Political Science 62

Fall 2008

U.S. Foreign Policy, Human Rights and Democracy

 

Prof. Jon Western

Office Hours: Tuesday 1 – 2pm and by appt.                                                                                                                                            

Jwestern@Mtholyoke.edu                                                                                                                             

                                                                                                                               

                  Is the United States committed to promoting democracy and human rights abroad or just advancing its own strategic and domestic corporate  interests? What influence does the U.S. have on the development of democracy around the world, and on the emergence of--and compliance with--international human rights conventions, protocols, and laws? This seminar begins with an historical overview of American democracy and  human rights rhetoric and policies, and seeks to uncover the range of political, economic, cultural, and geostrategic motivations underlying U.S. behavior. We will then examine American foreign policy responses to contemporary human rights and democracy. This course fulfills the requirement for an advanced seminar in Political Science.

Course Requirements:

This course contains a heavy reading load. Grading will be based on class participation (20%), weekly reflection papers (20%); one 5-7 page writing assignment (20%) and a final research project (40%).

 

                  1. Class participation (20%)  For class participation, you will be expected to contribute to class discussion regularly throughout the semester. This means demonstrating your familiarity with and understanding of the class readings during each session.

 

                  2. Reflection papers. (20%)  Each week you will be required to prepare and be prepared to discuss your reflections on the readings.  You will write a one page summary of the week’s readings which include the major thesis of each reading, the evidence presented, and your thoughts about the persuasiveness/validity of each reading.  You should also discuss how the readings tie together and talk to each other.  I will collect the reflection papers at the end of each session.

 

3.        One 5 – 7 page writing assignment.  (20%) I will provide details of this assignment in mid-September.

 

4.        The research project. (40%)  I would like you to analyze a particular example/case study of U.S. human rights and/or democracy policy toward a particular country or region. The paper should include:

      1. a clear analysis of the particular human rights and/or democracy issues with respect to the country/(ies) in question -- including a description of the problems, the major contributing factors to the problems, the major actors and their interests;
      2. a description and analysis of the U.S. policy responses, including an analysis of the rationale and political dynamics of policy selection, and an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. policy; and,
      3. a presentation and analysis of feasible and practical policy options and recommendations to improve the U.S. response.

Deadlines:

                  Sept. 30: Short writing assignment due

                  Oct. 7: All research topics must be approved by the instructor.

                  Nov. 18: Draft of research paper to be circulated to instructor and to classmates.  No extensions.

                  Dec. 15: Research Papers due. No extensions, no exceptions.

 

Readings:

Many of the readings for the course can be found in books that are available for purchase at the Jeffery Amherst Bookshop and College Store. These books are also on reserve at the library.  There is a course pack available at the Political Science Department office.   Some readings are available through various Amherst Library electronic databases such as Academic Search Premier and JSTOR.  You can access these databases via the library’s webpage at https://www.amherst.edu/library/resources/department/political_science.  I also have created separate web pages and links for some of the other readings. If you go to the on-line version of the syllabus you will find links to all of these readings. My web site is: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/jwestern/index.htm

 

 

Books to Purchase from Jeffrey Amherst:

Tony Smith, America’s Mission

                  Thomas Carothers and Marina Ottaway, Uncharted Journey

                  Jon Western, Selling Intervention and War

                  Kathryn Sikkink, Mixed Signals:  U.S. Human Rights Policy and Latin America        

          

Sept. 2:  Introduction

 

Sept. 9:  American Exceptionalism

Questions: Can the U.S. be the beacon for democracy? What is American exceptionalism? How do Americans view themselves?  Does America’s domestic track record affect its ability to promote democracy abroad? How would you characterize the priorities of American foreign policy?

 

xAnatol Lieven, America Right or Wrong,  pp. 1 – 87, in reader.

xEmily Rosenberg, Spreading the American Dream, chapters 1 and 11 in reader.

The Declaration of Independence

C. Vann Woodward, "Free Security"

John Winthrop, "City on a Hill"

                  Read excerpts from President Monroe’s seventh annual address to Congress, December 2, 1823: The Monroe Doctrine

 

Sept. 16:  What are Human Rights? What is Democracy?

Questions: What are human rights? Are there universal rights? Are rights culturally relative or constrained? Is democracy a worthwhile objective? How should we evaluate American efforts to promote human rights and democracy?

 

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

Tony Smith, America's Mission, Appendix, pp. 346 - 368.

xLarry Diamond and Marc F. Plattner, The Global Divergence of Democracies, pp. ix – 62 in reader.

xNatan Sharansky, The Case for Democracy, pp.  ix - 38 in reader.

 

                 

Sept. 23: The Emergence of American Global Leadership in the 20th Century:

Questions: Is it fair to speak of the United States policy as monolithic and linear in its evolution? What are the sources of American foreign policy? Did the United States develop into an imperial power? Why or why not? Why do any American leaders speak about democracy and human rights?

 

Tony Smith, America’s Mission, chapters 2 – 5.

xKeck and Sikkink, "Historical Precursors to Modern Transnational Advocacy Networks," in Activists Beyond Borders (Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ. Press, 1999), chapter 2 in Reader.

Kathryn Sikkink, Mixed Signals, chapters 1, 2;

xJan Herman Burgers, "The Road to San Francisco: The Revival of the Human Rights Idea in the Twentieth Century," Human Rights Quarterly 14 (1992) in JSTOR.

Eleneaor Roosevelt

"Making Human Rights Come Alive" http://www.udhr.org/history/frbioer.htm

"Statement on Draft Covenant on Human Rights"      http://www.udhr.org/history/frbioer.htm

"U.N. Deliberations on Draft Convention on the Political Rights of Women" http://www.udhr.org/history/frbioer.htm

 

Sept. 30: Coping with the Cold War:  (SHORT ESSAY DUE!)

 

Questions: Does the reconstruction of Germany and Japan and American leadership in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights demonstrate America’s commitment to democracy and human rights?  What was the Cold War – was it a fight for democracy and human rights? Was President Eisenhower committed to democracy and human rights? What was the CIA’s role in Guatemala? Why did the Senate oppose the Genocide Convention and the Human Rights Covenants and what does this tell us about American foreign policy?

Tony Smith, America’s Mission, chapter 6, 7,  8;

Jon Western, Selling Intervention and War, chapters 1, 2;

American Cold War Containment Policy Document: NSC-68

xNatalie Hevener Kaufman, Human Rights Treaties and the Senate: A History of Opposition (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990) chapters 2 and 3 (in Reader.)

 

Oct. 7: Congress Resurgent, Carter and Reagan Era        (FINAL RESEARCH PROJECT APPROVAL DEADLINE)                                         

Questions: How did Congress influence the evolution of American human rights policies? Why did Congress get more involved? Was Jimmy Carter really a champion of human rights? What arguments could you make in support of the argument that Carter was a human rights champion/ what argument could you make against such a claim? Did U.S. human rights and democracy policies shift fundamentally in the 1970s?

 

Tony Smith, America’s Mission, chapter 9 and 10;

Jon Western, Selling Intervention and War, chapter 4;

Kathryn Sikkink, Mixed Signals:, chapter 3.

U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Staff Report: Covert Action in Chile 1963 – 1973, 94th Congress, 1st Session, 1975.

                 

Oct. 14: Fall break

Oct. 21: Post-Cold War -- Democracy Triumphant?

                 

Questions: What is the post-Cold War U.S. policy on the promotion of democracy? Is this the centerpiece of American foreign policy? How successful has the United States been in the past decade on promoting democracy? What are the various legal, moral and political issues confronting the United States as it actively tries to promote democracy?

 

Tony Smith, America’s Mission, chapter 11.

Francis Fukuyama, “The End of History?” The National Interest, Summer 1989 (handout)          

Samuel Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations.”, Foreign Affairs (in Academic Search Premiert)

                  Michael Doyle, “Liberalism and World Politics,”  APSR, Dec. 1986 in JSTOR

Edward D. Mansfield and Jack Snyder, “Democratization and the Danger of War,” International Security, Summer 1995, in JSTOR

 

Oct. 28:   Case Study on Latin America:

                  Kathryn Sikkink, Mixed Signals, chapters 4 – 9;

 

Nov. 4:  Humanitarian Intervention

Questions: What are the major human rights issues of concern to the United States today? Are these consistent with the views of major human rights organizations? Can the U.S. be the biggest exporter of weapons and still be a champion of human rights? Explain your view?

 

Jon Western, Selling Intervention and War, chapter 5;

Rwanda Video:  The Triumph of Evil

Samantha Power, "Dying in Darfur," The Atlantic Monthly, September 2001

Gareth Evans and Mohamed Sahnoun, “The Responsibility to Protect,” Foreign Affairs, November/December 2002 in Academic Search Premier

 

 

Nov. 11:  September 11, 2001:`

Question: How has September 11 changed America’s foreign policy vis-à-vis human rights and democracy?  Has U.S. military action and the defeat of the Taliban advanced the cause of human rights?  Why did the Bush Administration spend so much time justifying American action in terms of humanitarianism and the status of women in Afghanistan? 

 

                  The Bush Doctrine

                  President George W. Bush’s 2nd Inaugural Speech

                  National Strategy for Combating Terrorism, February 2003

Charles Krauthammer, “In Defense of Democratic Realism,”

xFrancis Fukuyama, The Neoconservative Moment’ in reader

John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, “An Unnecessary War” Foreign Policy, Jan/Feb 2003

 

 

Nov. 18:  Case Study:  Iraq and the Middle East:  (Final Paper Draft Due)

Jon Western,  Selling Intervention and War, chapter 6;

Carothers and Ottaway, Uncharted Journey, chapters 1 - 13

                  Larry Diamond, “What Went Wrong in Iraq,” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2004 in Academic Search Premier

Tony Smith and Larry Diamond, “Was Iraq a Fool's Errand?” Foreign Affairs, November/December 2004 in Academic Search Premier

 

Nov. 25: Thanksgiving Recess

                 

Dec. 2: Torture, the War on Terror, and Human Rights (Peer Review Comments Due)

 

Kenneth Roth, “The Law of War in the War on Terror

Standards for Conduct of Interrogation,  August 1, 2002 memo to Alberto Gonzalez

Pentagon Draft Report on Interrogation Methods, March 6, 2003

`                Amnesty International, Report on Secret CIA Detention facilites – USA and Yemen

                  Human Rights Watch, World Report 2006 read entire Introduction and sections on Iraq, Afghanistran and United States

                  Human Rights Watch, Summary of International and U.S. Laws Prohibiting Torture

 

 

 

Dec. 9:  The future of American democracy promotion and human rights policy

 

                  John Mueller, “The Iraq Syndrome”, Foreign Affairs, Nov/Dec. 2005

Joshua Muravchik and Stephen M. Walt,  “The Neocons vs. The Realists” The National Interest, Sept. 2, 2008

 

Amy Zegart, “The Legend of a Democracy Promoter,” The National Interest, Sept. 2, 2008

 

                  Robert Tucker and David Hendrickson, “The Freedom Crusade,” National Interest, Fall 2005

                  “The Freedom Crusade, Revisited,”  National Interest, Winter, 2005/2006

 

Dec. 15: Final Paper Due.