Dr. Zachary Selden
Office Hours: M W 10:00-11:30
zselden@ufl.edu
INR 6305: American Foreign Policy
This course is designed to familiarize students with the major schools of thought in
American foreign policy as well as the different theoretical approaches to its study.
Although the majority of the course will focus on the Post-WWII period, we will also
examine the 18th and 19th century traditions in American foreign policy because those
traditions set the parameters of debate that ensued in later years. We will spend the
last few sessions considering current issues in American foreign policy such as
responses to terrorism and dealing with rising powers.
Readings
Most of the readings are available through the UF library website and a simple search
on the title will bring the article up in PDF format. Some readings are from books that
will be on reserve at the library. You should, however, purchase the following books as
we will be using significant portions of them. All of them are available on Amazon in
paperback.
 Walter A. McDougall, Promised Land, Crusader State: The American Encounter
with the World Since 1776 (New York: Mariner Books, 1997).

Fareed Zakaria, From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America’s Role
in the World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998).

John Lewis Gaddis, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1997).
Evaluation
This seminar is heavily dependent on class discussion. Therefore, a considerable
weight of a student’s overall performance grade is placed on participation. Each class
meeting will include a presentation by one on the week’s reading and your
preparedness and participation in the ensuing discussion is critical. Participation
involves active discussion throughout the semester, not just the week you are
presenting.
Each student will be responsible for leading the class discussion on two occasions. This
will involve a short presentation on the main points of the week’s reading as well as
some analysis or critique. It is also part of the assignment to prepare several questions
to start a class discussion on the readings. This can be in the form of questions
regarding specific readings or overarching questions that cover the week’s theme. This
Office Hours: M W 10:00-11:30
Anderson 004
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Dr. Zachary Selden
Office Hours: M W 10:00-11:30
zselden@ufl.edu
summary and analysis will also be condensed into written form, which will be evaluated
as part of the assignment (approximately 1500 words).
In addition, each student is responsible for a research paper (approximately 5000
words). This can revolve around any topic as long as it relates to the themes of the
course. Ideally it would become the core of a publishable article or part of your
dissertation.
The breakdown of your final grade will be as follows:
Participation:
25%
First Disc. Lead:
20%
Second Disc. Lead: 20%
Research paper:
35%
I reserve the right to alter this syllabus, although I will give at least one week of notice
before doing so.
Course Schedule
January 12: Introduction (no reading)
January 26: Context of American Foreign Policy: Realist and Liberal Traditions
 Morganthau, In Defense of the National Interest, chp. 1 (Reserve)

Tony Smith, America’s Mission: The United States and the Worldwide Struggle
for Democracy, chp.1 (Reserve)

Charles Krauthammer, “In Defense of Democratic Realism” The National
Interest, No. 77, Fall 2004, pp.15-25.

G. John Ikenberry and Charles Kupchan, “”Liberal Realism” The National
Interest, No. 77, Fall 2004, pp.38-49.

Charles Kupchan and Peter Trubowitz, “Dead Center: The demise of Liberal
Internationalism in the United States,” International Security, Vol.32, No.2 (Fall
2007), pp.7-44.

Walter A. McDougall, Promised Land, Crusader State: The American Encounter
with the World Since 1776 (New York: Mariner Books, 1997 Chapters 1-2

Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence, Chp. 1
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Dr. Zachary Selden
Office Hours: M W 10:00-11:30
zselden@ufl.edu
February 2: Schools of American Foreign Policy and Grand Strategy
 Eliot Cohen, “The Historical Mind and Military Strategy,” Orbis, Vol. 49, No.4 Fall
2005, pp. 575-588.

Walter Russell Mead, “American Grand Strategy in a World at Risk” Orbis, Vol.
49, No.4 Fall 2005, pp. 589-598

Barry Posen and Andrew Ross, “Competing Visions for U.S. Grand Strategy”
International Security, Vol 21, No.3, Winter 1996-97, pp. 5-53.

Andrew Bacevitch, American Empire, Chp. 1 (Reserve)

Colin Dueck, “Ideas and Alternatives in American Grand Strategy 2000-2004,”
Review of International Studies Vol.30 (2004) pp.511-535.
February 9: Foreign Policy in the Early Years of the Republic
 Walter A. McDougall, Promised Land, Crusader State: The American Encounter
with the World Since 1776 (New York: Mariner Books, 1997) Chapters 3, 5, 6

Tony Smith, America’s Mission: The United States and the Worldwide Struggle
for Democracy, chp.3 (Reserve)

Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence, Chp. 2. (Reserve)

Fareed Zakaria, From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America’s Role
in the World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998) Chapters 1-4.
February 16: Creating the Cold War System
 John Lewis Gaddis, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1997) Chapters 2, 8, 10

George F. Kennan, “The Sources of Soviet Conduct,” Foreign Affairs, XXV (July
1947) pp.566- 582

Robert Jervis, “Was the Cold War a Security Dilemma?” Journal of Cold War
Studies 3.1 (2001) 36-60.

G. John Ikenberry, “Rethinking the Origins of American Hegemony,” Political
Science Quarterly, Vol.104, No.3 (1989).
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Dr. Zachary Selden
Office Hours: M W 10:00-11:30
zselden@ufl.edu
February 23: The Individual and Domestic Levels in American Foreign Policy
 Graham Allison, “Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile Crisis” American
Political Science Review, Vol.63, No.3 (September 1969) pp. 689-718.

Stephen D. Krasner. “Are Bureaucracies Important? (Or Allison Wonderland)"
Foreign Policy, Vol.7 (Summer 1972) pp. 159-179.

Fred Greenstein and John Burke, “The Dynamics of Presidential Reality Testing:
Evidence from Two Vietnam Decisions,” Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 104,
No.4 (Winter 1989-1990) pp. 557-580.

Herbert Simon, “Human Nature in Politics: The Dialogue of Psychology with
Political Science,” American Political Science Review, Vol. 79 (June 1985) pp.
293-304.

Jack Levy. "Prospect Theory and International Relations," Political Psychology,
Vol. 13 no. 2, (June 1992).

Robert Jervis, “Hypotheses on Misperception,” World Politics, Vol.20, No.3 (April
1968).
March 9: Post-Cold War Foreign Policy: We Won Now What?
 Ruggie, J. “The Past as Prologue? Interests, Identity and American Foreign
Policy” International Security, 21:4 (Spring 1997).

Gholz, E. et al “Come Home America: The Strategy of Restraint in the Face of
Temptation” International Security, 21:4 (Spring 1997).

William Wohlforth, “The Stability of a Unipolar World,” International Security, Vol.
24, No.1 (Summer 1999)

Michael Mastanduno, “Preserving the Unipolar Moment: Realist Theories and US
Grand Strategy after the Cold War,” International Security 21 (Spring 1997), pp.
49-88.

Layne, C. “From Preponderance to Offshore Balancing: America’s Future Grand
Strategy” International Security, 22:1 (Summer 1997).
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Dr. Zachary Selden
Office Hours: M W 10:00-11:30
zselden@ufl.edu
March 16: Does American Foreign Policy Create Challenges to its Hegemony?
 Sebastian Mallaby, “The Reluctant Imperialist,” Foreign Affairs, March/April 2002

Jack Snyder, “Imperial Temptations,” The National Interest, Vol. 71, Spring 2003.

Robert Pape, “Soft Balancing against the United States,” International Security,
Vol. 30, No. 1 (Summer 2005), pp. 7-45.

Stephen Brooks and William Wohlforth, “Hard Times for Soft Balancing,”
International Security, Vol.30, No1 (Summer 2005).

Gerard Alexander, "International Relations Theory Meets World Politics: The
Neoconservative vs. Realism Debate," in Understanding the Bush Doctrine, ed.
by Stanley Renshon and Peter Suedfeld (Routledge, 2007)

Sarah Kreps, “American Grand Strategy After Iraq,” Orbis, Fall 2009, pp. 629645.
March 23: Alliance relations
 Robert Kagan, “Power and Weakness,” Policy Review, no. 113, 2002.

Andrew Moravcsik, “Striking a New Transatlantic Bargain” Foreign Affairs
(July/August 2003).

Christopher Makins, “Power and Weakness or Challenge and Response?”
http://www.acus.org/docs/0301Power_Weakness_Challenge_Response_Reflections_Kagan_Thesis.pdf

George Packard, “The US-Japan Security Treaty at 50,” Foreign Affairs
March/April 2010.

Victor Cha, “Powerplay: Origins of the U.S. Alliance System in Asia,”
International Security, Vol. 34, No.3 (Winter 2009-10).
March 30: Economics and Foreign Policy
Office Hours: M W 10:00-11:30
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Dr. Zachary Selden
Office Hours: M W 10:00-11:30
zselden@ufl.edu

Carla Norrlof, America’s Global Advantage (Cambridge: 2010) Chapters 1,2,6
(Reserve)

Kimberly Ann Elliot, “The Sanctions Glass: Half Full or Completely Empty?”
International Security, Vol. 23, No.1 (Summer 1998).

Robert Pape, “Why Economic Sanctions Still Do Not Work,” International
Security 23, No.1 (Summer 1998).

Jeff Frieden, “Sectoral Conflict and U.S. Foreign Economic Policy, 1914-1940,”
International Organization, Vol. 42, No.1 (Winter 1988).

Robert Hunter Wade, “The Invisible Hand of the American Empire,” Ethics and
International Affairs, Vol.17, No.2 (November 2003) pp.77-88.
April 6: Post-Cold War Conflict

James Dobbins, et al, A Beginner’s Guide to Nation-building (Rand 2007)
Summary and Chapter 1. http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG557.html

Garrett Jones, “It’s a Cultural Thing: Thought on a Troubled CIA,” Orbis, Winter
2006, pp.23-40

“Reform of the United States Intelligence Community” US Senate Intelligence
Committee Report, 2004. Section 14

Larry Diamond, “What Went Wrong in Iraq,” Foreign Affairs,No. 83, September–
October 2004, pp. 34–56.

Bing West, “Reflections on the War in Iraq: Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy,”
Orbis, Vol. 53, No.1 (Winter 2009).

David Kilcullen, The Accidental Guerilla (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).
Chapters 1 and 2. (Reserve)
April 13: Public Opinion and Foreign Policy
Office Hours: M W 10:00-11:30
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Dr. Zachary Selden
Office Hours: M W 10:00-11:30
zselden@ufl.edu

Ole Holsti, “Public Opinion and Foreign Policy: Challenges to the AlmondLippmann Consensus,” International Studies Quarterly, Vol.36, No.4 (Dec. 1992),
pp.439-466.

Richard Sobel, The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy (New York:
Oxford University Press) 2001. Chapter 1 (Reserve)

Adam Berlinsky, “Assuming the Costs of War: Events, Elites and American
Public Support for Military Conflict,” The Journal of Politics, Vol. 69, No. 4 (Nov.
2007) pp. 975-997.

Matthew Baum, “Sex, Lies and War: How Soft News Brings Foreign Policy to the
Inattentive Public,” American Political Science Review, Vol. 96, No. 1 (March
2002) pp. 91-109.

Tevi Troy, “Devaluing the Think Tank,” National Affairs (Winter 2012) pp. 75-90.
April 20: Rising Powers and American Foreign Policy
 Andrew Hart and Bruce Jones, “How do Rising Power’s Rise?” Survival,
December 2010.

Evan A. Feigenbaum, “India’s Rise, America’s Interest,” Foreign Affairs,
March/April 2010.

Charles Glaser, "Will China’s Rise lead to War?" Foreign Affairs, March/April
2011.

Aaron Friedburg, “Hegemony with Chinese Characteristics,” The National
Interest, July/August 2011.

Josef Joffe, “The Default Power,” Foreign Affairs, Sept/Oct. 2009.

John Ikenberry, "The Future of the Liberal World Order," Foreign Affairs, May
2011.
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