PLIR 4440. Domestic Politics and American Foreign Policy.
Fall 2012. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30-1:45 pm, Gibson 241 (South Lawn)
Mr. Lynch.
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m.-12:25 p.m., S397 Gibson (South Lawn)
This course analyzes the relationship between U.S. domestic and U.S. foreign policy
from several perspectives: conceptual, historical and topical. Students will be required to:
(1) submit a formal research proposal, due on September 20th; (2) write an in-class essay
exam, on October 11th; (3) submit a 15-20 page research paper analyzing the relative
influence of domestic factors on some aspect of U.S. foreign policy, due on December
6th; and (4) write a final take-home essay, which is due on December 14th by 5 p.m. The
mid-term essay and final essay will each count as 25% of the final grade; the research
paper, which includes the formal research proposal, will count as 50%.
I shall read one draft of your research paper and return it with comments (and without a
grade) before final submission.
Active class participation is essential to this course and will be factored into the final
grade.
Students’ written work will be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria: degree of
command of presentations and readings; degree of incisiveness and coherence of
analysis; soundness and originality of judgment; as well as facility of expression in
written English.
Please note that the grade of “B” denotes “good” work.
The following books are available for purchase at the University Bookstore:
Richard van Alstyne, THE RISING AMERICAN EMPIRE
Melvin Small, DEMOCRACY AND DIPLOMACY: THE IMPACT OF DOMESTIC
POLITICS ON U.S. FOREIGN POLICY, 1789-1994
James McCormick, et al., eds., DOMESTIC SOURCES OF AMERICAN FOREIGN
POLICY (Sixth edition, 2012)
Jon Western, SELLING INTERVENTION AND WAR: The PRESIDENCY, THE
MEDIA AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC
Tony Smith, FOREIGN ATTACHMENTS: THE POWER OF ETHNIC GROUPS IN
THE MAKING OF AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY
Michael Hunt, IDEOLOGY AND AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY (2009 ed.)
Gordon Silverstein, IMBALANCE OF POWER: CONSTITUTIONAL
INTERPRETATION AND THE MAKING OF U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
All other readings are on Collab.
All U.S. Supreme Court cases that are referenced in the syllabus may be found at the
following web site: http://supreme.justia.com. Just type in the name of the case in the
search box.
Class Schedule
8/28. Introduction to the Course.
8/30. Historical Patterns in the Politics of US Foreign Policy.
McCormick, 33-66; van Alstyne, 1-77; Small, 1-15; Walton, THE EARLY YEARS
(Collab); Zakaria, FROM WEALTH TO POWER (Collab).
9/4. Ideological & Cultural Influences on US Foreign Policy.
Hunt, 1-45; Smith, 1-46; van Alstyne, 78-146; John Yoo, “PREROGATIVE”: THE
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ANGLO-AMERICAN CONSTITUTION & FOREIGN
AFFAIRS, (Collab).
9/6. The Constitution & US Foreign Policy: Formative Influences & Formal Powers.
Van Alstyne, 147-202; Silverstein, 21-64; Warburg, CONFLICT & CONSENSUS, 3-25
(on Collab); Stevenson, “The Neutrality Proclamation of 1793,” ISD CASE STUDY #
261 (Collab); Bas v. Tingy (1800): on undeclared war.
9/11. Congress and US Foreign Policy.
McCormick, 223-238, 285-318; Silverstein, 65-122; David Newsom, The Public
Dimension of Foreign Policy, 201-230 (on Collab); Henkin, THE CONGRESS (Collab);
Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer (1952): President may not nationalize industry on
claim of national security without Congressional assent or acquiescence in some form.
9/13. The Presidency and US Foreign Policy.
McCormick, 179-222; U.S. v. Curtiss-Wright (1936): powers of sovereignty precede
those of the Constitution; Williams v. Suffolk Insurance Co. (1839): doctrine of political
questions; Edward S. Corwin, THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE POWER, 156-176
(Collab); Goldwater v. Carter (1979): President may abrogate a treaty without Senate’s
consent.
9/18. The War Power.
McCormick, 105-122; Silverstein, 139-170; V.A. Auger, “The War Powers Resolution
and US Policy in Lebanon, 1982-1984,” ISD CASE STUDY #358 (Collab).
9/20. Individual Rights in Wartime.
Silverstein, 171-224; Schenck v. U.S. (1919): allowable restrictions on speech in
wartime; Near v. Minnesota (1931): “clear and present danger” as the standard for
allowable censorship; Korematsu v. U.S. (1944): allowable deportation of 120,000
Japanese-Americans without due process in wartime.
Written research proposal is due in class.
9/25. Individual Rights in Wartime: Impact of September 11, 2001.
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004): minimum due process for U.S. citizens even in wartime, even
if captured as enemy combatant; Padilla v. Hanft (2006): ditto, but concerning arrest on
US soil on terrorism charges.
9/27. Public Opinion and US Foreign Policy.
McCormick, 123-138; Western, 1-25, 220-234.
10/2. Interest Groups.
Smith, 47-129; Howard Wiarda, American Foreign Policy: Actors and Processes, 95-116
(on Collab); Mary Lovely, “Thinking Locally, Acting Globally: Congressman Jim Walsh
and the NAFTA Vote,” ISD Case Study, on (Collab).
10/4. Electoral Cycles.
McCormick, 139-156; Quandt, THE ELECTORAL CYCLE (Collab).
10/9. Reading Period.
10/11. In-class essay examination.
10/16. Ethnicity and US Foreign Policy.
McCormick, 67-104; G.F. Treverton & P. Varley, “The U.S. and South Africa and the
1985 Sanctions Debate,” ISD CASE STUDY #443 (Collab).
10/18. The Senate and the Failure of the League of Nations Covenant, 1918-1920.
Hunt, 46-124; Small, 26-51.
10/23. Interventionists vs. “Isolationists”: FDR & WWII: 1939-1941.
Small, 52-79; Cole, ROOSEVELT & THE ISOLATIONSISTS, parts 1-3 (Collab); Cole,
LEND-LEASE (Collab); Holsti, THE 1940 DESTROYER DEAL WITH BRITAIN (C).
10/25. The Impact of McCarthyism on US Foreign Policy.
Small, 80-109; Stone, THE COLD WAR: THE SCAREMONGERS (Collab).
10/30. The Cuban Missile Crisis & Models of Foreign Policy Decision-Making.
Small, 110-140; Allison, ESSENCE OF DECISION (Collab); Brussel, THE CUBAN
MISSILE CRISIS (Collab).
11/1. Vietnam, 1954: the Decision Not to Intervene Militarily.
Western, 26-63; Neustadt, Ch. 13: PRESIDENTIAL POWER & THE MODERN
PRESIDENTS (Collab).
11/6. Vietnam, 1965: the Decision to Escalate Militarily.
McCormick, 333-344; Snyder, Ch. 7: AMERICA’S COLD WAR CONSENSUS
(Collab).
11/8. The Vietnam Syndrome in US Foreign Policy.
Hunt, 125-198; Western, 62-132; Small, 141-164.
11/13. Presidential Initiative & the Gulf War, 1990-91.
McCormick, 189-208.
11/15. Post-Cold War Influences on the Politics of US Foreign Policy.
Western, 133-174; McCormick, 383-398; Betts, POLITICAL SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR
AMERICAN PRIMACY (Collab); Deibel, DEATH OF A TREATY (Collab).
11/20. Organizational & Related Origins of the September 11, 2001 Terror Attacks.
Review chapters 1-8 of THE 9/11 REPORT, available at: http://www.911commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf.
11/22. Thanksgiving holiday.
11/27 & 11/29. September 11, 2001 Effects: the Roads to War in Afghanistan & Iraq.
Western, 175-219; McCormick, 267-284, 417-428.
12/4. The Obama Administration.
McCormick, 429-448.
12/6. Implications for the Study of US Foreign Policy & International Relations.
Hunt, 199-218; Small, 165-170; Smith, 130-170.
Research paper is due in class.
Final take-home essay assignment to be issued; due at S397 Gibson (South Lawn) on
Friday, December 14, at 5 pm.