivan on Manifest Destiny, 1839, https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/osulliva.htm .
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Woodrow Wilson, “Address to a Joint Session of Congress on the Conditions of Peace ["The Fourteen Points"],” January 8, 1918, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/206651
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Franklin D. Roosevelt: “Annual Message to Congress on the State of the Union [The “Four Freedoms” Speech],” January 6, 1941. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/annual-message-congress-the-state-the-union .
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Recommended readings:
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Henry Luce, “The American Century,” Life, February 17, 1941, http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mlassite/discussions261/luce.pdf
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Walter Russel Mead, “The American Foreign Policy Legacy,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 81, No. 1 (Jan. - Feb., 2002), pp. 163-176, https://jculibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/93719943
Part II - Contemporary American Foreign Policy in Action
Week II - From the Grand Alliance to Containment
Class 3
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Readings:
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Hook and Spanier, Chapter 2
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X [George F. Kennan], "The Sources of Soviet Conduct," Foreign Affairs, July 1947, https://jculibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/5857013886
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Harry S. Truman, “Special Message to the Congress on Greece and Turkey: The Truman Doctrine,” March 12, 1947, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/232818
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George Marshall, The "Marshall Plan" speech at Harvard University, 5 June 1947, https://www.oecd.org/general/themarshallplanspeechatharvarduniversity5june1947.htm .
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Recommended Readings:
Class 4
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Readings:
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Hook and Spainer, Chapter 3
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Dwight D. Eisenhower: "Address "The Chance for Peace" Delivered Before the American Society of Newspaper Editors.," April 16, 1953. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9819
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Dwight D. Eisenhower: "Farewell Radio and Television Address to the American People," January 17, 1961. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=12086 .
Week III - From Cold War to Détente
Class 5
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Readings:
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Hook and Spanier, Chapter 4
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John F. Kennedy, “Commencement Address at American University in Washington,” June 10, 1963. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9266 .
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McCormick, Chapter 17
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Andrew J. Bacevich, "Want to Know What’s Next for Afghanistan? Ask Vietnam," The Nation, September 11, 2019, https://www.thenation.com/article/afghanistan-war-vietnam/
Class 6
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Readings:
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Hook and Spanier, Chapter 5
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“Text of Kissinger's Speech at A.P. Meeting Here on U.S. Relations With Europe,” The New York Times, April 24, 1973, https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/24/archives/text-of-kissingers-speech-at-ap-meeting-here-on-u-s-relations-with.html .
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Jimmy Carter, “The State of the Union Address Delivered Before a Joint Session of the Congress,” January 23, 1980, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/249681 .
Week IV - The End of the Cold War
Class 7
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Readings:
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Hook and Spanier, Chapter 6
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Ronald Reagan, “Remarks at the Annual Convention of the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida,” March 8, 1983, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/262885
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Ronald Reagan, “Remarks on Signing the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty,” December 8, 1987, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/252155
Class 8
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Readings:
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Recommended reading:
Part III - Current US Foreign Policy Challenges
Week V - American foreign policy in the post-Cold War era
Class 9
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Readings:
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Hook and Spanier, Chapter 8
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Antony Lake, “From Containment to Enlargement”, speech held at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C., September 21, 1993, http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/lakedoc.html
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Madeleine Albright, “Yes, There Is a Reason to Be in Somalia”, The New York Times, August 10, 1993, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE6DE1030F933A2575BC0A965958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted .
Class 10
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Readings:
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Recommended readings:
Week VI - American Foreign Policy in the Age of Terror
Class 11
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Readings:
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Hook and Spanier, Chapter 10
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George W. Bush, “Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union,” January 29, 2002, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/211864 .
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George W. Bush, “Commencement Address at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York,” June 01, 2002, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/211409 .
Class 12
Deadline for the submission of the short memos.
Movie night:
Week VII - Midterm Assessment
Class 13 - Midterm review and briefing memos presentations/discussions.
Class 14 - Midterm exam.
--- Spring Break ---
Week VIII - American Foreign Policy in the Post-Iraq and post-Financial Crisis Era
Class 15
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Readings:
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Hook and Spanier, Chapter 12
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Barack Obama, “Remarks in Cairo,” Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, June 4, 2009, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/286614
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Barack Obama, “Address to the Nation on the Drawdown of United States Military Personnel in Afghanistan,” June 22, 2011, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/290660
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McCormick, Chapter 21
Class 16
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Readings:
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Hook and Spanier, Chapter 13
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Hillary Rodham Clinton, "America's Pacific Century,” Foreign Policy, October 11, 2011, http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/10/11/americas_pacific_century .
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Donald J. Trump, “Remarks by President Trump to the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly,” White House - Office of the Press Secretary, September 19, 2017, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/09/19/remarks-president-trump-72nd-session-united-nations-general-assembly
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“Full text: Trump's 2018 UN speech transcript”, Politico, September 25, 2018, https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/25/trump-un-speech-2018-full-text-transcript-840043 .
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Thomas Wright, “Trump’s 19th Century Foreign Policy,” Politico Magazine, January 20, 2016, http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/donald-trump-foreign-policy-213546 .
Part IV - The Politics of US Foreign Policy
Week IX
Class 17 - The Presidency
Readings: McCormick, Chapter 9-10
Class 18 - The National Security System
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Readings:
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McCormick, Chapter 11,14-15.
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National Security Strategy, pp. 28-32.
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Michael O’Hanlon and David Petraeus, “America’s Awesome Military, and How to Make it Even Better,” Foreign Affairs (Sept/Oct 2016), pp. 10-17, https://jculibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/6824186774
Week X
Class 19 - The State Department
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Readings:
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McCormick, Chapter 13
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National Security Strategy, pp. 33-34.
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William J. Burns, “The Lost Art of American Diplomacy,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 98 No. 3 (May/June 2019), pp. 98-107, http://search.ebscohost.com.jcu.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=135900372&site=ehost-live
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William J. Burns, "The Demolition of U.S. Diplomacy," Foreign Affairs, October 14, 2019, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2019-10-14/demolition-us-diplomacy
Class 20 - Congress and Foreign Policy
Week XI The Media, Public Opinion and US Foreign Policy
Class 21 - The media
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Readings:
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McCormick, Chapter 6-7
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Stephen M. Walt, "The Donald vs. the Blob," Foreign Policy, May 16, 2016, https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/05/16/the-donald-vs-the-blob-hillary-clinton-election/
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Stephen M. Walt, “Impeachment Is Redeeming the Blob,” Foreign Policy, November 14, 2019, https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/14/stephen-walt-foreign-policy-establishment-my-apologies-to-the-blob/
Class 22 - Lobbying
Part V - The Future of US Foreign Policy
Week XII
Class 23 - Debate: Transatlantic Relations and the future of the Atlantic Alliance
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Readings:
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National Security Strategy, pp. 47-48.
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“Remarks by President Trump at NATO Unveiling of the Article 5 and Berlin Wall Memorials - Brussels, Belgium,” The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, May 25, 2017, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/05/25/remarks-president-trump-nato-unveiling-article-5-and-berlin-wall .
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NBC News, “Here’s the Full Text of Donald Trump’s Speech in Poland,” NBC News, July 6, 2017, http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/here-s-full-text-donald-trump-s-speech-poland-n780046 .
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Stanley Sloan, “Defense of the West,” Atlantic Council, January 6, 2016, http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/news/sloan-defense-of-the-west .
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Jens Stoltenberg, “Europe and North America need to stay united – now more than ever,” The Guardian, June 19, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/19/europe-north-america-nato-storm-political-risk .
Class 24 - Debate: Terrorism, National Security, and American Grand Strategy
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Readings:
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National Security Strategy, Pillar I + pp. 48-51.
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Team A: Norman Podhoretz, “World War IV,” Commentary, September 2004, https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/world-war-iv-how-it-started-what-it-means-and-why-we-have-to-win/
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Team B: John Mueller and Mark J. Stewart, “The Terrorism Delusion: America’s Overwrought Response to September 11,” International Security, Vol. 37, No. 1 (2012), https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/articles/mueller-isec-july-2012.pdf
Week XIII
Class 25 - Debate: The US and China
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Readings:
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National Security Strategy, pp. 50-51.
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Graham Allison, “The Thucydides Trap: Are the U.S. and China Headed for War?” The Atlantic, September 24, 2015, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/09/united-states-china-war-thucydides-trap/406756/
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Seth N. Jaffe, “The Risks and Rewards of Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War,” War on the Rocks, July 6, 2017, https://warontherocks.com/2017/07/the-risks-and-rewards-of-thucydides-history-of-the-peloponnesian-war/
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Melvyn P. Leffler, “China Isn’t the Soviet Union. Confusing the Two Is Dangerous,” The Atlantic, December 2, 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/12/cold-war-china-purely-optional/601969/ .
Class 26 - Debate: Trade Policy and Economic Statecraft
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Readings:
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Recommended readings
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Dani Rodrik, “Globalization’s Wrong Turn: And How It Hurt America,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 98, No. 4 (2019), pp. 26-33, http://search.ebscohost.com.jcu.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=136923442&site=ehost-live
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Salvatore Babones, “Trump’s Gift to China,” Foreign Affairs, November 16, 2016, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2016-11-16/trumps-gift-china
Week XIV - The 2020 election and US and the future of Foreign Policy
Class 27 - The scholarly debate on American grand strategy
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Readings:
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Hook and Spanier, Chapter 14
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Jake Sullivan, “What Donald Trump and Dick Cheney Got Wrong About America,” The Atlantic (January/February 2019), https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/01/yes-america-can-still-lead-the-world/576427/ .
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McCormick, Chapter 2
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Andrew Bacevich, “Saving “America First”: What Responsible Nationalism Looks Like,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 96 Issue 5 (Sep/Oct 2017), pp. 57-67, https://jculibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/7158926458 .
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John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, “The Case for Offshore Balancing,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 95, Issue 4 (Jul/Aug2016), pp. 70-83, https://jculibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/6224596149 .
Class 28 - Candidates, Platforms, and Foreign Policy
Readings:
Final exam - TBA
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