Introductory description

This module will examine the making of US foreign policy and analyse some of the key global issues confronting the United States in the twenty first century.

Part one considers different conceptual approaches to analysing US foreign policy, examines the role of values and interests in US foreign policy formation and implementation, and explores the institutions, processes, and domestic politics of US foreign policy making. Part two engages with a number of key issues in contemporary US foreign policy, including the threat of international terrorism, questions concerning US military interventions and the use of force, the role of the US in regional relations, and the debate over American decline and the changing nature of American leadership in world politics. A particular focus of this module will be on the issue of American grand strategy and the way the Obama administration has positioned the role of the United States between American primacy, cooperative engagement and restraint, while President Trump has indicated a fundamental break with the Washington establishment in many foreign policy issues.

In analysing these issues, the module adopts a critical perspective by encouraging students to reflect on the implications of policy making and to question assumptions made by policymakers and by contemporary scholars of US foreign relations. The module offers a comprehensive engagement with the academic study of US foreign policy and with the implications of policy making itself.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Week 1 - How We Can Study US Foreign Policy - A Look at Competing Theories, Perspectives and Approaches
Week 2 - The Foundations of US Foreign Policy: The Interplay of Power, Interests, Values & Beliefs
Week 3 - The National Security State - US Foreign Policy and the Executive Branch
Week 4: American Politics and the Domestic Sources of US Foreign Policy
Week 5 - US Foreign Policy in the 21st Century: Defining National Security From George W. Bush to Donald Trum
Week 6: Reading Week
Week 7 - The United States and Terrorism: The Forever War?
Week 8 - US Foreign Policy and the Use of Force: '9/11' and America's Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Beyond
Week 9 - The United States in The Asia-Pacific: From 'Pax Americana' to the 'Chinese Century'?
Week 10 - American Power in a Post-American World - Hegemony, Decline and The Future of US Foreign Policy

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• To demonstrate an advanced knowledge of the theoretical and conceptual debates germane to an understanding of the role of the US in the international system
• To evaluate critically the characteristics of and issues raised by key facets of US foreign and defense policy making and their consequences.
• To demonstrate an ability to locate the study of the US in the international system within broader debates within the disciplines of International Relations and/or Foreign Policy Analysis
• To develop students’ skills in the effective collection and interpretation of information from diverse sources
• To develop students’ abilities to argue cogently, concisely and critically

Indicative reading list

Week 1: How we can Study US Foreign Policy - A Look at Competing Theories, Perspectives and Approaches
Required Reading:
Inderjeet Parmar, Linda B. Miller, and Mark Ledwidge (eds.) Obama and the World (Taylor and Francis 2014), Chapters 1-5. [Electronic version available]
Chris Alden and Amnon Aran. Foreign Policy Analysis: New Approaches. 2nd edition (Routledge, 2017). Chapter 1 "Foreign policy analysis An overview". [Electronic version available]
Sylvia Bashevkin, Women as Foreign Policy Leaders: National Security and Gender Politics in Superpower America. Oxford University Press, 2018. Chapter 1. 'Introduction' [Electronic version available]
Robert Jervis. "Do Leaders Matter and how would we Know?" Security Studies 22, no. 2 (2013): 153-179. [Electronic Resource]
(Optional): Jack Snyder. "One World, Rival Theories" Foreign Policy 145 (Nov/Dec 2004): pp. 52-62 [Electronic Resource]

Further Reading:
Andrew Bacevich. Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War. Metropolitan Books, 2012.
Calin Costel, and Brandon Prins. "The Sources of Presidential Foreign Policy Decision Making: Executive Experience and Militarized Interstate Conflicts." International Journal of Peace Studies 20, no.1 (2015).
Maryann E. Gallagher and Susan H. Allen, “Presidential Personality: Not Just a Nuisance,” Foreign Policy Analysis 10, no. 1 (2014), 1-21.
Margaret Hermann, Thomas Preston, Baghat Korany and Timothy Shaw, "Who Leads Matters: The Effects of
Powerful Individuals," International Studies Review, 3 no. 2 (2001): 83-132.
Stephen W. Hook. US Foreign Policy: The Paradox of World Power. CQ Press, c2011.
Robert Kagan. The World America Made. Alfred A. Knopf, 2012.
Walter Russell Mead. Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How it Changed the World. Routledge, 2002.
Henry R. Nau. At Home Abroad: Identity and Power in American Foreign Policy. Cornell University Press, 2002.
William Appelman Williams. The Tragedy of American Diplomacy. Dell Publishing, 1972.

On American Grand Strategy:
Robert J. Art. America's grand strategy and world politics. Routledge, 2009.
Patrick Doherty. "A New U.S. Grand Strategy." Foreign Policy (2013)
Colin Dueck. "Ideas and alternatives in American grand strategy, 2000–2004." Review of International Studies 30, no. 4 (2004): 511-535.
Christoper Layne. Peace of Illusions: American Grand Strategy from 1940 to the Present. Cornell University Press, 2007.
Georg Löfflmann, American Grand Strategy Under Obama: Competing Discourses. EUP, 2017
John Mersheimer. "Imperial by Design. American Foreign Policy 1993-Present." National Interest no. 111 (2011): 16-34.
On the US and realism:
Stephen G. Brooks and William C. Wohlforth. World out of balance: international relations and the challenge of American primacy. Princeton University Press, 2008.
Christopher Layne. "The waning of US hegemony—myth or reality? A review essay." International Security 34, no. 1 (2009): 147-172.
John Mearsheimer. The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. Updated Edition. W.W. Norton, 2014.
Stephen Walt. Taming American power: the global response to U.S. primacy. W. W. Norton, 2006.
On the US and liberalism:
John G. Ikenberry, After Victory: Institutions, Strategic Restraint, and the Rebuilding of Order After Major Wars. Princeton University Press, 2001.Christian Reus-Smit. American Power and World Order. Polity Press, 2004.
John G. Ikenberry, Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order. Princeton University Press, 2011.
On the US and constructivism / soft power:
Joseph S. Nye Jr. Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics. Public Affairs, 2001.
On the US and critical perspectives:
David Campbell. Writing Security: United States Foreign Policy and the Politics of Identity. Revised Edition. Manchester University Press, 1998.
Stuart Croft. Culture, Crisis and America’s War On Terror. Cambridge University Press, 2006.

There is no dedicated textbook for this course. However, students looking for an accessible and comprehensive introductory textbook to US foreign policy might want to purchase either one of these:
Michael Cox and Doug Stokes (eds.) US Foreign Policy. Third Edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018)
Inderjeet Parmar, Linda B. Miller and Mark Ledwidge (eds.) Obama and the World: New Directions in US Foreign Policy. Second Edition (Abingdon: Routledge, 2014) [Also available as electronic resource]

Those students who have not studied US politics before may wish to read the following highly accessible introductory textbook:
David McKay, American Politics and Society. 9th edition (Wiley, 2018). [Electronic version available in the library]

This module focuses mostly on contemporary US foreign policy, but students interested in some deep background via American history might want to consult:
George C. Herring, From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations since 1776. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008). [Electronic version available in the library]

Subject specific skills

(a) to apply different theoretical approaches, methods and techniques to the study of US foreign policy and acquire an advanced understanding of the foreign and domestic factors influencing political decision-making in the United States in the realm of international affairs;

(b) to synthesise ideas drawn from different sources in the vast literature on US foreign policy;

and (c) to understand the emergence, dynamics, and political implications of the foreign policy agenda of the United States of America.

Transferable skills

a) to apply a detailed critical analysis and interpretation of a variety of primary and secondary sources to initiate and carry out research projects;

(b) to process complex materials and ideas within the broad field of International Relations (IR), foreign policy analysis and international security studies, and to consider unfamiliar ideas, test hypotheses and challenge existing ways of thinking;

and to (c) communicate clearly key ideas, theories and problems regarding the international role of the United States in group discussion, as well as to develop a critical analysis and well-researched argumentation in oral and written presentations.