Freshman Honors Seminar
FRSEM-UA 405 America's Role in International Affairs since World War II
Fall 2013
Wednesdays, 3:30-6:00 p.m.
Instructor: James B. Sitrick, Esq.
This seminar will explore America's role in international affairs since World War II, interweaving into the conversation current foreign policy issues that are challenging America. To provide historical perspective, the class first reads George F. Kennan's classic book American
Diplomacy, 1900-1950. Subsequent topics include the creation of the UN during the late 1940s and some of its more recent activities, including possible reform; the activities of the CIA in recent years; the
Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962; American involvement in Vietnam in the 1960s and early 1970s; America's long involvement in the Middle East, including its more than 65-year support for the State of Israel and the alleged influence of the “Israel Lobby” on U.S. foreign policy; the current U.S. relationship with
Iran; how the U.S. may have inflamed the insurgency in Iraq during the first few years of the war; the imperial presidency (comparing Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s celebrated 1973 book on the subject with the actions of the Bush 43 administration); and the foreign policy challenges of the Obama administration.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
This is an Honors Seminar and as such, reading and writing assignments will be heavier, and students will analyze more challenging texts. Class sessions will be devoted principally to discussing the assigned reading material, and you are expected to come to class prepared to participate actively in these discussions. Written assignments include two short papers and one longer final paper. No late papers will be accepted.
Paper #1 [due October 2, 2013]:
Reflecting on the readings in September (9/11, 9/18, 9/25), what do you consider to be the major accomplishments and challenges to U.S. foreign policy considered? [3-4 pages]
Paper #2 [due November 6, 2013]:
Reflecting on the readings in October (10/2, 10/9, 10/16, 10/23, 10/30), what do you consider to be the major accomplishments and challenges to U.S. foreign policy considered? [3-4 pages]
Final paper [due December 11, 2013]:
Prepare a memorandum to President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry advising them what their foreign policy priorities should be, and (based upon all your reading for this seminar) how they should proceed to accomplish their goals. [6-8 pages]
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READINGS
The following books are available for purchase at the NYU Bookstore (18 Washington Place):
John Lewis Gaddis, The Cold War: A New History
Jack Goldsmith, The Terror Presidency: Law and Judgment inside the Bush Administration
Robert Kagan, The Return of History and the End of Dreams
George F. Kennan, American Diplomacy
Paul Kennedy, The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present, and Future of the United Nations
Robert F. Kennedy, Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy and On China
Tom Ricks, Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq and
The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in
Iraq, 2006-2008
Steven Schlesinger, Act of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations
Ray Takeyh, Hidden Iran: Paradox and Power in the Islamic Republic and
Guardians of the Revolution: Iran in the Age of the Ayatollahs
Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
Fareed Zakaria, The Post-American World
Power
David Sanger Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American
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CLASS SCHEDULE:
September 4 Introductory conversations
September 11
September 18
September 25
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Pre-World War II American Role in International Affairs (1900-1950)
George F. Kennan, American Diplomacy, 1900-1950 p. 3-103
Creation of the United Nations (1947)
Steven Schlesinger, Act of Creation Ch. 2, 7, 10, 14, 16
Paul Kennedy, The Parliament of Man Ch. 1 and 8
Creation of Israel (1948)
Film (to be screened in class): “Crisis Guide: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, “The Israel Lobby.” The London Review of Books. March 23, 2006.
Mearsheimer and Walt, “Unrestricted Access,” Foreign Policy. May/June 2006.
Zbigniew Brezinski, “A Dangerous Exemption,” Foreign Policy. July/August
2006.
Aaron Friedberg, “An Uncivilized Argument,” Foreign Policy. July/August 2006.
Dennis Ross, “The Mind-Set Matters,” Foreign Policy. July/August
2006.
Shlomo Ben-Ami, “The Complex Truth,” Foreign Policy. July/August
2006.
Mearsheimer and Walt, “Mearsheimer and Walt Respond,” Foreign
Policy. July/August 2006.
Christopher Hitchens, Exaggerating Strength of Israel Lobby, Slate.com
Walter Russell Mead, Jerusalem Syndrome, Foreign Affairs, Nov-Dec
2007
David Verbeeten, How Important is the Israel Lobby, Middle East
Quarterly, Fall 2006
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October 2
October 9
October 16
October 23
October 30
November 6
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Ball, Preston, Schoenbaum, Smith, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign
Policy, H-Diplo Round Table, Volume VIII, No. 18, 2007
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
Robert F. Kennedy, Thirteen Days p. 7-145
Paper #1 due
Vietnam (1960s and 70s)
Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy
Ch. 25, 26, and 27
Reagan's Foreign Policy (1980s)
John Lewis Gaddis, The Cold War: A New History
Ch. 6, 7, and Epilogue
Guest: Peter G. Peterson (former Secretary of Commerce, Nixon
Administration; former Chairman, Lehman Brothers; co-founder,
Blackstone Group
The CIA under Presidents Clinton and Bush (1992-2004)
Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes p. 507-601
Guest: Jack Devine (former Deputy Director of Operations, CIA)
The War in Iraq
Tom Ricks, Fiasco
Ch. 8 and 9
Tom Ricks, The Gamble
Ch. 6, 12, and Epilogue
Fareed Zakaria, The Post-American World Preface, p. 1-48, and p. 215-259
Paper #2 due
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November 13
November 20
November 27
December 4
David Sanger, Confront and Conceal
Chapters 6 through 9 (pages 141-240)
Ray Takeyh, Guardians of the Revolution
Chapters 8 through 11, Conclusion, Afterword (pages 181-273)
Henry Kissinger, On China
Preface, Prologue, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2
Chapters 4-5
Chapters 8-9
Chapter 15 xv - 56
91-147
202-274
408-439
Chapter 17
Epilogue
447-486
514-530
Guest: Hon Winston Lord, former US Ambassador to China; former Assistant
Secretary of State for Asian Affairs; accompanied President Nixon and
Secretary of State Kissinger on visit to China in early 1970s to "open"
China
Jack Goldsmith, The Terror Presidency (Chapters 3, 5 and 6)
Future of American International Relations
Francis Fukuyama, “The End of History” (The National Interest, summer 1989)
Robert Kagan, The Return of History p. 3-103
Final paper due December 14
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