Political
Science 363/International Studies 363
United
States Foreign Policy
Summer
2016
Bill
Newmann, Political Science program
Office
Hours: 318 Founders Hall: Tuesday, Thursday 1:30-3:00 or By Appointment
Phone:
Office: 828-8038
e-mail:
wnewmann@vcu.edu
Newmann's
home page: www.people.vcu.edu/~wnewmann
with links to other Newmann syllabi and other fun stuff.
Introduction:
This course serves as an introduction to US foreign
policy. We’ll start with the basics (the structure of the US foreign policy
bureaucracies and basic theories of how we think about US national interests),
but we will we proceed from there to tackle the challenging issues (dealing
with potential great power rivals such as China; the threat from middle powers
who reject international norms such as Iraq under Saddam Hussein or the current
Iranian regime; and 21st century threats from non-state actors such
as al-Qaeda). Underneath it all will be
two simple questions. First, how do we
define the threats to the US? Second,
what should be the US role in the world?
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 an, how they change from time to time, and the way priorities are
decided. 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. 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 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.
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
and the Future of 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:
In
the class readings we will pay special attention to US policy in the Middle
East and US relations with China.
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. The
books are available at the Virginia Book Company on Shafer St. or the VCU
Bookstore. 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. As indicated below, some are on
reserve at Cabell Library room 301)
· Stephen Sestanovich. Maximalist (New York: Vintage, 2014) On Reserve
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:
June
2 |
5%
of the grade |
|
Exam
1 |
June
21 |
30%
of the grade |
Paper
Topic June 2 Paper
Due July 7 |
35%
of the grade |
|
Exam
2 |
July
14 |
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.
Research
Paper:
Paper Topics are due June 2. The paper is due July 7 in hard copy at the beginning of class or it is late. I will review rough drafts, outlines, and
even completed papers, if handed in by June 30.
This is not required, but an opportunity for you let me review your
paper and get it back to you so you can use my comments to rewrite your
paper. The following instructions are important. Please pay attention to
them. If you don't you will wind up
hurting your grade:
·
LATE PAPERS: The late penalty is
ten points per day, meaning that after class begins your paper, if a 95, is now
an 85, after two days it is a 75, after three it is a 65, and so on down to
zero.
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.
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).
Day
1: May 24 Introduction and Decision Making
Sestanovich, Prologue, Chapters 1-2
Decision
Making PPT
Day 2: May 26 No Class, but there are readings
Rothkopf, Chapter 3 and 4
Sestanovich, Chapters 3
Day 3: May 31 Decision Making and the Early Cold War
Sestanovich,
Chapters 4-5
Rothkopf,
Chapter 5
Audio
Lecture Early Cold War 4 and 5
Audio
Lecture Early Cold War 6
Day
4: June 2 A Strategy of
Intervention
Paper Topics Due
Sestanovich,
Chapter 6-8 (145-209)
Rothkopf,
Chapter 6 (108-137)
Cold
War Strategies Intervention, Engagement, Confrontation (use this presentation for
the next three classes)
Audio
Lecture Post-Vietnam Changes
Day
5: June 7 The Strategy of Detente
Sestanovich,
Chapter 8 (209-218)
Freedman,
Chapters 2-4
Audio
Lecture Nixon and Detente
Day 6: June 9 Détente
Gets Complicated
Rothkopf,
Chapter 8
Freedman,
Chapters 5-6
Day 7: June 14 The New Cold War
Sestanovich,
Chapter 9
Freedman, Chapter 7
Day
8: June 16 The End of the Cold War
Freedman, Chapter 9
Sestanovich, Chapter 10 (for exam 2)
Christensen, Introduction, Chapters 1 (for exam 2)
Day 9: June 21 Bush 41 and a “New World Order?”
Exam 1
Christensen,
Introduction, Chapter 2
Day
10: June 23 Bush, Clinton and the
Search for a New Foreign Policy
Christensen,
Chapters 3, 4, and 6
Day 11: June 28 The Dilemma of China
Christensen,
Chapters 7 and 8
Day 12: June 30 Bush 43 and Post-9/11 World
Last Day for Turning in Rough Drafts of the Paper
(optional)
Freedman,
Chapters 17-19
Mazetti,
Prologue and Chapters 1-2
Day 13: July 5 Iraq and Afghanistan and
Beyond
Mazetti,
Chapters 3-8
Day
14: July 7 Obama Foreign Policy
Paper Due
Mazetti,
Chapters 9-13
Day
15: July 12 The Future of US Leadership
Mazetti,
Chapters 14-Epilogue
Day 16: July 14 Exam 2
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:
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 Policies
VCU Email Policy
Email
is considered an official method for communication at VCU because it delivers
information in a convenient, timely, cost-effective, and environmentally aware
manner. Students are expected to check their official VCU email on a frequent
and consistent basis in order to remain informed of university-related
communications. The university recommends checking email daily. Students are
responsible for the consequences of not reading, in a timely fashion,
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Mail sent to the VCU email address may include notification of
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Integrity
The
VCU Honor System policy describes the responsibilities of students, faculty and
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the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity." In addition,
"All members of the VCU community are presumed to have an understanding of
the VCU Honor System and are required to:
More
information can be found at in the VCU policy library at
http://www.assurance.vcu.edu/Policy%20Library/Honor%20System.pdf.
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According
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(http://www.assurance.vcu.edu/Policy%20Library/Faculty%20Guide%20to%20Student%20Conduct%20in%20Instructional%20Settings.pdf),
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Students with Disabilities
Section
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Excused Absences for Students
Representing the University
Students
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conflict) as excused absences and urges faculty to work with the students to
make up the work or exam.
Campus Emergency Information
What
to Know and Do to Be Prepared for Emergencies at VCU:
Important Dates
You
can view important dates for the Fall 2014 semester in the university calendar
(http://academiccalendars.vcu.edu/ac_fullViewAll.asp?term=Fall+2014).
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