American Foreign Policy
Korea University | Summer 2016
James Morrison | LSE
This is a draft syllabus for this course. The up-to-date syllabus can be found here: http://
afp.jamesashleymorrison.com/
The Course
This course serves an introduction to the study of American Foreign Policy (AFP). It
examines the causes--and, to a lesser extent, the consequences--of the US’s ever-shifting
relationship with the world. It considers military/security policy, economic policy (such as
trade and financial policy), and the interaction between the two.
The course begins by introducing students to several of the major approaches scholars use to
explain AFP. It then traces the fascinating evolution of AFP over the last two centuries.
Throughout, students will be encouraged to put this “history” into conversation with the
“theory” developed in the first unit. The history will be used to “test” the theories; and the
theories will be used to help explain the (often puzzling!) history. This analysis will provide a rich perspective with which we will analyze contemporary AFP.
In this unit, Unit 4, we will also critically examine the greatest (likely) challenges to AFP in
the future. In Unit 5, students will have an opportunity to test their ideas in practice as a part
of a simulation.
Print Materials
All course materials are available via the links provided or in the course reading packet.
Assignments
The following are the assignments for this course, together with their relative weights in the
calculation of the final grade:
•
Presentation(s) (15%)
•
Essay 1 (40%)
•
Essay 2 (45%)
Please note that students should not expect to pass the course if they do not receive a passing
grade on each of these assignments.
Further details about each assignment can be found via the links to the right.
Presentations
Every student will give at least one presentation in the term. Typically, these presentations
will respond to one of the Reading Questions for the readings assigned for that day. In every
case, students ought to go beyond merely summarising the relevant readings to include some
critical analysis and argumentation. The presentations should be five minutes in length. (Students will be penalised if they go
longer than seven minutes.) Students may use PowerPoint and/or handouts. But they should
not feel compelled to do so. The presentations will be assessed based on the quality of both
their content and their delivery.
Essays
Students are required to write two essays over the course of the term totalling 3000 words
(i.e. roughly twelve pages). These essays will be posted subsequently.
Attendance
Students are required to attend all class meetings. While I encourage students to take as
much advantage as possible of the unique opportunities available in Korea, students are
reminded that they are here as students first!
In-Class Discussion
Much of the success of this course will turn on students’ contributions. Students should
ensure that they arrive to class prepared. This means reading the assigned readings before
each lecture. Students are also required to bring the relevant readings with them to every
class. This will aid in note-taking, enhance discussion, and help to foster better connections
between what we do in class and the course reading list.
Unit 1: Studying American Foreign Policy
Topic 1. Introductory
Class 1a: Course Overview (Tu 28 Jun)
▪
Read Course Site
▪
Carefully Read Policies on Essays
Class 1b: Introduction (Tu 28 Jun)
▪
G. John Ikenberry, David A. Lake and Michael Mastanduno. “Introduction: Approaches to
Explaining American Foreign Economic Policy.” International Organization 42(1), 1988.
(14 pp) Link
▪
Daniel Byman & Jeremy Shapiro. “What U.S. Foreign Policy Really Needs Is…” Foreign
Policy. 5 June 2015. Link
Topic 2. Approaches to American Foreign Policy
Class 2: Leaders, Perceptions, And Social Psychology (Wed 29 Jun)
▪
Jervis, Robert. “Hypotheses on Misperception.” Link
▪
Tetlock, Philip E. & Charles B. McGuire, Jr. “Cognitive Perspectives on Foreign Policy.”
▪
Saunders, Elizabeth N. “Transformative Choices: Leaders and the Origins of Intervention
Strategy.” Link
▪
Recommended: Morrison, James A. “Before Hegemony: Adam Smith, American
Independence, and the Origins of the First Era of Globalization.” International Organization.
66, no. 3 (2012): 395-428 Link
▪
Recommended: James G. March and Johan P. Olsen, “The Institutional Dynamics of
International Political Orders,”International Organization 52, 4 (Autumn 1998), pp. 943,
948-958 only. (11 pp)
Class 3a: Realism (Th 30 Jun)
▪
Morgenthau, Hans Joachim. Politics among nations; The Struggle for Power and Peace. 5th
ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1973. Ch 3: “Political Power.” (12 pp)
▪
Waltz, Kenneth Neal. Theory of International Politics. Reading: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co.,
1979. Ch 6: Parts II-III (pp 116-128). (12 pp)
▪
Recommended: Mearsheimer, John J. The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. New York: W.
W. Norton and Company, 2001. Ch 1: “Introduction.” (29 pp)
▪
Recommended: Gowa, Joanne S. Allies, Adversaries, and International Trade. Princeton,
N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994. Ch 1. (8 pp) Ch 3 Recommended.
Class 3b: Liberal Internationalism (Th 30 Jun)
▪
Russett, Bruce. Grasping the Democratic Peace: Principles for a Post-Cold War World.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. Ch 2. (17 pp)
▪
Robert Axelrod and Robert O. Keohane, “Achieving Cooperation under Anarchy: Strategies
and Institutions,” World Politics 38:1 (Oct. 1985), pp. 226-254. (28 pp)
▪
Recommended: Keohane, Robert O. After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World
Political Economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984. Ch 4. Ch 5 Recommended.
(16 pp)
▪
Recommended: Kenneth Abbott et al., “The Concept of Legalization,” International
Organization 54, 3 (Summer 2000), pp. 401-419. Link (18 pp)
▪
Recommended: Mearsheimer, John J. “The False Promise of International Institutions.”
International Security, no. 19 (1994), pp. 15-26 only. (11 pp) Link
▪
Recommended: Grieco, Joseph, Robert Powell, and Duncan Snidal. “The Relative-Gains
Problem for International Cooperation.” The American Political Science Review 87, no. 3
(September 1993): 727-743. (16 pp) Link
Unit 2: The Evolution of American Foreign Policy
Topic 3. Starting Points
Class 4a: Revolutionaries: The American Style of Diplomacy (Mon 4 Jul)
▪
Washington, George. Neutrality Proclamation. 22 April, 1793. Link
▪
Hamilton, Alexander. Pacificus Essay I. 29 June 1793. Link
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Jefferson, Thomas to James Madison. 7 July 1793. Link
▪
Madison, James. Helvidius Essay I. 24 August 1793. Link
▪
Washington, George. “Farewell Address.” 1796. Link
Class 4b: Manifest Destiny: Early American Foreign Policy (Mon 4 Jul)
▪
Franklin, Benjamin. Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of
Countries, etc. 1755. Link
▪
Monroe, James. “Seventh Annual Message to Congress,” [The “Monroe Doctrine” Speech].
1823. Selections. Link
▪
Turner, Frederick Jackson. The Frontier in American History. Henry Holt: New York, 1921.
Skim Ch 1. Link (38 pp)
Class 5: America in the Age of Empires (Tue 5 Jul)
▪
Kennan, George. American Diplomacy. Pt I, Ch 1: “The War with Spain.” (18 pp)
▪
Kipling, Rudyard. “The White Man’s Burden: The United States and the Philippine Islands.”
[1899] Available (with useful background) via: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Man
%27s_Burden (1 p)
▪
Williams, WA. The Tragedy of American Diplomacy. 2009. Ch 1.
Topic 4. The War to End All Wars
Class 6a: America’s Fight? The First World War (Wed 6 Jul)
▪
Kennan, George. American Diplomacy. Pt I, Ch 4: “World War I.” (19 pp)
▪
Brooke, Rupert. “1914.” In Collected Poems. [1915]. Sonnets, I-V (pp 107-11). Available
via: Google Books | Audio
▪
Recommended: Biography of Rupert Brooke via Oxford DNB.
▪
Owen, Wilfred. “Anthem for the Doomed.” (1917) Link | Audio
▪
Roosevelt, T. Letter to Sir Edward Grey, 22 January 1915. Link
▪
Recommended: Stephen Van Evera, “The Cult of the Offensive and the Origins of the First
World War,” International Security 9:1 (Summer 1984), pp. 58-107. Link (49 pp) Skim: just
get outline of major arguments.
▪
Recommended: Sagan, Scott D. “1914 Revisited: Allies, Offense, and Instability.”
International Security 11, no. 2 (1986): 151-75. Link (24 pp)
Class 6b: Wilson: The American at Paris, 1919 (Wed 6 Jul)
▪
Wilson, Woodrow. The Fourteen Points. January 8, 1918. (5 pp) Link
▪
Keynes, JM. The Economic Consequences of the Peace. [1919] Ch 3. (28 pp) Chs 4-6
Recommended. Link
▪
Recommended: Ikenberry, G. John. After Victory. Ch 5: “The Settlement of 1919.” (46 pp)
Topic 5. Interwar American Foreign Policy: Isolated or Indolent?
Class 7: America Leads Reluctantly, in Wrong Direction (Thu 7 Jul)
•
Eichengreen, Barry J. Globalizing Capital. Ch 3, pp 45-50. (5 pp)
•
Kindleberger, Charles P. The World in Depression, 1929-1939. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1973. pp 288-300. (12 pp)
•
Eichengreen. Barry J. “The Political Economy of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff.” In Frieden,
Lake, & Broz. (10 pp)
Topic 6. World War II: Axis and Allies
Class 8a: The Axis Challenge: National Socialism & State Shinto (Mon 11 Jul)
•
Recommended: Carr, Edward Hallett. The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 1919-1939: An Introduction
to the Study of International Relations. [1939] 2nd ed. London: Macmillan & Co., 1946. Chs
5-6. (32 pp)
•
Hitler, Adolph. First Speech as German Chancellor, with introduction by Joseph Goebbels,
delivered February 10, 1933. Video
•
Hitler, Adolph. Three Years’ Struggle for Peace. Parts of speeches given by Hitler assembled
by the Nazi party. Released September 9, 1935. Video
•
Hitler, Adolph. “On National Socialism and World Relations.” Speech delivered in the
German Reichstag, January 30, 1937. (30 pp)
•
Hitler, Adolph. Closing speech at the NSDAP Congress. Nuremberg, September 12, 1938.
YouTube Pt. 1 |YouTube Pt. 2 | Full Text (Recommended)
•
Hitler, Adolph. Speech delivered at the Berlin Sports Palace, January 30, 1941. Link
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Recommended: Goebbels, Joseph. “Nation: Rise up and Let the Storm Break Loose.” A
speech delivered February 18, 1943. Audio | Full Text
•
Memoranda from Japanese Imperial Conference, September 1941. (7 pp)
•
Recommended: Sagan, Scott D. “The Origins of the Pacific War,” Journal of
Interdisciplinary History, Vol. XVIII, No. 4 (Spring 1988), pp. 893-922. Link (29 pp) Skim:
just get outline of major arguments.
Class 8b: The American Response: Idealism or Realism? (Mon 11 Jul)
•
Kennan, George. American Diplomacy. Pt I, Ch 5: “World War II.” (17 pp)
•
Recommended: Chamberlain, Neville. Speech after Munich Conference. September 30,
1938. Video
•
Recommended: Churchill, Winston. “The Munich Agreement.” Speech before the House of
Commons, delivered October 5, 1938. Link
•
Tharoor, Ishaan. “What George Orwell said about Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’”. The Washington
Post. 25 February 2015. Link | Review [Mar 1940]
•
The Atlantic Charter. August 14, 1941. (1 p) Link
•
Roosevelt, Franklin D. “Pearl Harbor Speech.” Address given to the United States Congress,
December 8, 1941. Link
•
Eisenhower, Dwight D. “Order of the Day.” Statement given to Allied invading troops on DDay, June 6, 1944. Link
•
Recommended: Carr, Edward Hallett. The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 1919-1939: An Introduction
to the Study of International Relations. [1939] 2nd ed. London: Macmillan & Co., 1946. Ch
14. (15 pp.)
Unit 3: After the War: A “New World Order”?
Topic 7. Post-War Reorganization
Class 9: America’s New World Order (Tue 12 Jul)
•
Recommended: Ikenberry, G. John. After Victory. Ch 6: “The Settlement of 1945.” (52 pp)
•
Kennan, George. American Diplomacy. Pt I, Ch 6: “Diplomacy in the Modern World.” (12
pp)
•
Joint statement by Experts of United and Associated Nations on the Establishment of an
International Stabilisation Fund. April, 1944. (10 pp)
•
Goldstein, Judith and Joanne Gowa. “US National Power and the Post-War Trading
Regime.” World Trade Review 1, no. 2 (2002): 153-70. Link (17 pp)
•
Hiscox, Michael J. “The Magic Bullet? The RTAA, Institutional Reform, and Trade
Liberalization.” International Organization 53, no. 4 (1999): 669-98. Link (21 pp)
Topic 8. The Durability of the Post-War Plans
Class 10: The Cold War (Wed 13 Jul)
•
Kennan, George. American Diplomacy. Part II. (40 pp)
•
Churchill, Winston. “Sinews of Peace (Iron Curtain).” Commencement address given at
Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, March 5, 1946. Link
•
Kennedy, John F. Address to the Nation. October 22, 1962. (15 pp) Text & Audio
Recommended: Robert S. McNamara’s “The Fog of War.” (2003) Video (105 Minutes)
Unit 4: American Foreign Policy Today and Tomorrow
Topic 9. The End of History
Class 11a: The Cold War’s Abrupt End (Thu 14 Jul)
•
Recommended: Ikenberry, G. John. After Victory. Ch 7: “After the Cold War.” (42 pp)
•
Gorbachev, Mikhail, Margaret Thatcher, George Bush, Francois Mitterrand, Brian
Mulroney, and Fidel Castro. “What Did We End the Cold War For?” New Perspectives
Quarterly 13, no. 1 (1996): 18-28. (10 pp)
•
Risse-Kappen, Thomas. “Ideas do not float freely: transnational coalitions, domestic
structures, and the end of the cold war.” International Organization 48, no. 02 (1994):
185-214. Link
Class 11b: After the Cold War (Thu 14 Jul)
•
Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations?” (In Mingst & Snyder.) (6 pp)
•
Slaughter, Anne-Marie. “The Real New World Order.” (In Mingst & Snyder.) (7 pp)
•
Recommended: Hagen, William. “The Balkans’ Lethal Nationalism.” Foreign Affairs (1999):
52-64. (12 pp)
Class 12: The War on Terror (Mon 18 Jul)
•
Bush, George W. Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People,
September 20, 2001.
•
Bush, George W. “National Security Strategy of the United States of America,” 17
September 2002. (Skip Ch 9.) (30 pp)
•
Kenneth M. Pollack, “Next Stop Baghdad?” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 81, No. 2 (March/April
2002), pp. 32-47. Link (15 pp)
•
John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, “An Unnecessary War,” Foreign Policy,
(January/February 2003), pp. 51-59. Link (8 pp)
•
Obama, Barack. Speech in Cairo. 4 June 2009. Video | Text
Class 13: The Future of American Foreign Policy (Tue 19 Jul)
•
Mearsheimer, John J. “The Gathering Storm: China’s Challenge to US Power in Asia.” The
Chinese Journal of International Politics, Vol. 3, 2010, 381–396. Link
•
Friedburg, Aaron L. “Bucking Beijing: An Alternative U.S. China Policy.” Link
•
Posen, Barry R. “Pull Back: The Case for a Less Activist Foreign Policy.” Link
•
Ikenberry, G. John. “The Future of the Liberal World Order.” Link
Unit 5: American Foreign Policy in Action
Class 14: Simulation, Day 1 (Wed 20 Jul)
Class 15: Simulation, Day 2 (Thu 21 Jul)