Apart from the above, I've placed on reserve a
series of articles I need you to read. These are followed by the .
designation, to denote that they are on reserve.
In addition, I strongly suggest that you either get a subscription
to the daily New York Times (available on campus), or view it daily on its
own web page (nytimes.org) for current affairs regarding U.S. foreign
policy. CORE THEME/QUESTION for the seminar: What will be/should be the role
of
the United States in the New World Order? Week 1 (Aug 26) : Introduction to Course READINGS:
Kagan, "The Benevolent Empire," and Maynes, "The Perils of (and
for) an Imperial America," . Please see the New York Times articles listed as "Albright,
Speaking at Harvard, Calls for Activist Foreign Policy" . _________________________________________________________ (I will be attending the APSA convention on the 3rd, hence no class on
the 2nd) _________________________________________________________ Week 2 (Sept. 9) : Introduction to Ways of Thinking
About Foreign Policy READINGS:
Holsti, Models of International Relations and Foreign Policy, in
Ikenberry. Kurth, A Widening Gyre: The Logic of American Weapons
Procurement,
in
Ikenberry. Odell, Explaining Change in Foreign Economic Policies, in
Ikenberry Deudney and Ikenberry, Who Won the Cold War? in
Ikenberry. Garnham and Zagorski, Quantitative Indicators of U.S. Foreign
Policy: 1950-1995 . (Please pay extremely close attention to
this one; we will review it extensively.) ____________________________________________________
(One more distraction: I must be in Vienna for an international
conference; no class on the 16th)
_____________________________________________________
Week 3 (Sept 23) Domestic Perspectives on US Foreign Policy: The Nature of the Political System
READINGS: Krasner, Policy Making in a Weak State, in Ikenberry.
Mastanduno, The United States Political System and International Leadership: A Decidedly Inferior Form of Government, in Ikenberry.
______________________________________________________
Week 4 (Sept 30) Domestic Perspectives on US Foreign Policy: Institutional Perspectives
READINGS: Allison, Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile Crisis, in Ikenberry.
Krasner, Are Bureaucracies Important? in Ikenberry.
Thomson, How Could Vietnam Happen? in Ikenberry.
________________________________________________________
Week 5 (Oct. 7) Domestic Perspectives on U.S. Foreign Policy: What about the People?
READINGS: Roskin, From Pearl Harbor to Vietnam in Ikenberry.
George, The Operational Code in Ikenberry.
Trubowitz, Political Conflict and Foreign Policy in the United States, in Ikenberry.
________________________________________________________
Week 6 (Oct. 14) Domestic Perspectives on U.S. Foreign Policy: What about the Leaders?
READINGS: Winter et. al., The Personalities of Bush and Gorbachev Measured at a Distance: Procedures, Portraits, and Policy, in Ikenberry.
Janis, Escalation in the Vietnam War: How Could it Happen? in Ikenberry.
Jervis, Hypotheses on Misperception, in Ikenberry.
________________________________________________________
Week 7 (Oct. 21) The External Context of Foreign Policy
READINGS: Waltz, Anarchic Orders and Balances of Power, in Ikenberry.
Leffler, The American Conception of National Security and the Beginning of the Cold War, in Ikenberry.
Fukuyama, The End of History? in The New Shape.
Huntington, No Exit: The Errors of Endism. in The New Shape.
Mearsheimer, Back to the Future in The New Shape.
Modelski and Thompson, The Long and Short of Global Politics in the Twenty-First Century, .
_______________________________________________________
Week 8 (Oct. 28) The External Context of Foreign Policy: Cultural Conflicts?
READINGS: Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations? in The New Shape.
Ajami, The Summoning, in The New Shape.
Doyle, Liberalism and World Politics, in The New Shape.
Zakaria, Culture is Destiny in The New Shape.
Kim, Is Culture Destiny? The Myth of Asia's Anti-Democratic Values, in The New Shape.
Pfaff, Invitation to War, in The New Shape.
_________________________________________________________
Week 9 (Nov. 4) The External Context: Economic Conflicts?
READINGS: Krugman, Competitiveness: A Dangerous Obsession. in The New Shape.
Luttwak, From Geopolitis to Geo-Economics in The New Shape.
Kapstein, Workers and the World Economy, in The New Shape.
Kurth, The Political Consequences of the Product Cycle h strategies: in Ikenberry.
_______________________________________________________
No class Novebmer 11th, Veterans' Day.
________________________________________________________
Week 10(Nov. 18) Research in progress
________________________________________________________
Week 11 (Nov. 25) Research in progress
________________________________________________________
Week 12 (Dec. 1) Research Presentations
________________________________________________________
Week 13 (Dec. 9) Research Presentations
________________________________________________________
Final Exam day: December 15th, 2-4PM. Final research paper due here.
COURSE GOALS:
There are two major goals for this course. The first is a substantive one: to gain an understanding of where U.S. foreign policy will be directed in the emerging new world order. We need to both describe that direction, and try to explain why we would take that direction.
The second goal of the course is methodological. Nearly all of social science (as is political science) is based on one of two research strategies: either synthesis of the thoughts, explanations, theories, etc., of previous scholars; or, the creation of new ways of looking at the world. Either path is perfectly acceptable, as long as it gains us knowledge about the world around us. Both paths are driven by our observations of the world, and here, the issue of methodology raises its "ugly" head. How accurate are our observations about the world? How can we be more systematic in figuring out what is around us, and how well our explanations fit the "reality" around us? This is the province of methodology. There are a large variety of ways in which we can be systematic in our observations. We can carefully read and observe what others say and do. We can be systematic as well in rigorously defining and measuring our observations. It is this latter approach on which I want us to focus. It is the basis of much of political science and the study of foreign policy and international politics.HOW TO GET TO THE GOALS:
We will do so several ways. Part of the work involves reading, and the assignments are noted above. Much of it involves seminar work. Since this is an honors seminar, a substantial part of our responsibilities will revolve around our classroom discussions. I expect all of us to come to class, well prepared to discuss the week's subject matter. The responsibility in all seminars belongs jointly to the faculty member and the student. I expect that I will learn from you and you will learn from each other as much if not more than what you will learn from me.
Finally, a substantial portion of this seminar will be devoted to not only analyzing the knowledge of others, but in creating our own knowledge base. Each of you will be asked to write an original paper, focusing on an aspect of the core theme of the seminar. To do a good job, we will talk extensively about social science methods and you will be expected to dirty your hands with actual data and its analysis.GRADES:
Grades are unavoidable, even in honors seminars. In this one, the final grade will be based on the following:
45% participation in the seminar;
55% research paper, including both the oral presentation and the final product.
I'm stressing the crucial importance of classroom participation for this seminar. Sometimes, however, students panic when they don't have exams in a course. Therefore, I will provide an option for everyone: you may choose to take a final exam in lieu of your class participation grade. Caution: you must tell me two weeks before the end of the semester if you wish to exercise this option.
ATTENDANCE POLICY:
Attendance policy for honors seminars is simple: COME PREPARED and THINKING ABOUT THE WEEKLY ASSIGNMENT; COME ON TIME; COME EVERY WEEK.
SEMINAR PAPER:
You are being asked to write a paper at the end of the semester, on the core theme of the course: What will be/should be the role of the United States in the New World Order? The purpose of this paper is to give you an opportunity to synthesize and apply the materials-both theoretical and empirical-we developed in the course on this topic. In order to do your job well, you will need to address both dimensions of the question: what will be, and what should be the role of the United States. In order for you to answer both questions, you will need to have a good command of how the international system works, and how U.S. foreign policy works as well, from a theoretical perspective. Further, you will need to have data (empirical information) at your disposal about where the U.S. stands in terms of its ability to play such a role, and in terms of what it is confronting in the international system.
This assignment becomes manageable as long as you do two things: First, at the end of each week's seminar, you think about how the topic, our discussions, and our common readings can apply to your paper. Second, I'm going ask each of you to execute a piece of empirical research. None of you will have the time and energy to generate enough data to truly assess the strength of the U.S. and the problems in the international system by yourself. But if each of us (that means that I will provide you with data in addition to your own research) takes a piece of the puzzle, we can then share the information generated by our research, and you can integrate your data with those of your colleagues for your paper. Caution: the research strategy we will use will require us to work together to generate the appropriate data. However, the final product-your paper-is meant to be your own work. Each of you must translate both theory and data into the body of your own paper, and draw your own conclusions.
I will evaluate your paper on the following criteria:
APPENDIX A:Measures of State Strength/Weakness
Latent Resources/general: annual government revenues (real dollars)
Resources/foreign policy:
Effort:
Limitations: annual deficit + annual payments on previous deficit
POLITICAL
Elite Foreign Policy
Attentiveness: % of State of the Union messages focusing on foreign policy
Domestic Political Power: % of same party/House + % of same Party/Senate
External Autonomy Economic: U.S. trade/U.S. GDP
External Economic Capacity: U.S. GDP/Global GDP
External Autonomy Military: U.S. Defense Budget/Global Military Spending
External Autonomy Political: U.S. Foreign Policy Budget/System Size
External Normative Support: % of UN General Assembly Plenary Votes on which there is majority concurrence with the U.S.
SOCIETAL
Public Opinion
Public opinion attentiveness: Foreign Policy as an issue area
Public opinion Support for the Pres. "Doing a Good Job"
Societal Stress/Strain
Misery Index