Course Description
Selected problems related to United States foreign policy.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Additional readings and short paper(s) normally required for graduate level coursework.
Athena Title
Probs in Amer Foreign Policy
Prerequisite
Any HIST course or ENGL 1101 or ENGL 1101E or ENGL 1101S or ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1102E or ENGL 1102S or POLS 1101 or POLS 1101E or POLS 1101H or POLS 1101S
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
- By the end of this course, students will be able to arrive at conclusions about problems in contemporary U.S. foreign policy gathering and weighing evidence, logical argument, and listening to counter argument.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to write stylistically appropriate research papers about U.S. foreign policy. Students will be able to analyze ideas and evidence, organize their thoughts, and revise and edit their finished essays.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to identify how the history of American foreign policy shaped diverse social and cultural attitudes toward race and ethnicity, modernization and development, and religion and violence, encouraging them to understand diverse worldviews and experiences.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to apply appropriate methodological approaches to their analysis of primary sources, using such sources to support their own original analysis of U.S. foreign policy and organizing their evidence to show historical continuities and discontinuities.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to generate their own research question or topic, locate suitable primary and secondary sources, and synthesize their ideas in novel ways.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to initiate, manage, complete, and evaluate their independent research projects in stages and to give and receive constructive feedback through the peer review process.
Topical Outline
- The American Century and the “Underdeveloped world,” 1941-1950
- Modernization and the early Cold War
- Race and Gender in Foreign Relations
- Cultural Texts, Power, and Foreign Relations
- Modernization Theory: The MIT Connection
- Modernization and the Road to Vietnam
- Nation Building and the Middle East
- Orientalism and Anti-Americanism
- Terrorism
- September 11th and Beyond
Institutional Competencies Learning Outcomes
Analytical Thinking
The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.
Communication
The ability to effectively develop, express, and exchange ideas in written, oral, interpersonal, or visual form.
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
Leadership & Collaboration
The capacity to engage in the relational process of optimizing personal and collective strengths toward a common goal.
Social Awareness & Responsibility
The capacity to understand the interdependence of people, communities, and self in a global society.
