POL S 321 A: American Foreign Policy

Syllabus

Instructor

Robin Datta [Video Introduction]

Best Contact: rdatta@uw.edu

Office Hours: Online - TBD  via Zoom. In-person meetings at the Seattle campus may also be scheduled.

Two to four Teaching Assistants (TBD) will also be working in the class.

W Credit Option

This course "W Credit-optional", please contact your instructor during the first week of the quarter if you wish to satisfy this requirement in the course.

Special notes

• This is a group start online class in which participants are expected to keep to course schedule
• A supplemental fee of $120 is charged in addition to tuition
• This course is coded as a distance learning course and DOES NOT qualify for residence credit, consult with an advisor in your academic major before registering

Special note for Political Science Majors: This class counts for Field C or D requirements and is a required course for the Security Option.

Texts and Materials

Kaufman, Joyce P. A Concise History of U.S. Foreign Policy, 4th Edition. Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. Print. ISBN: 9781442270459. Text is available in ebook format.

Regular reading of foreign policy news and opinion in the New York Times is required. Reading of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy, two foreign policy journals, is highly recommended.

Additional readings are assigned via a shared Google doc and may require off-campus authentication with your UW NetID.

Overview

 This class critically analyzes the historical development of U.S. foreign policy. Proceeding chronologically it traces the enduring values, interests, institutions, and processes of American foreign policy in order to throw into relief modern elements of continuity, of change, and of chronic contradiction, and ends by considering contemporary challenges to American hard and soft power as they shape the twenty-first century international environment.

Topics include:

• What is Foreign Policy and what alternative ways of thinking about the US in the World exist
• The American “Way” of Foreign Policy: Cultural Antecedents and Changing Political Realities
• The American Rise from Unilateralism to Globalism
• WWI and WWII and American Hegemony
• The Cold War and US Power
• Post-Cold War Fragmentation 
• Twenty-First Century Foreign Policy under Bush, Obama, and Trump 

Recommended Preparation

Students should possess a basic understanding of International Relations theory and concepts and a general awareness of the historical development of the International System during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Student Learning Goals

When you have finished this course, you will be able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of the historical development of US Foreign Policy;
• demonstrate an understanding of the role that culture and ideology played, and continues to play, in the conceptualization and conduct of US Foreign Policy;
• demonstrate a better understanding of the impact of political pluralism and stakeholder politics on the development and conduct of US Foreign Policy; and
• use the lessons of history to critically consider contemporary challenges in foreign policy.

General Method of Instruction

Recorded lectures, short weekly assignments, critical response papers (2), and discussion board participation

Political Science Department Policies for Students

Policies on grading, academic conduct, and other issues.