U.S. Foreign Policy (DRAFT)
University of California Washington Center, Tuesdays, 6-9 pm
Instructor: Leila Austin
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 4:45 - 5:45 pm (UCDC Office tbd); or By Appointment
E-mail: Leila@paaia.org
Overview:
This course examines contemporary issues in U.S. foreign policy, focusing primarily on a series
of regional case studies including U.S. relations with key countries in the Middle East and South
Asia, East Asia, Europe and Eurasia, as well as the Western Hemisphere. Although the course is
organized on a regional basis, we will explore a number of recurring themes including: nuclear
proliferation; the problems of weak and failing states; promoting democracy and political reform;
relations with China and Russia; terrorism and counterterrorism; resource competition; the
importance of culture and national identity; transnational threats; and the economics of national
security.
Required Book:
 Bruce W. Jentleson, American Foreign Policy, Fifth Edition (Norton, 2013).
Requirements:
This is a seminar based primarily on close reading and focused discussion of the set texts. The
success of the course depends on the active participation of everyone. Therefore, you are
required to:
1Come to class prepared, having read the assignments carefully and ready to discuss
them. Everyone will lead class discussion at least once during the semester.
2-
Those presenting the week’s readings will need to write a response paper of 3 pages
in length, complete with questions and points for discussion, distributed to the class
no later than 5 pm on Sunday. Please make sure that these are not mere summaries of
the readings but include critical analysis and reaction to the assigned readings. They
are meant to promote discussion, generate debate and raise critical questions about
the topics to be discussed in class.
3-
You are required to write two 7 page (double-spaced) review essays on a given topic.
Your writing should focus on the readings that are relevant to the essay topic. Once
again, these essays should provide critical analysis of the assigned readings, include a
clear argument, and evidence to support it.
4-
You will give one short presentation on a recent news story of your choice related to
U.S. Foreign Policy. Choice of story needs to be emailed to me and your classmates
at least twenty-four hours before class. Presentation should summarize the issue you
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have chosen and explain its broader relevance in the context of the class. Relevant
background information should also be presented. Whenever possible, stories should
match up with the topic of the week.
Grading:
35%
Attendance, Participation , Response Papers, and news story
30%
Essay #1
35%
Essay #2
Academic Honesty:
Academic honesty affirms our regard for each other and the nature of our work together.
Students should review closely and follow in both letter and spirit the principles expressed on
academic integrity. (For example, see UC-Davis’s Code of Academic Conduct,
http://sja.ucdavis.edu/cac.html.)
All matters of academic honesty will be treated with the utmost seriousness, but I take
plagiarism, in particular, very seriously. Do not plagiarize. I will never penalize you for doing
research and citing your references. Do not pass off someone else’s work as your own. If you
have any questions, do not hesitate to raise them with me. Plagiarized work will result in failure
and referral to the appropriate campus administrative office.
Class Schedule and Reading Assignments
Lectures will address the major topics and themes of the course, and will correspond with
assigned readings. You should complete the assigned readings before the beginning of class, and
be prepared to participate in the class discussion.
Week One– Course Introduction and Overview – How to Think About Foreign Policy
Readings:
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Jentleson, American Foreign Policy, Chapter 1 - The Strategic Context: Foreign Policy
Strategy and the Essence of Choice (pp. 2-26); Readings 1.1 through 1.4 (pp. 216-33);
Jack Snyder, “One World, Rival Theories,” Foreign Policy, Nov/Dec 2004
Michael Mandelbaum, “David’s Friend Goliath,” Foreign Policy, Jan. 2006
Jack Snyder, “Imperial Temptations,” The National Interest, Spring 2003
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Week Two – Foreign Policy Strategy in the 21st Century
Readings:
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Jentleson, American Foreign Policy, Chapter 7 - Grand Strategy for a New Era: (I) Power
and Peace (pp. 286-331); and Chapter 8 - Grand Strategy for a New Era: (II) Prosperity
and Principles (pp. 332-84);
Barry R. Posen, “Pull Back: The Case for a Less Activist Foreign Policy,” Foreign
Affairs (January/February 2013);
Stephen G. Brooks, et. al., “Lean Forward: In Defense of American Engagement,”
Foreign Affairs (January/February 2013).
John Cassidy, “Obama’s Foreign Policy ‘Failures’: A Word for the Defense,” New
Yorker, May 7, 2014
Fred Hiatt, “An Experiment Gone Wrong,” Washington Post, July 28, 2014
Week Three - The United States in East Asia: Japan & China
Readings:
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Jentleson, American Foreign Policy, Chapter 10 - Asia’s Rising Strategic Importance:
Relations with China and in the Asia-Pacific Region (pp. 419-54).
Aaron L. Friedberg, “Bucking Beijing: An Alternative to U.S. China Policy,” Foreign
Affairs, September/October 2012
Ambrose Evans Pritchard, “China May Not Overtake America This Century After All,”
The Telegraph (UK), May 8, 2013,
www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/10044456/China-may-not-overtake-America-this-century-after-all.html
Azar Gat, “The Return of Authoritarian Great Powers,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 86, No.
4 (July/August 2007): 59-69
Week Four - The United States of America in Europe and Eurasia
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Jentleson, American Foreign Policy, Chapter 12 - Old Friends, Old Enemy: TwentyFirst-Century Relations with Europe and Russia (pp. 503-540).
Steven Erlanger, “Shrinking Europe Military Spending Stirs Concern,” New York Times,
April 23, 2013
Justin Logan, “Think Again: NATO-Why Europeans Can Defend Themselves but Won’t
until Washington Leaves, ´Foreignpolicy.com, June 30, 2014
Jeffery Lewis, “The Sources of Putin’s Conduct,” Foreign Policy.com, July 15, 2014
Mandelbaum, The Frugal Superpower, 101-135
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Week Five – The U.S. and the Middle East: The Arab Uprisings and the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Readings:
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Jentleson, American Foreign Policy, Chapter 11 - War, Peace, Terrorism, Democracy:
Old and New Challenges in the Middle East (pp. 483-502).
Marc Lynch, The Arab Uprisings: The Unfinished Revolutions of the New Middle East
(New York: Public Affairs, 2012) pp. 43-84; chapter 8.
“The Tragedy of the Arabs: A Civilization That Used to Lead the World is in Ruins and
Only the Locals Can Rebuild It,” Economist, July 5, 2014
Michael Totten, “No Exit: Why the US Can’t Leave the Middle East,” World Affairs,
November/December 3013
Dennis Ross, “Hamas Could Have Chosen Peace. Instead it Made Gaza Suffer,”
Washington Post, August 8, 2014
Walter Russell Mead, “The New Israel & the Old: Why Gentile Americans Back the
Jewish State,” Foreign Affairs (July 2008), pp. 28-48
Week Six - The War on Terror, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq
Readings:
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David Sanger, Confront and Conceal (Crown, 2012); chapters 2 and 4.
9/11 Commission Report, 47-70, 361-383
Olivier Roy, “Why Do They Hate Us? Not Because of Iraq,” NY Times, Jul 22, 2005
Peter Baker, “Obama, With Reluctance, Returns to Action in Iraq,” New York Times.com,
August 7, 2014
Peter Feaver, “A decade later and the Iraq debate is still contaminated with myths,”
Foreignpolicy.com, March 17, 2013
Week Seven – Iran, Persian Gulf Wars and Nuclear Proliferation
Readings:
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Jentleson, American Foreign Policy, Chapter 11 - War, Peace, Terrorism, Democracy:
Old and New Challenges in the Middle East (pp. 455-83).
F. Gregory Gause, International Relations of the Persian Gulf (Cambridge University
Press, 2010); chapter 3
Robert Einhorn, “A Convincing First Step on Iran’s Nuclear Program,” Brookings
Institution, 11-24-13, http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/iran-at-saban/posts/2013/11/24einhorn-convincing-first-step-on-iran
Alan Johnson, “The Iran Deal’s Ten Fatal Flaws,” World Affairs, 12-4-13
Kenneth Waltz, “Iranian Nukes? No Worries,” USA Today, June 17, 2012
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-06-17/iran-nuclear-bombisrael-proliferation/55654248/1
Colin H. Kahl and Kenneth N. Waltz, “Iran and the Bomb,” Foreignaffairs.com, July 17,
2012 (rebuttal by Kahl and reply by Waltz)
Week Eight – The United States in the Western Hemisphere
Readings:
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Jentleson, American Foreign Policy, Chapter 13 - The Americas: Relations with Latin
America and Canada (pp. 541-566); Readings 13.1-13.2 (pp. 659-63).
Ruchir Sharma, “Bearish on Brazil,” Foreign Affairs, May/June 2012
Jorge I. Dominguez, “Immigration and U.S. Foreign Policy,” in Robert Tucker, Charles
Keely and Linda Wrigley (Westview Press, 1990) pp. 150 – 166.
http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~jidoming/images/jid_immigration.PDF
Carl Meacham, “U.S. Immigration Reform: Good for the Americas?” CSIS, June 13,
2013
http://csis.org/publication/us-immigration-reform-good-americas-0
Week Nine – Genocide and the Problem of Humanitarian Intervention
Readings:
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Jentleson, chapter 9
Samantha Power, “Rwanda: ‘Mostly in a Listening Mode,’” 329-389
Mark Landler, “Declassified UN Cables Reveal Turning Point in Rwanda Crisis of
1994,” New York Times, June 4, 2014
“Responsibility to Protect: An Idea Whose Time Has Come – and Gone?” The
Economist, July 25, 2009
Rajan Menon, “It’s Fatally Flawed,” American Interest, July/August 2013
Stuart Gottlieb, “Syria and the Demise of the Responsibility to Protect,” The National
Interest, November 5, 2013
http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/syria-the-demise-the-responsibility-protect-9360
Week Ten – Debating America’s Place in the World- the Future of U.S. Foreign Policy
Readings:
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Mandelbaum, The Frugal Superpower, 1-34, 181-194
Paul Kennedy, “On American Decline and Decadence,” The New Republic,
Dec. 21, 2010:
http://www.tnr.com/article/magazine/79753/normalcy-american-decline-decadence
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“Americans See U.S. as Exceptional,” Gallup.com, Dec. 22, 2010
Tyler Cowan, “What Export-Oriented America Means,” American Interest, May/June
2012 (5-11)
Christopher Layne, “This Time It’s Real: The End of Unipolarity and the
‘Pax Americana,’ ”International Studies Quarterly, February 2012: 1-11
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