George Mason University
Spring 2015
GOVT 344-001
American Foreign Policy
TR 12-1:15pm
Professor: Colin Dueck
Classroom: Mason Hall D023
Office: Robinson A 219
TA: Rebecca Lollar
Office hours: R 1:30-7pm by appt
TA e-mail: [email protected]
Professor e-mail: [email protected]
Course requirements
This class is an upper-level undergraduate introduction to the history, bureaucratic processes,
and current challenges behind American foreign policy.
Assignments include a mid-term, a final exam, and written memos for each week of class.
Questions on both the mid-term and the final will be based upon material in the lectures and in the
required readings. Timely and intelligent participation in class discussion will be rewarded. Finally, you
will be expected to keep up with current events relevant to American foreign policy. Overall grades are
determined as follows:
30%
Mid-term exam
15%
Participation in class discussion, including group discussions and on-time appearance
15 %
Written memos
40%
Final exam
Each week of class, you will be expected to write up a brief memo based upon a given chapter
reading for one day. Students who do not will receive an “F” on the policy memo assignment for that
week. The assignment is pass/fail. Your task in these memos will be to summarize and/or analyze, in no
more than a page, one required chapter for that week.
Late appearance to class is unprofessional and unwelcome. Students who are late multiple
times will be penalized significantly on their class participation grade.
The only make-up exams, for the mid-term or the final, will be in documented cases of medical
or family emergencies, or religious holidays recognized by George Mason University.
Laptops and other electronic devices may not be switched on during class.
Course textbooks
All of the books below will be available for purchase at the GMU bookstore:
Henry Kissinger, World Order (Penguin, 2014)
James McCormick, ed., The Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy (Rowman and Littlefield, 2012
edition)
Gideon Rose, ed., Crisis in Ukraine (Council on Foreign Relations, 2014)
Stephen Sestanovich, Maximalist: America in the World from Truman to Obama (Vintage, 2014)
Jessica Stern, ISIS: The State of Terror (Harper Collins/Ecco, 2015)
Ashley Tellis, ed., Strategic Asia 2014-2015: U.S. Alliances and Partnerships at the Center of Global Power
(National Bureau of Asian Research, 2014)
Course schedule
January 20
Introduction
Sestanovich, Maximalist, Prologue
January 22
Early American foreign policy
Kissinger, World Order, chapter 7
January 27
Truman and containment
Sestanovich, chapters 1 and 2
Kissinger, pages 276-295
January 29
From Eisenhower to JFK
Sestanovich, chapters 3 and 4
February 3
Johnson and Vietnam
Sestanovich, chapters 5 and 6
Kissinger, pages 295-302
February 5
Nixon and detente
Sestanovich, chapters 7 and 8
Kissinger, pages 302-310
February 10
Reagan and the end of the Cold War
Sestanovich, chapters 9 and 10
Kissinger, pages 310-317
February 12
The Bush doctrine
Sestanovich, chapter 11
February 17
The Obama administration
Sestanovich, chapter 12
February 19
The President and Congress
Michael Nelson, "Person and Office," Louis Fisher, "Presidents Who Initiate Wars," and James Lindsay,
"The Shifting Pendulum of Power," in James McCormick, The Domestic Sources of American Foreign
Policy
February 24
Bureaucratic politics
I.M. Destler, "How National Security Advisers See Their Role," Peter Feaver and Christopher Gelpi,
"American Veterans in Government and the Use of Force," and Jon Western, "Sources of Humanitarian
Intervention," in McCormick
February 26
Interest groups and political parties
James McCormick, "Ethnic Interest Groups in American Foreign Policy," John Mearsheimer and Stephen
Walt, "The Israel Lobby," and Walter Russell Mead, "The Tea Party, Populism, and the Domestic Political
Culture of U.S. Foreign Policy," in McCormick
March 3
Public opinion and elections
Adam Berinsky, "Events, Elites, and American Public Support for Military Conflict," and Miroslav Nincic,
"External Affairs and the Electoral Connection," in McCormick
Midterm review
March 5
Midterm exam
March 17
Instruments of foreign policy
Hillary Clinton, "Leading through Civilian Power," and Gordon Adams and Matthew Weatherman, "A
Leaner and Meaner Defense," Joseph Nye, "The Future of American Power," and Gideon Rachman,
"Think Again: American Decline," in McCormick
March 19
Trade policy
I.M. Destler, "American Trade Policymaking," in McCormick
March 24
Europe and Russia
Kissinger, pages 86-95
Orlando Figes, "Is There One Ukraine?" Ivan Krastev, "Russian Revisionism," Kathryn Stoner, "Putin's
Search for Greatness," Daniel Treisman, "Watching Putin in Moscow," Brian Taylor, "Putin's Own Goal,"
Alexander Motyl, "Is Losing Crimea a Loss?" Kathleen McNamara, "The EU After Ukraine," and Mitchell
Orenstein, "Get Ready for a Russo-German Europe," in Gideon Rose, Crisis in Ukraine
March 26
Debate on U.S. Russia policy: Drs. Jakub Grygiel (Johns-Hopkins SAIS) and Mark Katz (George Mason)
March 31
Human trafficking and U.S. foreign policy
Guest talk by Rebecca Lollar
Mark Lagon, "The Global Abolition of Human Trafficking," Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
(Winter/Spring 2011), 89-98
Anne Gallagher, "Improving the Effectiveness of the International Law of Human Trafficking," Human
Rights Review 12:3 (September 2011), 381-400
April 2
The United States in Asia
Kissinger, chapter 5
Ashley Tellis, "Seeking Alliances and Partnerships," Nicholas Szechenyi, "The U.S.-Japan Alliance," Daniel
Twining, "Building U.S. Partnerships for the 21st Century," Van Jackson, "The Rise and Persistence of
Strategic Hedging across Asia," in Ashley Tellis, Strategic Asia 2014-15
April 7
China
Kissinger, chapter 6
Russell Hsiao, "U.S.-Taiwan Relations," in Tellis
April 9
Korea
Scott Snyder, "The U.S.-ROK Alliance and the U.S. Rebalance to Asia," in Tellis
April 14
Iran
Kissinger, chapter 4
April 16
Nuclear non-proliferation
Kissinger, pages 331-341
April 21
The Arab spring
Kissinger, chapter 3
Ryan Lizza, "Obama: The Consequentialist," in McCormick
April 23
Al Qaeda and the Islamic State
Kissinger, pages 317-329
Jessica Stern, ISIS: The State of Terror
April 28
Final review
Sestanovich, Epilogue
April 30
Reading period
May 7, 10:30am - 1:15pm
Final exam