Purpose of the Course
This course places a very heavy emphasis on the role of values in the making of American foreign policy. The processes by which decisions are made and the institutions which are involved in decision-making will, however, also be addressed. The justification for the emphasis on values rests in the unique circumstances in which foreign policy is now being conducted. The year 1989 marked a watershed year in human history and it is fair to say that the emerging diplomatic environment is not at all clear to many observers and analysts. In particular, the United States is finding it very difficult to articulate policies, let alone carry them out, in a world order which is inchoate and extraordinarily complex.
Indeed, in 2005 the rate of change in the foreign policy of the United States seems to have accelerated dramatically. Whether these changes were required because of changes in the external security environment or whether these changes were made because of new policy objectives is a matter of heated debate. The course will attempt only to frame these competing perspectives, not to resolve them.
The emphasis on values is a way to determine the very broad outlines of which might be U.S. preferences in the emerging world order and to assess the likely fit of those preferences to an international political system which is characterized by profound differences and hostilities. As a country with great power, the United States often determines, sometimes inadvertently, the outcome of some of those hostilities. Indeed, as a country with great power the United States often precipitates those hostilities. A close examination of those core values will allow us to predict better the policy choices and options of the United States in the future.
Procedural Matters
There will be weekly quizzes and a final required for the course. Each will count for 50% of the final grade. There will be ten quizzes and only the highest eight scores will be used to compute the quizzes grade.The final will be a take-home exam with a choice of questions. The final will be distributed on April 28 and due no later than May 13 (the last day of exams--seniors will have to submit their finals earlier).
The book ordered for purchase is at the Odyssey Bookstore. The book is:
Stephen E. Ambrose and Douglas G. Brinkley, Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938, 8th edition, revised (New York: Penguin Books, 1997)
All other readings are on the Internet and can be accessed at:
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pol270/spring05.htm
The underlined readings are on the internet. Some of them are copyright-protected and are therefore password protected. Whenever you are asked for a password, simply type in afps97 and click on "submit" (simply hitting the enter button does not work)
The reading will then appear on your screen.
Course Outline and Readings
January 26 Introduction
President George W. Bush, Second Inaugural Address, 20 January 2005
January 31 Three Perspectives on American Foreign Policy
Realism
"The Melian Dialogue," in The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
Idealism
Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace, Sections I and II
Jeffersonian
Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, March 4, 1801
February 2 The Idea of American Exceptionalism--The American Enlightenment
Samuel P. Huntington,
"American Ideals versus American Institutions," in American Foreign
Policy: Theoretical Essays, edited by G. John Ikenberry (Glenview, IL: Scott,
Foresman, 1989).
C. Vann Woodward,
"Free Security"
John Winthrop,
"City on a Hill"
The Declaration
of Independence
February 7 Manifest Destiny: American Perceptions of Its Place in
the World
George Washington's
Farewell Address
John Quincy Adams's
Warning Against the Search for "Monsters to Destroy," 1821
Cherokee Nation
v. the State of Georgia, 1831
John L. O'Sullivan
on Manifest Destiny, 1839
Polk's War Message,
1846
The Significance
of the Frontier in American History, 1893
February 9 The War with Spain: American Colonialism and the Open Door
British Foreign Secretary
George Canning's Overture for a Joint Declaration with the United States on
the Spanish Colonies in America, 1823
John Quincy Adams's
Account of the Cabinet Meeting of November 7, 1823
Thomas Jefferson
on the Monroe Doctrine, 1823
The Monroe
Doctrine
Theodore Roosevelt:
Obstacles to Immediate Expansion
William McKinley,
"War Message," 1898
The Platt Amendment,
1903
The Open Door
Note, Submitted by U.S. Secretary of State, John Hay, September 6, 1899
February 14 World War I: Wilson, Self-Determination, and the League
Woodrow Wilson, "The
World Must Be Made Safe for Democracy," War Message to Congress, April
2, 1917
Michael
W. Doyle, "Liberalism and World Politics," American Political Science
Review, Vol. 80, no 4 (December 1986), pp. 1151-1169.
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge,
"The League of Nations," (audio playback available) The link will
take to the Library of Congress's Search page. Click on "sound recording"
and type in the words: "henry cabot lodge." The search engine will
pull up the speech--look for "League of Nations."
February 16 World War II: United States and Collective Security
Ambrose and Brinkley, Chapters 1-3
The Atlantic Charter, August 14, 1941
February 21-March 2 The Cold War: 1945-1950
Ambrose and Brinkley, Chapters 4-7
NSC 68: United States Objectives and Programs for National Security, (April 14, 1950)
March 7-9 The Beginnings of American Middle Eastern Policy
Peter Grier, "The US and Israel," Christian Science Monitor, 26 October 2001March 21-23 The Cold War: The Cuban Missile Crisis
Ambrose and Brinkley, Chapters 9 and 10
Executive
Committee Meeting, The Oval Office, 18 October 1962, 11:00 a.m.
Note: The parts of the transcripts in blue can be heard if you are using
st least Netscape 3.0 or Internet Explorer 3.0. Click on those parts to hear
the individuals as they were taped.
March 28-30 The Cold War: Vietnam
Ambrose and Brinkley, Chapters 11 and 12
April 4-6 The End of the Cold War
Ambrose and Brinkley, Chapters 14-16
Fred Kaplan, "Paul Nitze: The man who brought us the Cold War," Slate, October 21, 2004
April 11 The New World Order? Human Rights and Humanitarian Intervention
Samantha Power, "Bystanders to Genocide," The Atlantic Monthly, September 2001
April 13-18 Security and the War on Terror
Bernard Lewis, "The Roots of Muslim Rage," The Atlantic Monthly, September 1990
George W. Bush, Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People, 20 September 2001
April 20-25 The War in Iraq
"The Truth Will Emerge" by US Senator Robert Byrd, Senate Floor Remarks - May 21, 2003
John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, "An unnecessary war," Foreign Policy, Jan/Feb 2003
Eric S. Margolis, "Iraq Invasion: The Road to Folly," The American Conservative, 7 October 2002
April 27-May 2 The Future of American Foreign Policy: Is America an Imperial Power?
Bruce Cumings, "Is America an Imperial Power?" Current History, November 2003Final Exam The final is due no later than 11 May. For seniors the final is due on 9 May.