Political Science 363/International Studies 363

United States Foreign Policy

Spring 2023

Tuesday/Thursday 11:00-12:15

Hibbs 428

 

Bill Newmann, Political Science Department

Office Hours: 318 Founders Hall. Tuesday 12:30-1:30 and Thursday 3:30-5:00, and by Appointment. We can set up zoom appointments if you like.

Phone: Office: 828-2076 (main POLI number)

E-mail: wnewmann@vcu.edu

Newmann's home page: www.people.vcu.edu/~wnewmann with links to other Newmann syllabi and other fun stuff.

 

POLI 363. U.S. Foreign Policy. 3 Hours.

Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. An analytical survey of processes and practices in the formulation of U.S. foreign policy, including an introduction to the goals, problems of implementation and current challenges faced by policy makers. Crosslisted as: INTL 363.

 

Structure of the Class

This class is designated as face-to-face. That means we’ll run the class in the traditional manner: we’re all in one room on campus.  The COVID-19 pandemic has not disappeared, however, and I realize that there may be expected and unexpected challenges for all of us.  For that reason, I will also be recording lectures and posting them to the Canvas page Media Gallery. They should be available within 24 hours of the class. They will also be linked to the class syllabus online; that may take some extra time. I will always notify everyone when the recordings are available.  The point of making the recordings available is not to encourage you to skip class, but as a back-up system in case people are ill or think they might be ill.   All quizzes and exams will be in-class.

 

Introduction:

This course serves as an introduction to US foreign policy. We’ll start with some basics: the structure of the US foreign policy bureaucracies and the way presidents make decisions on foreign policy.  From there we’ll consider theories of how we think about US national interests (realism, idealism, economics). We’ll proceed from there to tackle big, challenging issues: dealing with potential great power rivals such as China and Russia; the threat from middle powers who reject international norms such as Iraq under Saddam Hussein or the current Iranian regime or North Korea; and 21st century threats from non-state actors such as al-Qaeda or ISIS.   Underneath it all will be two simple questions.  First, how do we define the threats to the US?  Second, what should the US role in the world be?  Politicians, scholars, think tanks, lobby groups, the media, and the public have 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.  We’ll be studying the interplay of those priorities, how they change from time to time, and the way priorities are decided. This is particularly interesting in the context of our current political polarization and backsliding in our commitment to democracy at home. We may be witnessing a fundamental change in the nature of the US political system, which could lead to significant changes in our foreign policy priorities.  Trump foreign policy often deliberately undermined traditional conceptions of US foreign policy. Maybe it’s a mild ripple in the evolution of US leadership; Trump foreign policy might be an outlier. We have seemed to return to more traditional foreign policy principles in 2020 under Biden, but whether the Trump policies or Biden policies last depends in part on the 2024 election. Maybe we’re seeing the beginning of the end of US hegemony, either the inevitable decline of a hegemonic state while a challenger rises (China) or the self- destruction of a hegemon due to domestic instability (if Americans see each other as greater threats than any foreign enemies could be, then it seems impossible for the US to mobilize to deal with external threats; we’d never forma consensus on what to do). Scholars from 100 years in the future may see this era as the period when the US stepped away from global leadership and handed the 21st century to China.

The course will focus on the following: 

Foreign Policy Decision Making Process: We will examine the wild and wacky world of foreign policy decision making. People think that issues as serious as nuclear weapons policy or armed intervention are decided upon in the most solemn and analytical manner. I wish. 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 perhaps 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 mid-1980s, new Soviet leader 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.

US Foreign Policy after the Cold War: 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?

The Non-State Actor Threat: The 9/11 attacks on the US were seen by many as events that changed everything.  For others they simply forced the US to recognize something that many other nations already knew: non-state actors such as terrorist organizations were now players in the international arena.  We’ll look at the US response to the new (or not new) world and the fallout from US intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq.  

The 21st Century: The US faces old and new challenges.  China is a great power rival like no other the US has faced – an economic, political, and military rival.  Russia, though not as powerful as China, has a foreign policy focused on disrupting NATO and delegitimizing democracy.  Its strategies of hybrid warfare (social media propaganda, cyberespionage, and paramilitary forces) have left the US floundering to develop a response. Cyberspace itself as a realm of international competition and war has changed the nature of international competition.  Perhaps most importantly, the willingness of the US to provide global leadership is a growing uncertainty.  Of course, after the 2016 election, we need to consider how all this plays out in Trump and post-Trump foreign policy represents a possible major shift in US foreign policy interests. If the US abandons the alliance structure and rule-based international order it created after WW II, what replaces that system?  What role will the US play its foreign policy is based on going it alone.

 

In the class readings we will pay special attention to US policy in the Middle East and US relations with China.

 

Learning Outcomes

1.       Students will be able to identify and analyze the organization of the US government for foreign policy decision making as well as the way the interagency process is designed to produce advice for the president

2.      Students will achieve comprehension of and be able to assess the theoretical models of foreign policy decision making

3.       Students will be able to differentiate between and evaluate the different ways the US defines and pursues its national interests, including strategies of intervention, engagement, and confrontation

4.       Students will be able to differentiate between and evaluate the foreign policy challenges of the cold war and the post-cold war, especially the difference between challenges from nation states and non-state actors.

5.       Students will be able to differentiate between and evaluate the foreign policy challenges from peer competitors and middle powers.

6.       Students will be able to evaluate the emerging challenges of the 21st century.

7.      Students will practice writing an executive summary

8.       Students will experience a role-playing simulation

 

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, but you don’t have to buy them. The books are available at the Virginia Book Company on Shafer St., the VCU Bookstore, and Bookholders.  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. Most of the books are available on reserve at Cabell Library, which means that if you don’t want to buy them, you can read them there. Ask me if you have any questions about how the reserve system works.  The short version is this: A book on reserve can’t be checked out of the library. It will always be there. It can be used for renewable two-hour periods in the library.

·         Stephen Sestanovich. Maximalist (New York: Vintage, 2014) On Reserve E744.S473 2014  

·         Vincent Boucher, Charles-Philippe David, and Karine Premont. National Security Entrepreneurs and the Making of American Foreign Policy (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2020) Available online in the VCU Library system here: And in hard copy on reserve: E744.B68 2020.

·         Elizabeth Economy. The World According to China (New York: Polity, 2022) 978-1-5095-3749-5 (Not on reserve, but I will see if I can get one on reserve)

·         David Phillips. Losing Iraq (New York: Basic Books, 2005) 978-0-465-05681-1 (Not on reserve, but I will see if I can get one on reserve)

·         Thomas Wright. All Measures Short of War (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018) Available online through the VCU Libraries system here: and On reserve JK275.W75 2017

 

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

January 26

5% of the grade

Exam 1

March 2

30% of the grade

Executive Summary Paper (and Simulation Instructions)

Rough Draft Due: March 23

Final Paper Due: April 18

Both are due at the beginning of class in hard copy

30% of the grade

Simulation

Day 1: April 27

Day 2: May 2

Graded for both attendance and participation

5% of the grade

Exam 2

May 11: 8-10:50 Notice the time change. (Same room)

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:

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 or higher, then you may be a candidate for a round up to the higher grade (Notice those numbers in the sentence; do not ask for a higher grade if your average is a 68 or 78 or 88 or lower; those are not borderline averages).

·         You may become a candidate if your grades are borderline and if your grades have been going up during the semester.

·         That means that if you are borderline, but your last exam is lower than the previous exams (you are between a B and C, but your third exam is a C for example), you will probably get the lower grade.

·         If you are borderline, and your last exam is higher than the previous exams (you are between a B and C, but your third exam is a B), you may get the higher grade.

·         Another factor I consider is the typical grade you receive. Let’s say we have four grades for the class and three are grades of B and one is a C (bad day) and your average is a 79.6, you are a candidate for receiving a B.  If you have four grades and three are grades of C and one is a grade of B, you are probably not a candidate for the higher grade

·         There is no extra credit for this class.  Please do not ask.

 

Speaking of grades

Withdrawal Date: March 24

Final Date for Requesting Pass/Fail Grade Option: March 24

 

 

Map Quiz: Click on the link to get the instructions

 

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 final exam is not-cumulative.

 

Review 1

Review 2

 

 

Research Paper and Class Role-Playing Simulation

Follow the link for detailed instructions.  Read these instructions now.  Read them later.  Read them again and again. The short version is:

·         Over two class periods at the end of the term the class will simulate the national security decision making process.  Each of you will be assigned to play the role of a US governmental official with responsibilities for some aspect of US national security (officials in the Defense Department or National Security Council Staff or Intelligence Community, for example)

·         Roles will be assigned in the first three weeks of class

·         You will be given a national security problem to solve and guidance about what perspective you should focus upon. That perspective is based on your assigned role.  The problem to consider: US intelligence believes that China is preparing for some sort of coercive action against Taiwan. It’s unclear if the action will be economic or military; it might be anything from increased tariffs on Taiwanese exports to China or bans on Taiwanese investments in China to a blockade of shipping in the Taiwan Strait or even direct military action. The president wants options for these possibilities. Your job is to prepare them. 

·         “Hey! But I don’t know anything about China and Taiwan!” By the time we get to the simulation, you will. Also, here’s a quick guide to some of the issues on China and Taiwan.

·         You will write a 1–2-page executive summary presenting options for how to deal with the issue (from the perspective of the role you have been assigned; for example, if you are the Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations, you will focus on multilateral options for solving the problem; if you are the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff you will look at China’s military options.

·         Required Rough Draft: Due: March 23 (it will be returned to you with comments quickly so you can work on the final draft)

·         Final Draft Due: April 18

·         Both rough and final drafts are due in hard copy at the beginning of class on the day indicated; there are late penalties for both the rough and final drafts. The deduction is 10 points for each day late for both the rough and final drafts (there is a maximum of a 50-point deduction for the rough draft that is five days late or not turned in).

·         Paper Topics will be chosen in consultation with me. This is detailed in the research instructions and I will explain in class. On the back of the map quiz will be a list of all the possible role assignments for the class. You’ll give me your first, second, and third choices and I’ll then assign roles based on that.

·         Role-Playing Simulation Assignments (will be linked here once they are made)

·         Once the research is done and I have made comments on both drafts of your paper, we’ll begin the role-playing simulation: a three day in class exercise where you will develop a draft Presidential Directive spelling out the options for US policy in case of an Iranian intervention in Syria.  I will prepare a detailed agenda for these sessions.  Essentially, you will gather together in several interagency committees and negotiate to come up with a draft that includes all your perspectives, evaluates the pros and cons of various US options, develops a government-wide consensus, or spells out where consensus could not be achieved and why.

·         Every aspect of this will be guided by a draft Presidential Review Directive where I will spell out what questions I want answered in the Presidential Directive (and in your papers). Once you’re assigned a role, you will have a specific research task. That research task will be spelled out explicitly in the Presidential Directive.

v  The PRD 18 is here (once it is updated)

·         All the details will be in the paper instructions, linked to the syllabus.

·         The result of your simulation: Presidential Directive 64 (will be linked here once it is done)

 

 

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. The dates below are the dates when you should have finished the readings (except for the first week of course). 

Week 1: January 16-20 Introduction and Decision Making

·         Boucher, David, and Premont: Introduction and Chapter One

 

 

Week 2: January 23-27 Decision Making

·         Sestanovich: Prologue and Chapters 1-3

·         Lecture Three January 24 Decision Making 2

·         Lecture Four January 26 Decision Making 3

 

 

Week 3: January 30-February 3 Cold War I

·         Boucher, David, and Premont: Chapter 2.

·         Sestanovich: Chapters 4 and 5.

·         Lecture Five January 31 Decision Making 4

·         Lecture Six February 2 Decision Making 5

 

 

Week 4: February 6-10 Cold War II

·         Sestanovich: Chapters 6 and 7

·         Boucher, David, and Premont: Chapter 3

·         Cold War One

·         Lecture Seven February 7 Decision Making 6; Cold War 1

·         Lecture Eight February 9 Cold War 2

 

 

Week 5: February 13-17 Cold War III

·         Sestanovich: Chapters 8 and 9

·         Boucher, David, and Premont: Chapter 4

·         Cold War Two

·         Cold War Three

·         Lecture Nine February 14 Cold War 3

·         Lecture 10 February 16 Cold War 4

 

 

 

Week 6: February 20-24 End of the Cold War?

·         Boucher, David, and Premont: Chapter 5

·         Sestanovich Chapter 10

·         Lecture 11 February 21 Cold War 5

·         Lecture 12 February 23 Cold War 6

 

 

 

Week 7: February 27-March 3 Finish First Half Lectures and Exam 1

·         No Readings

·         Exam 1: March 2

·         Lecture 13 February 28 Cold War 7

 

 

Spring Break: March 6-10

 

 

Week 8: March 13-17 The New World Order? Bush 41 and Clinton

·         Sestanovich: Chapter 1

·         Phillips, Chapters 1-7

·         End of the Cold War

·         GHW Bush and Clinton

·         Lecture 14 March 14 End of the Cold War

·         Lecture 15 March 16 Bush 41 and Clinton 1

 

 

 

Week 9: March 20-24 Bush 43, 9/11, and the US in Afghanistan and Iraq

·       Rough Draft Due: March 23 at the beginning of class in hard copy

·       Phillips, Chapters 8, 10, 12-16

·       Lecture 16 March 21 Clinton

·       Lecture 17 March 23 GW Bush and Terrorism

 

 

 

Withdrawal Date: March 24

Final Date for Requesting Pass/Fail Grade Option: March 24

 

 

Week 10: March 27-31 Obama/Biden vs. Trump

·         Wright: Preface, Chapters 1-2, and 4

·         Bush 43 PPT

·         Lecture 18 March 28 Bush, Terrorism, and Iraq

·         Lecture 19 March 30 Bush, Iraq, and Afghanistan 2

 

 

 

Week 11: April 3-7 Finishing Trump and Beginning the Challenge of China I

·         China PPT

·         Economy, Chapters 1-3

·         Lecture 20 April 4 US-China Relations 1

·         Lecture 21 April 6 US-China Relations 2

 

 

 

Week 12: April 10-14: The Challenge of China II

·         Obama PPT

 

 

 

 

Week 13: April 17-21 Resurgent Russia

 

 

 

Week 14: April 24-28 Biden Foreign Policy and Simulation Day 1

·         Simulation Day 1: April 27

·         Catch up on other Readings

·         Lecture 26 April 25 Trump Biden 2

 

 

 

Week 15: May 2 Simulation Day 2

·         Wright: Chapters 5-7, and Epilogue

 

 

Exam 2: Thursday May 11: 8:00 AM to 10:50, Notice the time change. Same room.

 

 

 

Other Important Stuff

 

Political Science Advising

If you are a Political Science major, we highly recommend that you meet with your friendly and helpful POLI advisors, Nathan Bickett and Jen Clayton, at least once a semester to make sure you are on track - doing what you need to do and not doing what you don’t need to do - and to discuss your academic and professional goals. Current minors and those considering a POLI major or minor are also encouraged to visit. 

You may make an appointment through the Navigator app or through a link on your VCU Portal. You may also reach us at poliadvisor@vcu.edu

 

Political Science Librarian

Nia Rodgers is the librarian for Political Science. She can help you find peer-reviewed materials to use in your research. She can be reached at: slrodgers@vcu.edu or you can make an appointment at: https://vcu.libcal.com/appointment/8778  

 

 

 

Where can you find information on international affairs?

This is the questions students always ask me: “Where do I find good information on international affairs. I’m looking for something unbiased and something that doesn’t always look at the world through American eyes (as in how do these developments affect the US).

 

Here’s the short answer: For day-by-day coverage of events in the world:

  1. BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/.   On a day-by-day basis, no other news organization covers the world as well.  It has separate pages for most regions, links to past stories, links to data bases, all kinds of information that will get you up to speed on anything.
  2. World News Network: http://wn.com/. This is a site which covers day-by-day events by creating links to major newspapers around the world.  So, if something is happening in Pakistan, for example, there will be several links to stories about the event from web-based sources in S. Asia, E. Asia, Europe, and N. America…  It also has links to regional windows with coverage that is more focused.  It even has links to issue-specific compilations of links on various issues.  For example, the science page has sections for stories on AIDS, Biotech, cloning…
  3. For terrorism and counterterrorism check out The Long War Journal: http://www.longwarjournal.org.  It is a project of the Foundation for defense of Democracies, a non-partisan project that keeps track day by day of events related to terrorism around the world.

 

On a weekly basis:

The Economist: www.economist.com.  This is a Britain-based weekly which covers world politics and world business.  There really is nothing else like it in the comprehensive nature of its coverage.  You can also buy it on the newsstand, but the web is free.  It covers world politics very well.

 

Long Term Views of Crisis and Conflict:

International Crisis Group: www.crisisweb.org.  This is the International Crisis Group, a non-profit organization that studies, analyzes, and makes recommendations about how to resolve various crises in the world.  There is nothing better for the in-depth examination of current world events and the dilemmas of problem solving and peace making.  It has reports (30-50 pages), briefings (10-30), and a weekly briefing (Crisis Watch), which you can get on the web site or sign up for e-mail delivery.

 

VCU Syllabus Policy Statements from Provost’s Office