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U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
Spring 2020
Professor: Sebastián Cutrona
E-mail: sebastiancutrona@
Sessions: TBA
Office Hours: TBA
Room: TBA
Location: TBA
Course Overview:
This course examines U.S. foreign policy along different critical junctures. With a special focus
in the second half of the twentieth century, the course critically addresses the U.S. role in global
politics and its contemporary foreign policy challenges around the world. More generally, the
course aims at developing a holistic analytic framework to understand in depth the linkages
among America’s grand strategies, domestic politics, and the international system.
The class meets 15 times in all. The course begins with a review of the principal approaches to
the study of foreign policy: realism, liberalism, constructivism, and neo-Marxism. The second
section examines the institutions and processes that guide foreign policy formation and
implementation. By tracing back America’s grand strategies during the Cold War (1945-1991)
and the post-Cold War period (1991-2001), the third section focuses on the post-September 11
scenario, particularly the Bush and Obama administrations. The course concludes with a review
of some of the more salient foreign policy challenges facing the U.S. in the contemporary era.
Course requirements
Participation: active participation in the class discussion is critical to academic success. Students
are expected to complete the required weekly readings prior to each class meeting. Taking notes
on each reading and discussing it prior to class is highly recommended.
Mid-term exam: there is a mid-term exam in order to evaluate each student progress during the
first part of the class. The exam is based on questions taken from the assigned readings, class
discussions, and lectures. The mid-term exam will be held on week 8.
Case presentation: students are responsible to make one individual presentation on a topic
related to the Trump administration’s foreign policy. The presentation must be accompanied by a
written report from 5 to 6 pages long (double-spaced, 12-font size) due the same day. Examples
of topics are discussed in class. Case presentations will be held on week 14.
Final exam: the final exam is comprehensive, encompassing all the assigned readings during the
course. The final exam will be held on week 15.
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Grading
Final grades in the course are based on the following weighting system:
Participation 10%
Mid-term exam 30%
Case presentation 30%
Final exam 30%
100%
Required readings:
- Alden, Chris and Aran, Amon (2012). Foreign Policy Analysis: New Approaches. New
York: Routledge.
- Cox, Michael and Stokes, Doug eds. (2008). US Foreign Policy. New York: Oxford
University Press.
- Kaufman, Joyce (2006). A Concise History of U.S. Foreign Policy. New York: Rowman
& Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
- Kegley, Charles and Raymond, Gregory (2007). After Iraq: The Imperiled American
Imperium. New York: Oxford University Press.
- McCormick, James ed. (2017). The Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy:
Insights and Evidence. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, Publishers, Inc.
- Parmar, Inderjeet; Miller, Linda and Ledwidge, Mark eds. (2014). Obama and the New
World. New York: Routledge.
- Smith, Steve; Hadfield, Amelia; and Dunne, Tim eds. (2008). Foreign Policy: Theories,
Actors, Cases. New York: Oxford University Press.
Schedule
The class meets 15 times in all:
Week 1: Course overview
No required readings
I. APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF FOREIGN POLICY
Week 2: Realism and U.S. Foreign Policy
Required readings
- Gideon, Rose (1998). “Neoclassical Realism and Theories of Foreign Policy,” World
Politics 51, 144-172.
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- Wohlforth, William (2008). “Realism and Foreign Policy,” in Steve Smith, Amelia
Hadfield, and Tim Dunne eds., Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases. New York:
Oxford University Press. Chapter 2.
Recommended readings
- Gilpin, Robert (1986). “The Richness of the Tradition of Political Realism” in Robert
Keohane ed., Neorealism and its Critics. New York: Columbia University Press. Chapter
10.
- Haas, Ernst (1953). “The Balance of Power: Prescription, Concept, or Propaganda?”
World Politics, Vol. 5, pp. 144-172.
- Holsti, Ole (1995). “Theories of International Relations and Foreign Policy,” in Charles
Kegley ed., Controversies in International Relations Theory: Realism and the Neo-
Liberal Challenge. New York: St. Martins Press, pp. 35-66.
- Jervis, Robert (1999). “Realism in the Study of World Politics,” in Peter Katzenstein et
al. eds., Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics. Cambridge: The
MIT Press.
- Levy, Jack (2004). “What Do Great Powers Balance Against and When?” in Paul, Wirtz,
and Fortmann eds. Balance of Power: Theory and Practice in the 21st Century. Stanford:
Stanford University Press. Chapter 1.
- Mearsheimer, John (2003). The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. New York: W.W.
Norton & Company.
- Pape, Robert (2005). “Soft Balancing against the United States,” International Security,
Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 7-45.
- Rosati, Jerel and Scott, James (2007). The Politics of United States Foreign Policy. New
York: Thomson/Wadsworth. Chapter 1.
- Rosato, Sebastian and Schuessler, John (2014). “A Realist Foreign Policy for the United
States,” in John Ikenberry, and Peter Trubowitz ed., American Foreign Policy.
Theoretical Essays. New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter 6.
- Walt, Stephen (1987). Origins of Alliances. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
- Waltz, Kenneth (2014). “Anarchic Orders and Balances of Power,” in John Ikenberry,
and Peter Trubowitz ed., American Foreign Policy. Theoretical Essays. New York:
Oxford University Press. Chapter 3.
Week 3: Liberalism and U.S. Foreign Policy
Required readings
- Doyle, Michael (2008). “Liberalism and Foreign Policy,” in Steve Smith, Amelia
Hadfield, and Tim Dunne eds., Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases. New York:
Oxford University Press. Chapter 3.
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- Smith, Tony (2017). “Liberal Internationalism: Why Woodrow Wilson Still Matters?” in
James McCormick ed., The Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy: Insights and
Evidence. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, Publishers, Inc. Chapter 1.
Recommended readings
- Baldwin, David ed. (1993). Neorealism and Neoliberalism: The Contemporary Debate.
New York: Columbia University Press.
- Doyle, Michael (2005). “Three Pillars of the Liberal Peace,” American Political Science
Review 99, pp. 463-466.
- Ikenberry, John (2011). Liberal Leviathan. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Ikenberry, John (2001). After Victory. Institutions, Strategic Restraint, and the Rebuilding
of Order After Major Wars. Ney Jersey: Princeton University Press.
- Keohane, Robert and Martin, Lisa (1998). “The Promise of Institutionalist Theory” in
Michael Brown et al. eds. Theories of War and Peace. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 384-
396.
- Keohane, Robert and Nye, Joseph (1977). Power and Interdependence: World Politics in
Transition. Boston: Little, Brown and Co.
- Keohane, Robert (2009). “International Institutions: Can Interdependence Work?” in Art
and Jervis eds. International Politics: Enduring Concepts and Contemporary Issues.
New York: Pearson Longman, pp. 119-126.
- Keohane, Robert (1986). Neoliberalism and Its Critics. New York: Columbia University
Press.
- Keohane, Robert (1984). After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World
Political Economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Rosato, Sebastian (2005). “Explaining the Democratic Peace,” American Political
Science Review, 99, pp. 467-472.
Week 4: Constructivism and U.S. Foreign Policy
Required readings
- Flockhart, Trine (2012). “Constructivism and Foreign Policy,” in Steve Smith, Amelia
Hadfield, and Tim Dunne eds., Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases. New York:
Oxford University Press. Chapter 4.
- Doty, Roxane (1993). “Foreign Policy as Social Construction,” International Studies
Quarterly 37(2): 297-320.
Recommended readings
- Adler, Emmanuel (1997). “Seizing the Middle Ground: Constructivism in World
Politics,” European Journal of International Relations, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 319-363.
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- Goldstein, Judith and Keohane, Robert (1993). “Ideas and Foreign Policy: an Analytical
Framework,” in Judith Goldstein and Robert Keohane eds., Ideas and Foreign Policy:
Beliefs, Institutional and Political Change. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Chapter 1.
- Houghton, David (2007). “Reinvigorating the Study of Foreign Policy Decision Making:
Towards A Constructivist Approach,” Foreign policy analysis 3, issue 1: 24-45.
- Jackson, Richard and McDonald, Matt (2014). “Constructivism, Foreign Policy, and
Counterterrorism,” in Inderjeet Parmar, Linda Miller, and Mark Ledwidge eds., Obama
and the New World. New York: Routledge. Chapter 2.
- Katzenstein, Peter ed. (1996). The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in
World Politics. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Kowert, Paul (2001). “Toward A Constructivist Theory of Foreign Policy,” in Vendulka
Kubalkova ed., Foreign Policy in A Constructed World. London & New York: M. E.
Sharpe. Chapter 11.
- Kubalkova, Vendulka (2001). “Foreign Policy, International Politics, and
Constructivism,” in Vendulka Kubalkova ed., Foreign Policy in A Constructed World.
London & New York: M. E. Sharpe. Chapter 1.
- Ruggie, John (2005). “What Makes the World Hang Together? Neo-Utilitarianism and
the Social Constructivist Challenge,” International Organization 52(04).
- Weldes Jutta (1996). “Constructing National Interests,” European Journal of
International Relations 2, pp. 275-318.
- Wendt, Alexander (1999). Social Theory of International Politics. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
- Wendt, Alexander (1998). “Constructing International Politics” in Michael Brown et al.
eds. Theories of War and Peace. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 416-426.
Week 5: Neo-Marxism and U.S. Foreign Policy
Required readings
- Stokes, Doug and Maher, David (2014). “Marxism and US Foreign Policy,” in Inderjeet
Parmar, Linda Miller, and Mark Ledwidge eds., Obama and the New World. New York:
Routledge. Chapter 5.
- Teschke, Benno and Wyn-Jones, Steffan (2017). “Marxism in Foreign Policy,” Oxford
Research Encyclopedia of Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Recommended readings
- Cardoso, Fernando (1973). “Associated Dependent Development,” in Alfred Stepan ed.,
Authoritarian Brazil. New Haven: Yale University Press.
- Chomsky, Noam (2005). Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World.
New York: Metropolitan Books, Henry Hold and Company.
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- Cox, Robert (1987). Production, Power, and World Order. New York: Columbia
University Press.
- Harvey, David (2005). The New Imperialism. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Neack, Laura (2003). The New Foreign Policy: U.S. and Comparative Foreign Policy in
the 21st Century. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publisher, Inc., 2003, pp. 21-25.
- Wallerstein, Immanuel (1984). “Patterns and Prospectives of the Capitalist World
Economy,” Contemporary Marxism, No. 9, pp. 59-70.
II. INSTITUTIONS AND PROCESSES
Week 6: Executive-Legislative Relations
Required readings
- Alden, Chris and Aran, Amon (2012). Foreign Policy Analysis: New Approaches. New
York: Routledge. Chapters 2-4.
- Jacobs, Lawrence and Page, Benjamin (2005). “Who Influences US Foreign Policy?”
American Political Science Review, 99 (01), pp. 107-123.
- Lindsay, James (2017). “The Shifting Pendulum of Power: Executive-Legislative
Relations on American Foreign Policy,” in James McCormick ed., The Domestic Sources
of American Foreign Policy: Insights and Evidence. New York: Rowman & Littlefield,
Publishers, Inc. Chapter 12.
Recommended readings
- Allison, Graham (1971). Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis. New
York: Harper Collins Publishers.
- Crabb, Cecil and Holt, Pat (1992). Invitation to Struggle: Congress, the President and
Foreign Policy. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
- George, Alexander and George, Juliette (1998). Presidential Personality & Performance.
Boulder: Westview Press
- George, Alexander (1990). Presidential Decision-Making in Foreign Policy. Boulder:
Westview Press.
- Gross Stein, Janice (2008). “Foreign Policy Decision-making: Rational Psychological and
Neurological Models,” in Steve Smith, Amelia Hadfield, Tim Dunne eds., Foreign
Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases. New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter 7.
- Howell, William and Pevehouse, Jon (2007). “When Congress Stops Wars: Partisan
Politics and Presidential Power.” Foreign Affairs, September/October.
- Howell, William (2011). “Presidential Powers in War.” Annual Review of Political
Science, 14: 89-105.
- Hurst, Steven (2014). “Parties, Polarization, and US Foreign Policy,” in Inderjeet Parmar,
Linda Miller, and Mark Ledwidge eds., Obama and the New World. New York:
Routledge. Chapter 8.
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- Jervis, Robert (2017). “Why Intelligence and Policymakers Crash,” in James McCormick
ed., The Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy: Insights and Evidence. New
York: Rowman & Littlefield, Publishers, Inc. Chapter 15.
- Mastanduno, Michael (2014). “The United States Political System and International
Leadership: A Decidedly Inferior Form of Government?” in John Ikenberry and Peter
Trubowitz ed., American Foreign Policy. Theoretical Essays. New York: Oxford
University Press. Chapter 11.
- Mastanduno, Michael (2008). “Economic Statecraft,” in Steve Smith, Amelia Hadfield,
Tim Dunne, eds., Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases. New York: Oxford University
Press. Chapter 12.
- McCormick, James (1992). American Foreign Policy and Process. ITASCA: Peacock
Publisher.
- Nelson, Michael (2017). “Person and Office: Presidents, the Presidency, and Foreign
Policy,” in James McCormick ed., The Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy:
Insights and Evidence. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, Publishers, Inc. Chapter 9.
- Ornstein, Norman and Mann, Thomas (2006). “When Congress Checks Out.” Foreign
Affairs, November/December.
- Rosati, Jerel and Scott, James (2010). The Politics of United States Foreign Policy. New
York: Thomson/Wadsworth. Chapter 6.
- Small, Melvin (1994). Democracy and Diplomacy: The Impact of Domestic Politics and
U.S. Foreign Policy, 1789-1994. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Wildavsky, Aaron (1966). “The Two Presidencies Thesis,” Transaction 4: 7-14.
Week 7: Interest groups, public opinion, and the media
Required readings
- Entman, Robert (2017). “How Media Limit Accountability in Foreign Policy Making,” in
James McCormick ed., The Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy: Insights and
Evidence. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, Publishers, Inc. Chapter 7.
- Mearsheimer, John and Walt, Stephen (2017). “The Israel Lobby,” in James McCormick
ed., The Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy: Insights and Evidence. New
York: Rowman & Littlefield, Publishers, Inc. Chapter 4.
- Smeltz, Dina et al. (2017). “Foreign Policy Beliefs among Leaders and the Public,” in
James McCormick ed., The Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy: Insights and
Evidence. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, Publishers, Inc. Chapter 8.
Recommended readings
- Abelson, Donald (2014). “Changing Minds, Changing Course: Obama, Think-Tanks, and
American Foreign Policy,” in Inderjeet Parmar, Linda Miller, and Mark Ledwidge eds.,
Obama and the New World. New York: Routledge. Chapter 5.
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- Bacevich, Andrew (2005). The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced
by War. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Baum, Matthew (2004). “Going Private: Public Opinion, Presidential Rhetoric, and the
Domestic Politics of Audience Costs in US Foreign Policy Crises.” Journal of Conflict
Resolution, 48(5), pp. 603-631.
- Baum, Matt (2002). “Sex, Lies, and War: How Soft News Brings Foreign Policy to the
Inattentive Public,” American Political Science Review 96 (1): 91-109
- Carlsnaes, Walter (2008). “Actors, Structures and Foreign Policy Analysis,” in Steve
Smith, Amelia Hadfield, and Tim Dunne, eds., Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases.
New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter 6.
- Gelpi, Chris (2010). “Performing on Cue? The Formation of Public Opinion Toward
War,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 54(1): pp. 86-116.
- Holsti, Ole (1992). “Public Opinion and Foreign Policy: Challenges to the Almond-
Lippmann Consensus.” International Studies Quarterly Vol. 36, No. 4, pp. 439-466.
- Kieh, George (2014). “The Obama Administration’s Policy Toward Africa,” in Inderjeet
Parmar, Linda Miller, and Mark Ledwidge eds., Obama and the New World. New York:
Routledge. Chapter 13.
- Mearsheimer, John and Walt, Stephen (2007). The Israel Lobby. New York: Farrar,
Straus and Giroux.
- Neack, Laura (2003). The New Foreign Policy: U.S. and Comparative Foreign Policy in
the 21st Century. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publisher, Inc. Pp. 113-119.
- Sorbel, Richard (2001). The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy since
Vietnam: Constraining the Colossus. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Van Apeldoorn, Bastiaan and de Graaff, Naná (2014). “Corporate Elite Networks and US
Foreign Policy,” in Inderjeet Parmar, Linda Miller, and Mark Ledwidge eds., Obama and
the New World. New York: Routledge. Chapter 12.
- Yankelovich, Daniel and Destler, I. M. eds. (1994). Beyond the Beltway: Engaging the
Public in U.S. Foreign Policy. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Week 8: MID-TERM EXAM
III. AMERICA’S GRAND STRATEGIES
Week 9: The Cold War era
Required readings
- Kaufman, Joyce (2006). A Concise History of U.S. Foreign Policy. New York: Rowman
& Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Chapter 4.
- Saull, Richard (2008). “American Foreign Policy During the Cold War,” in Michael Cox
and Doug Stokes eds., US Foreign Policy. New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter
6.
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Recommended readings
- Allison, Graham (2014). “Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” in John
Ikenberry and Peter Trubowitz ed., American Foreign Policy. Theoretical Essays. New
York: Oxford University Press. Chapter 19.
- Bagby, Wesley (1999). America’s International Relations since World War I. New York:
Oxford University Press.
- Gaddis, John (2006). Cold War: A New History. New York: Penguin Group.
- Hogan, Michael and Paterson, Thomas eds. (2004). Explaining the History of American
Foreign Relations. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Hook, Steven and Spanier, John (2004). American Foreign Policy since World War II.
Washington D.C.: CQ Press.
- Keylor, William (1992). The Twentieth Century World: An International History. New
York: Oxford University Press.
- Layne, Christopher (2006). The Peace of Illusions: American Grand Strategy from 1940
to the Present. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
- Schulzinger, Robert (1998). U.S. Diplomacy since 1900. New York: Oxford University
Press.
- Young, John and Kent, John (2004). International Relations since 1945: A Global
History. New York: Oxford University Press.
Week 10: The post-Cold War Era
Required readings
- Dumbrell John (2008). “America in the 1990s: Searching for Purpose,” in Michael Cox
and Doug Stokes eds., US Foreign Policy. New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter
7.
- Kaufman, Joyce (2006). A Concise History of U.S. Foreign Policy. New York: Rowman
& Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Chapter 5.
Recommended readings
- Betts, Richard (2005). Conflict after the Cold War. New York: Pearson/Longman.
- Brezezinski, Zibigniew (2007). Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of
American Superpower. New York: Basic Books.
- Deudney, Daniel and Ikenberry, John (1992). “Who Won the Cold War?” Foreign
Policy, No. 87, pp. 123-138.
- Lowenthal, Abraham (1990). Partners in Conflict: The United States and Latin America
in the 1990’s. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Loveman, Brian ed. (2004). Strategy for Empire: U.S. Regional Security Policy in the
Post-Cold War Era. New York: SR Books.
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- Ornstein, Norman (1992). “Foreign Policy and the 1992 Election,” Foreign Affairs, Vol.
71, No. 3, pp. 1-16.
- Snow, Donald and Brown, Eugene (1994). Puzzle Palaces and Foggy Bottom, U.S.
Foreign and Defense Policy-Making in the 1990s. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994.
- Tucker, Robert and Hendrickson, David (1992). The Imperial Temptation: The New
World Order and America’s Purpose. New York: Council on Foreign Relations.
Week 11: The Bush administration
Required readings
- Kaufman, Joyce (2006). A Concise History of U.S. Foreign Policy. New York: Rowman
& Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Pp. 139-153.
- Kegley, Charles and Raymond, Gregory (2007). After Iraq: The Imperiled American
Imperium. New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter 5.
Recommended readings
- Bolton, Kent (2008). U.S. National Security and Foreign Policymaking after 9/11:
Present at the Re-Creation. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
- Bolton, Kent (2005). U.S. Foreign Policy and International Politics: George W. Bush,
9/11 and the Global-Terrorist Hydra. Upper Saddle River: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
- Daalder, Ivo and Lindsay, James (2003). America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in
Foreign Policy. Washington: Brookings Institution Press.
- DeFronzo, James (2010). The Iraq War: Origins and Consequences. Boulder, Colorado:
Westview Press.
- Diamond, Larry (2005). Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled
Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq. New York: Times Books, Henry Holt and Company.
- Krickus, Richard (2011). The Afghan Question and the Reset in U.S.-Russia Relations.
Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College.
- Leffler, Melvyn (2011). “9/11 in Retrospect,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 90, No. 5, pp. 33-44.
- Peters, Gretchen (2010). Seeds of Terror: How Drugs, Thugs and Crime Are Reshaping
the Afghan War. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin’s Press.
- Pfiffner, James (2017). “President Bush and the Invasion of Iraq,” in James McCormick
ed., The Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy: Insights and Evidence. New
York: Rowman & Littlefield, Publishers, Inc. Chapter 1.
- Ricks, Thomas (2007). Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq. New York:
Penguin Books.
- Snow, Donald (2009). What After Iraq? New York: Pearson Education, Inc.
- Zegart, Amy (2005). “September 11 and the Adaptation Failure of the U.S. Intelligence
Agencies,” International Security 29: 78-111.
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Week 12: The Obama administration
Required readings
- Drezner, Daniel (2011). “Does Obama Have a Grand Strategy: Why We Need Doctrines
in Uncertain Times,” Foreign Affairs, 90, 57.
- Kaufman, Joyce (2006). A Concise History of U.S. Foreign Policy. New York: Rowman
& Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Pp. 153-163.
- Lynch, Timothy (2014). “Obama, Liberalism, and US Foreign Policy,” in Inderjeet
Parmar, Linda Miller, and Mark Ledwidge eds., Obama and the New World. New York:
Routledge. Chapter 4.
Recommended readings
- Brzezinski, Zibigniew (2009). “Foreign Policy Challenges for Obama,” International
Affairs, Vol. 85, No. 1, pp. 53-60.
- Cottrell, Patrick (2011). “Hope or Hype? Legitimacy and US Leadership in a Global
Age,” Foreign Policy Analysis, Vol. 7, Issue 3, pp. 337-358.
- Hook, Steven and Scott, James (2012). “Seeking Renewal: American Foreign Policy in
the Obama Era,” in Steven Hook and James Scott eds., U.S. Foreign Policy Today:
American Renewal? Washington, D.C.: CQ Press. Chapter 1.
- Ledwidge, Mark (2014). “Cosmopolitanism, Identity Politics, and the Decline of Euro-
centrism,” in Inderjeet Parmar, Linda Miller, and Mark Ledwidge eds., Obama and the
New World. New York: Routledge. Chapter 6.
- Lindsay, James (2011). “George Bush, Barack Obama and the Future of US Global
Leadership,” International Affairs, Vol. 87, No. 4, pp. 765-780.
- Lowenthal, Abraham, Piccone, Theodore; and Whitehead, Laurence eds. (2009). The
Obama Administration and the Americas. Washington DC: The Brookings Institution.
- McCriskin, Trevor (2011). “Ten Years On: Obama’s War on Terrorism in Rhetoric and
Practice,” International Affairs, Vol. 87, No. 4, pp. 781-802.
- Quinn, Adam (2011). “The Art of Declining Politely: Obama’s Prudent Presidency and
the Waning of American Power,” International Affairs, Vol. 87, No. 4, pp. 803-824.
IV. FOREIGN POLICY CHALLENGES
Week 13: China, Terrorism, and Nuclear Proliferation
Required readings
- Kegley, Charles and Raymond, Gregory (2007). After Iraq: The Imperiled American
Imperium. New York: Oxford University Press. Pp. 60-74.
- Layne, Christopher (2012). “This Time It’s Real: The End of Unipolarity and the Pax
Americana,” International Studies Quarterly, pp. 1-11.
- Mearsheimer, John (2010). “Imperial by Design,” The National Interest, pp. 16-34
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Recommended readings
- Bacevich, Andrew (2009). The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism.
New York: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company.
- Bacevich, Andrew (2002). American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S.
Diplomacy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
- Brzezinski, Zbigniew and Scowcroft, Brent (2008). America and the World:
Conversations on the Future of American Foreign Policy Moderated by David Ignatius.
New York: Basic Books.
- Brooks, Stephen and Wohlforth, William (2008). World Out of Balance: International
Relations and the Challenge of American Primacy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Brown, Michael et al. eds. (2008). Primacy and Its Discontents: American Power and
International Stability. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
- Fordham, Benjamin and Kleinberg, Katja (2011). “International Trade and US Relations
with China,” Foreign Policy Analysis, Vol. 7, Issue 3, 2011, pp. 217-236.
- Friedburg, Aaron (2012). “Bucking Beijing: An Alternative U.S. China Policy,” Foreign
Affairs, September/ October 2012.
- Haas, Richard (2013). “The Irony of American Strategy: Putting the Middle East in
Proper Perspective,” Foreign Affairs.
- Ikenberry, John et al. (2009). The Crisis of American Foreign Policy: Wilsonianism in the
Twenty-first Century. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Jordan, Jenna et. al (2016). "The Strategic Illogic of Counterterrorism Policy." The
Washington Quarterly, pp. 181-192.
- Kegley, Charles ed. (2003). The New Global Terrorism: Characteristics, Causes,
Controls. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
- Kupchan, Charles (2002). The End of the American Era: U.S. Foreign Policy and the
Geopolitics of the Twenty-first Century. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
- Layne, Cristopher (2009). “America’s Middle East Grand Strategy after Iraq: the Moment
for Offshore Balancing has Arrived,” Review of International Studies, 35(01), 5-25.
- Patel, Ketan and Aldrich Richard (2014). “President’s Agenda: The Decisions that will
Shape US-China Relations,” in Inderjeet Parmar, Linda Miller, and Mark Ledwidge eds.,
Obama and the New World. New York: Routledge. Chapter 21.
- Posen, Barry (2014). Restraint: A New Foundation for U.S. Grand Strategy. Ithaca:
Cornell University Press.
- Zakaria, Farid (2008). The Post-American World. New York: W. W. Norton.
Week 14: Case presentations
Week 15: FINAL EXAM
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