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Political Science 363/International Studies 363

United States Foreign Policy

Spring 2008

Bill Newmann, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs

Office Hours: 301B Scherer Hall: Monday and Wednesday 1-2:30; Or By Appointment

Phone: Office: 828-8038

Newmann's home page: http://www.people.vcu.edu/~wnewmann/index.htm with links to other Newmann syllabi and the International and Area Studies Program description.

Introduction:

As an introduction to US foreign policy, this course has a difficult mandate. In the past decade the international environment within which the US must operate has been completely rearranged. For this reason, the readings and lectures of this course will consider US foreign policy during the Cold War period (roughly 1945 to 1987--1990), and US foreign policy as it is being shaped right now in the post 9/11 world. The course will spend the bulk of it’s time examining the posy cold war world and its two phases. First, from the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 to the attacks on the Trade Centers and Pentagon there was little consensus on US foreign policy goals. Politicians, scholars, think tanks, lobby groups, the media, and the public had generated a number of potential foreign policy priorities, including: spreading democracy, opening closed economies, fostering basic human rights in other nations, responding to humanitarian tragedies, ending civil or ethnic wars, preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, deterring the rise of rival great powers, maintaining regional balances of power, ensuring US hegemony, counterterrorism, and even reducing the US role in world affairs in an effort to concentrate on the problems at home. The 9/11 attacks changed all that, gave the US a clear priority, and began a new era in which threats to the US and the US role in the world would take on a new shape, a shape that is still evolving. We’ll spend a great deal of time examining the new threats to the US (and just how new and unique they may be), the post-9/11 foreign policy agenda and the debates over the way it has been implemented.

The course will focus on the following:

National Security Decision Making Process: We will examine the wild and wacky world of foreign policy decision making. Generally, people think that issues as serious as foreign relations, nuclear weapons policy and armed intervention are decided upon in the most solemn, rational, and analytical manner. WRONG! Foreign policy decision making often resembles a bunch of three-year-olds in a sandbox fighting over the only pail and shovel. Understanding the way decisions are made is the single most important aspect of analyzing foreign policy. Many people think that there really is no US foreign policy, only a process that churns out half-decisions, non-decisions and useless compromises. By the end of the semester you will be familiar with the policy making process and all the institutions, Departments, and Agencies involved;
The Cold War Years: In examining the period of intense competition with the USSR, we will focus on the emergence of the two antagonists in the late 1940s and 1950s; US involvement in Vietnam; detente and arms control during the Nixon years; the fall of detente and the collapse of arms control during the Carter years; and the renewed Cold War of the early Reagan years. The focus is two-fold: the ways in which the US and USSR formed a competitive, yet in many ways cooperative relationship. In the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev had begun the restructuring of the USSR, a restructuring that would eventually reshape the world. We will examine the Reagan and Bush administrations' responses to the changes within the USSR and the changes around the world that followed. Special attention will be paid to the first post-Cold War crisis in the world -- the Gulf War of 1990-91, between the US and its allies and Saddam Hussein's Iraq;
US Foreign Policy after the Cold War: Finally, we will explore the range of possibilities for the future in terms of a number of issues: the rise of economic priorities; the issue of intervention and peace operations; human rights and democracy; great power rivals to the US; and the spread of weapons of mass destruction. We will try to answer the big picture questions: What world role should the US assume after the Cold War? Are there economic threats facing the US that are as challenging as the political-military threat of the old USSR? How should the US organize and use its military assets after the Cold War? Is China the next great rival to the US?
Post-9/11 US Foreign Policy: Has the terrorist attack on the US changed everything we know about foreign policy or has it simply added to the complexity of the challenges the US faces as the only remaining superpower? What are the threats the US must deal with: terrorist attack, radical ideologies, authoritarian states, economic challengers, economic institution building? What is the proper US role in the world: building democracies, rolling back the spread of anti-democratic and anti-American ideologies, the rise of rivals to the US (China, India, EU), building better global governance based on US values? For example, what is more dangerous: a capitalist and authoritarian China or the failures of public education in Pakistan or the spread of infectious disease in poor nations?

Within each of these categories we will address these key issues:

way in which decision makers and the public have defined the national interest
the decisions the US has made concerning the use of force
the economic foundations of US policy and the current threats
the struggle for control of US foreign policy between the executive and legislative branches
the limitations and impact of US influence in the world.

For an extensive list of governmental and non-governmental sources of information on foreign affairs click here: Links to Websites on foreign policy and national security. Some of these links may be in a state of flux because of the transition to a new administration. I will try to keep them updated, but if anything changes or disappears, let me know.

Texts:

You need to read them; you don't need to buy them. The books are available at the Virginia Book Company on Shafer St. or the VCU Bookstore. They may also be available on reserve at the Cabell Library room 301. If anyone has problems getting access to the texts, for any reason, let me know as soon as possible so you don't get too far behind in the reading.

Stephen Ambrose and Douglas Brinkley. Rise to Globalism, 8th Edition (New York: Penguin Books, 1997) (This edition is not available in VCU library).
David J. Rothkopf. Running the World (New York: Public Affairs, 2006) (on reserve: UA 23.15 .R68 2005).
James Scott. Deciding to Intervene (Durham: Duke University Press, 1996) On reserve E 876 .S36 1996)
John Garver. Face Off (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997) (On reserve E 183.8 C5 G38 1997)
George Packer. The Assassin’s Gate (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005). (on reserve: DS79.76 .P33 2005).

A guideline for the readings: There are aspects of US foreign policy that you should give special attention as you do your readings. They affect every debate over US foreign policy and it is probably a good idea to understand how they relate to major issues and events when it comes to the final exam: (1) Decision Making: US foreign policy does not just happen. Men and women make those decisions and that process is important in shaping the actual substance of US foreign policy; (2) Intervention Policy: The US picks and chooses what type of world events have bearing on US national interests and in which events it will take an active role. On what basis does the US make those decisions? How has the US definition of national interest changed over the years and have the criteria for involvement in international events changed? (3) Cold War vs. Post-Cold War vs. War on Terrorism: How have the definitions of US national interests evolved? (4) Domestic Politics: Are the definitions of national interest and the content of US foreign policy based upon the threats the US faces or on domestic political contests and trends that influence the perceptions of those threats?

Grading System: Grades will be determined through the following:

Map Quiz	February 1	5% of the grade
Exam 1	March 7	30% of the grade
Research Paper	April 21	35% of the grade
Exam 2	May 5, 8:00-10:50 AM	30% of the grade

How do you calculate your grade? Use the percentages from the above table. So, if you received the following grades, you would calculate your grades in the following manner:

Map quiz: 100, at 5% of the grade; that’s 100 multiplied by .05 = 5.0
Exam 1: 90, at 30% of the grade; that’s 90 multiplied by .30 = 27.0
Paper: 90, at 35% of the grade; that’s 90 multiplied by .35 = 31.5
Exam 2: 90, at 30% of the grade; that’s 90 multiplied by .30 = 27.0
To get the final grade, add up all the scores: 5 + 27.0 + 31.5 = 27.0 = 90.5. Congratulations you got an A.

I give you this very detailed formula for a number of reasons. You should never be unaware of what your class average is. You can calculate it at any point in the semester. If your grade is not what you'd like it to be, you should know, and you should come see me about it. Do not come to me after Exam 2 and say that you're having trouble in the class. It's too late at that point. But any time in the semester that you feel you are having trouble, or not doing as well as you feel you should, come talk to me. During my office hours and by appointment I am happy to talk to you about the class

Grading scale: I use a typical scale: A = 90-100; B = 80-89; C = 70-79; D = 55-69. Borderline grades are considered in the following manner. If your grade is 69.5, 79.5, or 89.5, then you are a candidate for a round up to the higher grade IF your grades have been going up during the semester. That means that if you are borderline, but your second exam is lower than the previous exam (you are between a B and C, but your second exam is a C, you will probably get the lower grade. If you are between a B and C, but your second exam is a B, you will probably get the B).

EXAMS: The exams will be short answer and essay. One week before the exam I will place a review sheet on line, linked to this syllabus, below this paragraph. This review sheet should be used as your study guide for the exam. The review sheet will include some terms that are from the readings only, so that you can go back and review those items from the readings. Once you have the review sheet, feel free to ask me questions about the terms. This is the best way to study for the exam. If you understand the terms on the review sheet, you can define each one and see how each one relates to the larger concepts and issues we've discussed in class, you should do just fine on the exam. The exams will consist of short answer/identifications and one essay. I will give more details on the exams in class as we approach the first exam.

Review 1

Review 2

RESEARCH PAPER

Topic of paper due: February 15!!! A one paragraph description of your paper topic. See the link above for a more complete description of the assignment and policy regarding late papers. To get a good grade on the research paper, you must read the assignment carefully. Ask me questions about anything that is unclear. If you do not read the assignment, you will do poorly on the paper. The assignment asks you to do something very specific related to theories of foreign policy decision making. If you choose to write this research paper without reading the assignment, it is like taking an exam without reading the questions.

Paper due: April 21 AT THE START OF CLASS (After that it will be considered late): Up until April 14 I will review rough drafts, outlines, whatever. This is optional. For the assignment see the Research Paper assignment on line. Pay attention to the instructions about how to write a quality research paper. Use these instructions and you will get a much better grade on your paper, and more importantly you will learn how to do research and write an organized paper. In particular, pay special attention to the section on sources (bibliographies, footnotes/endnotes). If you choose to ignore the research manual, you do so at your own peril and risk everlasting doom (Am I being subtle enough?)

COURSE AND READING SCHEDULE

(Note: For the first few weeks the readings will be ahead of the class lectures. Make sure you keep up, though. If you do not do the readings you will quickly be lost and you'll be in serious trouble on the first exam).

Week 1: January 14-18 Introduction to National Security Decision Making
Ambrose, Chapters 4-5;

Rothkopf, Introduction and Chapters 1

Decision Making PPT

US Foreign Policy 1789-1945 PPT

Week 2: January 21-25 Rules of the Game: Origins of the Cold War

Ambrose, Chapter 6-9;

Rothkopf, Chapters 3-4.

Early Cold War PPT

Week 3: January 28-February 1 The Strategic Cold War Logic and Illogic of Viet Nam

Map Quiz: February 1

POLI 363 Blank Maps

Ambrose, Chapter 10-11;