Govt. 420 - American Foreign Policy
Spring 2005 Syllabus

Viewed in retrospect, American foreign policy during the Cold War displayed a remarkable degree of continuity and predictability--in public consensus on the overriding American national interest of responding to the Soviet threat, in the high level of American engagement in every region and on every global issue, and even in the policy tools employed by successive presidential administrations. With the War on Terrorism, has the U.S. finally arrived at a new consensus for post-Cold War foreign policy? What national interests and perceived threats will guide American policy? What level of engagement will the U.S. sustain in what regions and issues? Which policy tools will the U.S. government find most useful in this period of rapid change and uncertainty?

The specific objectives of the course are three-fold:

◊ To Know the facts and history of U.S. foreign policy (Who? What? Where? When?)
◊ To Explain the forces (Why?) and political processes (How?) that form policy.
◊ To Propose policy directions for the future.

Regular attendance is essential to success in this course, and is required. Attendance is part of the class participation grade; in addition, any student who misses more than four classes for any reason must withdraw from the course.
In accord with the college, we in this course are governed by the norms and procedures of The Honor Code of Wofford College.
The course will incorporate lecture, discussion, readings, videos, and web sources. Two in-class exams will promote integrative understanding. There will be regular quizzes on required readings as well as leading news stories. Students are required to read the news on international developments (I read nytimes.com, washingtonpost.com, and reuters.com every day).
Each student will choose a current issue of U.S. foreign policy, and prepare a foreign policy briefing paper with analysis and policy recommendations for (hypothetical) consideration by a specific audience within the U.S. government. As steps toward the final briefing paper, each student will research an annotated bibliography, submit a draft paper, and formally present the briefing in class.