POLS 477: American Foreign Policy Spring 2013 Professor Stephen Shulman Department of Political Science Southern Illinois University

Transcription

1 POLS 477: American Foreign Policy Spring 2013 Professor Stephen Shulman Department of Political Science Southern Illinois University Meeting Place & Time: Faner 1228; T/Th 11:00 12:15 Office: 3163 Faner Office Hours: T/Th 1-2 and 3:30 5:30 E- mail: Office Phone: Course Description This is a seminar course in American foreign policy for advanced undergraduates. This means that there will be no lecturing, and the main activity we will be engaged in is critical analysis and discussion of the readings. Therefore, you must come prepared for every class by having done and thought about the reading for that day. The penalty for being unprepared will be substantial. This course has three main objectives: 1. To improve substantive understanding of the sources, goals, conduct and consequences of US foreign policy. 2. To improve critical thinking skills 3. To improve verbal communication skills Midterm Exam 33.3% Final Exam 33.3% Discussion 33.4% Course Requirements and Grades The exams will be in-class, open-note and open-book. You will answer two essay questions. The questions will be designed so that students who have not read and studied the readings going into the exam will be at a severe disadvantage. Your discussion grade will be based on the quantity and quality of your classroom participation, and on three in-class oral critiques of an article or book chapter.

2 Books for Purchase Joseph S. Nye, The Future of Power (PublicAffairs, 2011). Michael Mandelbaum, The Case for Goliath: How America Acts as the World's Government in the Twenty-first Century (PublicAffairs, 2006). Robert J. Art, A Grand Strategy for America (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004). We will read an average of approximately pages per week, with a couple of weeks of heavier reading. If you do not think that you can handle this reading load, I strongly suggest that you reconsider your registration for the course. At the beginning of each class I will announce the material that you will need to read for the following class. If you miss a class it is your responsibility to find out what the reading for the next class is. Missed Exams Important Course Policies Students who cannot take an exam at the scheduled date and time must inform me beforehand. Students who fail to follow this procedure will not be permitted to take a make- up exam. I will use my discretion to determine whether students who do follow the procedure will be permitted to take a make- up exam without penalty. Attendance Attendance is mandatory. Attendance will be checked randomly approximately times during the semester. You are allowed two absences without penalty. For every absence thereafter, your grade on the final exam will be reduced 2/3 of a grade. (E.g. If your grade on the final is a B, and you were caught absent 6 times, your penalty is 3 X 2/3 of a grade=2 letter grades. Thus your final exam grade changes to a D.) As a positive incentive to not skip class, if you are caught absent one or zero times, your final exam will increase by 2/3 of a letter grade. WARNING: If you arrive late, or leave early, you will be considered absent. It is your responsibility to make sure you sign the attendance sheet on days when I take attendance. I will not accept the excuse that the attendance sheet did not make its way to a student.

3 Absence Policy: There is no such thing as an excused absence in this course. All absences after the first three will be penalized, REGARDLESS OF THE REASON FOR YOUR ABSENCE, INCLUDING ILLNESS. However, there is a way to erase the penalty for each absence you earn. You may write a one and a half to two- page synopsis (double- spaced, 12- point Times font, with separate cover sheet) of a journal article on any topic related to the course and turn it in within seven days of the absence. (Synopses will be evaluated pass/fail : if you write a coherent and accurate summary, your absence will be excused. Otherwise, the penalty will remain. Sometimes a student turns in a synopsis that suggests to me that he or she has read very little of the article. These putative synopses will not receive any credit.) The journal article must be at least fifteen pages in length, and you should attach the article to your synopsis when you turn it in. WARNING: If you are caught absent EIGHT or more times, you will automatically receive an F for the course. This holds true regardless of whether you erase the penalty for absences applied to the final exam. Exceptions to this rule will be made only in rare circumstances where there is a prolonged illness or other chronic problem that I am informed about in a timely manner. Grading Scale All letter grades are converted to number grades for use by a computer program. A+=98, A=95, A-=92, B+=88, B=85, B-=82.F=55 NOTE: If you do not take an exam or turn in a paper, your score is a 0, which, of course, is considerably worse than an F. List of Topics and Readings I. Foundations for the Study of USFP (2 sessions) Joyce P. Kaufman, Setting the Stage for Understanding U.S. Foreign Policy in A Concise History of U.S. Foreign Policy, 2 nd edition (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), Walter LeFeber, The US Rise to World Power, , in Michael Cox and Doug Stokes, eds., US Foreign Policy, 2 nd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), Richard Saull, American Foreign Policy During the Cold War, in Michael Cox and Doug Stokes, eds., US Foreign Policy, 2 nd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), II. Power and US Primacy (2 sessions)

4 Joseph S. Nye, The Future of Power (PublicAffairs, 2011), cpts. 1-4 (approx 110 pages) II. The Durability of US Primacy (3 sessions) Joseph S. Nye, The Future of Power (PublicAffairs, 2011), Cpts. 6-7 (approx 80 pages) Charles Kupchan, The False Promise of Unipolarity: Constraints on the Exercise of American Power, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Vol. 24, No. 2 (2011), Christopher Layne, The Unipolar Exit: Beyond the Pax Americana, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Vol. 24, No. 2 (2011), Robert Kagan, Not Fade Away: Against the Myth of American Decline, The New Republic, January 11, 2012 (approx 15 pages). Jake III. The Consequences of US Primacy (3 sessions) Michael Mandelbaum, The Case for Goliath: How America Acts as the World's Government in the Twenty-first Century (PublicAffairs, 2006). Nuno P. Monteiro, Unrest Assured: Why Unipolarity Is Not Peaceful, International Security, Vol. 36, No. 3 (2011/12), Charles Glaser, Why Unipolarity Does Not Matter (Much), Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Vol. 24, No. 2 (2011), US Grand Strategy I: The Role of Ideas and Ideology (2 sessions) Jeffrey W. Legro, The Ebb and Flow of American Internationalism, in Rethinking the World: Great Power Strategies and International Order (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005), Charles A. Kupchan and Peter L. Trubowitz, "Dead Center: The Demise of Liberal Internationalism in the United States," International Security, Vol. 32, No. 2 (Fall 2007), Stephen Chaudoin, Helen V. Milner, Dustin H. Tingley, The Center Still Holds: Liberal Internationalism Survives, International Security, Vol. 35, No. 1 (2010),

5 US Grand Strategy II: Alternative Options in an Age of Primacy and Possible Decline (4 sessions) Robert J. Art, A Grand Strategy for America (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004). MIDTERM EXAMINATION THURSDAY, MARCH 7 Humanitarian Intervention (2 sessions) Bruce Jentleson, Never Again or Yet Again? Genocide and Humanitarian Intervention, in American Foreign Policy: The Dynamics of Choice in the 21 st Century, 4 th edition (W.W. Norton & Company, 2010). Benjamin A. Valentino, Still Standing By: Why America and the International Community Fail to Prevent Genocide and Mass Killing, Perspective on Politics, Vol. 1, No. 3 (2003), Robert Pape, When Duty Calls: A Pragmatic Standard of Humanitarian Intervention, International Security, Vol. 37, No. 1 (2012), Democracy Promotion (2 sessions) Jonathan Monten, "The Roots of the Bush Doctrine: Power, Nationalism, and Democracy Promotion in U.S. Strategy," International Security, Vol. 29, No. 4 (2005), Francis Fukuyama and Michael McFaul, Should Democracy be Promoted or Demoted? Washington Quarterly, Vol. 31, No. 1 (2007), Arthur A. Goldsmith, Making the World Safe for Partial Democracy?: Questioning the Premises of Democracy Promotion, International Security, Vol. 33, No. 2 ( 2008), Domestic Sources of US Foreign Policy (2 sessions) Loch K. Johnson, Executive Branch Dominance in Seven Sins of American Foreign Policy (Pearson, 2006), James M. Lindsay, 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, 6 th edition (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2012),

6 Piers Robinson, Media and U.S. Foreign Policy, in Michael Cox and Doug Stokes, eds., US Foreign Policy, 2 nd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), Case Study I: Iraq War (2 sessions) David Patrick Houghton, Into Iraq: A War of Choice, in The Decision Point: Six Cases in U.S. Foreign Policy Decision Making (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012). Charles A. Duelfer, Stephen Benedict Dyson, Chronic Misperception and International Conflict: The U.S.- Iraq Experience, International Security, Volume 36, Number 1, (2011), Case Study II: War on Terror (2 sessions) Frederick Gagnon and Ryan C. Hendrickson, The U.S. vs. Terrorism: From the Embassy Bombings in Tanzania and Kenya to the surge in Afghanistan, in Ralph G. Carter, ed. Contemporary Cases in U.S. Foreign Policy: From Terrorism to Trade, 4 th edition (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2010). Peter Bergen and Bruce Hoffman, Assessing the Terrorist Threat (Washington, D.C.: Bipartisan Policy Center, 2010). approx 32 pages John Mueller and Mark G. Stewart, The Terrorism Delusion: America s Overwrought Response to September 11, International Security, Vol. 37, No. 1 (2012), pp Critiques of USFP (3 sessions) Loch K. Johnson, Lack of Empathy, Arrogance, and Conclusion: Toward a More Worthy Foreign Policy in Seven Sins of American Foreign Policy (Pearson, 2006), Christopher A. Preble, We Use It Too Much and The Hegemon s Dilemma in The Power Problem: How American Military Dominance Makes Us Less Safe, Less Prosperous, and Less Free (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2009), FINAL EXAMINATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 3:10-5:10 p.m.