American University
School of International Service
SIS 419-009
Th 2:10-4:50: Ward 105
Jordan Tama
tama@american.edu
McCabe 211, 202-885-2332
Office hrs: Tu 9:00-12:00, Wed 2:15-5:15,
and by appointment
The President, Congress, and U.S. Foreign Policy
Spring 2010
1. Course Description and Objectives
Who really makes U.S. foreign policy? Does the president dominate foreign policy
making, or does Congress often drive policy? How, in what circumstances, and on what
issues does Congress assert itself in foreign policy? Is America better off when the
president has substantial leeway to set foreign policy, or when Congress challenges
presidential authority? These questions are the focus of this course.
The principal objective of the course is to assess the roles of Congress and the president
in foreign policy making. This main objective breaks down into several more specific
objectives:

Examine the constitutional foundation of congressional and presidential authority
in foreign policy making

Examine changes in the roles of Congress and the president over time

Analyze the tools and mechanics of congressional and presidential action in
foreign policy

Assess competing arguments about the factors that shape congressionalpresidential relations in foreign policy

Analyze the dynamics of policy making in a variety of specific areas, including
trade policy, treaties, spending on foreign affairs and defense, intelligence and
covert action, and the use of force
2. Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, I expect students to have achieved the following learning
outcomes:

Gained in-depth knowledge of the congressional and presidential roles in foreign
policy making
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
Evaluated competing arguments about congressional-executive relations and the
factors that shape them

Applied concepts and knowledge from the course to contemporary foreign policy
issues

Synthesized course concepts and information

Written an original research paper on an issue related to the course

Attended and reported on a congressional hearing on a foreign policy topic
3. Readings and Course Schedule
Six books that are required reading are available for purchase at the campus bookstore. I
have also placed them on reserve at the University library.
I. M. Destler, American Trade Politics, Fourth Edition (Washington, DC: Institute for
International Economics, 2005)
Louis Fisher, Congressional Abdication on War and Spending (College Station, TX:
Texas A&M University Press, 2000)
Lee H. Hamilton, with Jordan Tama, A Creative Tension: The Foreign Policy Roles of
the President and Congress (Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2002)
James M. Lindsay, Congress and the Politics of U.S. Foreign Policy (Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1994)
Andrew Rudalevige, The New Imperial Presidency: Renewing Presidential Power after
Watergate (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006)
Stephen R. Weissman, A Culture of Deference: Congress’s Failure of Leadership in
Foreign Policy (New York: Basic Books, 1995)
All other readings will be available electronically through the course website on
Blackboard.
January 14: Introduction
Andrew Rudalevige, The New Imperial Presidency: Renewing Presidential Power after
Watergate (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006), pages 1-18
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January 21: Executive-Congressional Relations from the Founding through the
Vietnam War
The Constitution of the United States, Articles I, II, and III
James M. Lindsay, Congress and the Politics of U.S. Foreign Policy (Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1994), 11-32
Andrew Rudalevige, The New Imperial Presidency: Renewing Presidential Power after
Watergate (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006), pages 19-85, 101-126
Thomas M. Franck and Edward Weisband, Foreign Policy by Congress (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1979), pages 13-33
January 28: Executive-Congressional Relations since the Vietnam War
Robert M. Hathaway and Jordan Tama, “The U.S. Congress and North Korea during the
Clinton Years: Talk Tough, Carry a Small Stick,” Asian Survey, Volume 44, Number 5
(September/October 2004), pages 711-733
Andrew Rudalevige, The New Imperial Presidency: Renewing Presidential Power after
Watergate (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006), pages 167-259
Gary J. Schmitt, “The Myth of the (Bush) Imperial Presidency,” American Enterprise
Institute (January 2009), pages 1-8
Charlie Savage, “Obama’s Embrace of Bush Tactic Criticized by Lawmakers from Both
Parties,” New York Times (August 9, 2009)
Patrick Radden Keefe, “The Year in Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law,” Taking Note
blog (December 29, 2009)
February 4: Drivers of Congressional-Executive Relations, Part 1
Lee H. Hamilton, with Jordan Tama, A Creative Tension: The Foreign Policy Roles of
the President and Congress (Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2002)
pages 8-71
James P. Pfiffner, “Partisan Polarization, Politics, and the Presidency: Structural Sources
of Conflict,” in James A. Thurber, editor, Rivals for Power: Presidential-Congressional
Relations, Fourth Edition (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2009), pages 37-59
Paul E. Peterson, “The President’s Dominance in Foreign Policy Making,” Political
Science Quarterly, Volume 109, Number 2 (Summer 1994), pages 215-234
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Rebecca K. C. Hersman, Friends and Foes: How Congress and the President Really
Make Foreign Policy (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2000), pages 1-9,
67-84
February 11: Drivers of Congressional-Executive Relations, Part 2
James M. Lindsay, Congress and the Politics of U.S. Foreign Policy (Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1994), pages 1-10, 33-52
Stephen R. Weissman, A Culture of Deference: Congress’s Failure of Leadership in
Foreign Policy (New York: Basic Books, 1995), pages 1-69, 137-177
February 18: Drivers of Congressional-Executive Relations, Part 3
Stephen R. Weissman, A Culture of Deference: Congress’s Failure of Leadership in
Foreign Policy (New York: Basic Books, 1995), pages 70-104
Philip Brenner, Patrick J. Haney, and Walter Vanderbush, “Intermestic Interests and U.S.
Policy toward Cuba,” in Eugene R. Wittkopf and James M. McCormick, editors, The
Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy, Fifth Edition (Lanham, MD: Rowman &
Littlefield, 2008), pages 65-80
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, “The Israel Lobby,” in Eugene R. Wittkopf and
James M. McCormick, editors, The Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy, Fifth
Edition (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008), pages 81-95
David Remnick, “The Lobby,” The New Yorker (September 3, 2007)
Walter Russell Mead, “Jerusalem Syndrome: Decoding ‘The Israel Lobby,’” Foreign
Affairs (November/December 2007), pages 160-168
James Lindsay, “Getting Uncle Sam’s Ear: Will Ethnic Lobbies Cramp America’s
Foreign Policy Style,” Brookings Review, Volume 20, Number 1 (Winter 2002), pages
37-40
John Pomfret, “China’s Lobbying Efforts Yield New Influence, Openness on Capitol
Hill,” Washington Post (January 9, 2010)
February 25: Foreign Policy Making Tools and Processes
Paper proposal and preliminary bibliography due at beginning of class
James M. Lindsay, Congress and the Politics of U.S. Foreign Policy (Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1994), pages 53-184
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March 4: Spending on Foreign Affairs and Defense
Barry M. Blechman, The Politics of National Security: Congress and U.S. Defense Policy
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), pages 23-62
Robert K. Art, “Congress and the Defense Budget: Enhancing Policy Oversight,”
Political Science Quarterly, Volume 100, Number 2 (1985): pages 227-248
Gordon Adams and Cindy Williams, Buying National Security: How America Plans and
Pays for Its Global Role and Safety at Home (Routledge, 2009), pages TBA
Gordon Adams, “The Politics of National Security Budgets,” Stanley Foundation Policy
Analysis Brief (February 2007)
March 18: Trade
I. M. Destler, American Trade Politics, Fourth Edition (Washington, DC: Institute for
International Economics, 2005), pages 3-37, 169-306
March 25: Senate Confirmation of Treaties
Louis Fisher, Constitutional Conflicts between Congress and the President, Fifth Edition
(Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas), pages 220-248
David P. Auerswald, “Advice and Consent: The Forgotten Power,” in Colton C.
Campbell, Nicol C. Rae, and John F. Stack, Jr., editors, Congress and the Politics of
Foreign Policy (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003), pages 44-69
C. Lawrence Evans and Walter J. Oleszek, “A Tale of Two Treaties: The Practical
Politics of Treaty Ratification in the U.S. Senate,” in Colton C. Campbell, Nicol C. Rae,
and John F. Stack, Jr., editors, Congress and the Politics of Foreign Policy (Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003), pages 90-111
Kyoto Protocol on climate change:
Helen Dewar, “Senate Advises against Emissions Treaty That Lets Developing Nations
Pollute,” Washington Post (July 26, 1997)
John H. Cushman Jr., “Intense Lobbying against Global Warming Treaty,” New York
Times (December 7, 1997)
John H. Cushman Jr., “U.S. Signs a Pact to Reduce Gases Tied to Warming,” New York
Times (November 13, 1998)
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Copenhagen climate change conference:
John M. Broder, “When Obama Goes to Copenhagen, He'll Have Everything but a
Consensus,” International Herald Tribune (December 14, 2009)
Juliet Eilperin, “After Hard Sell in Copenhagen, An Even Harder Sell in the Senate,”
Washington Post (December 27, 2009)
Sen. John F. Kerry, Remarks at Copenhagen conference (December 18, 2009)
Sen. James Inhofe, Remarks at Copenhagen conference (December 17, 2009)
Report on congressional hearing due Monday, March 29 at noon
April 1: Senate Confirmation of Appointees
Alexander Hamilton, “The Appointing Power of the Executive,” Federalist Paper No. 76
Thomas Shannon and Arturo Venezuela nominations:
Alexander Bolton, “Obama and DeMint Locked in Proxy Fight over Hugo Chavez,” The
Hill (September 20, 2009)
James Rosen, “Honduras Shows Latin America’s ‘Strongman’ Is Jim DeMint,”
McClatchy Newspapers (November 14, 2009)
Josh Rogin, “The State Department’s zig-zag diplomacy on Honduras,” The Cable
(November 30, 2009)
John Bolton nomination:
Elisabeth Bumiller and Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “President Sends Bolton to U.N.; Bypasses
Senate,” New York Times (August 2, 2005)
Washington Post, “Ambassador Bolton*,” (August 2, 2005)
Richard Holbrooke nomination:
John Mintz, “Holbrooke Settles Complaint; Clinton to Submit U.N. Nomination to
Senate,” New York Times (February 10, 1999)
Hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Nomination of Richard
Holbrooke to Serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (June 17, 1999), pages 144
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Philip Shenon, “Roadblock to Holbrooke's U.N. Nomination Is Apparently Lott,” New
York Times (July 7, 1999)
Philip Shenon, “Senate Confirms U.N. Appointment after 14 Months,” New York Times
(August 6, 1999)
April 8: Intelligence and Covert Action
Gregory F. Treverton, “Intelligence: Welcome to the American Government,” in Thomas
E. Mann, editor, A Question of Balance: The President, the Congress, and Foreign Policy
(Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1990), pages 70-108
Loch K. Johnson, “Accountability and America’s Secret Foreign Policy: Keeping a
Legislative Eye on the Central Intelligence Agency,” Foreign Policy Analysis (2005) 1,
99-120
Stephen R. Weissman, A Culture of Deference: Congress’s Failure of Leadership in
Foreign Policy (New York: Basic Books, 1995), pages 105-136
Louis Fisher, “NSA Eavesdropping: Unchecked or Limited Presidential Power?” in
Ralph C. Carter, editor, Contemporary Cases in U.S. Foreign Policy: From Terrorism to
Trade (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2008), pages 185-215
Research paper due Monday, April 12 at noon
April 15: Use of Force
Louis Fisher, Congressional Abdication on War and Spending (College Station, TX:
Texas A&M University Press, 2000), pages 3-114
William G. Howell and Jon C. Pevehouse, While Dangers Gather: Congressional Checks
on Presidential War Powers (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007), pages 3-49
April 22: Reassessing Congressional-Executive Relations, and Ideas for Reform
Aaron L. Friedberg, “Is the United States Capable of Acting Strategically?” Washington
Quarterly, Volume 14, Number 1 (1991), pages 5-23
Robert A. Pastor, “Congress and U.S. Foreign Policy: Comparative Advantage or
Disadvantage?” Washington Quarterly, Volume 14, Number 4 (1991), pages 101-114
Andrew Rudalevige, The New Imperial Presidency: Renewing Presidential Power after
Watergate (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006), pages 261-285
Stephen R. Weissman, A Culture of Deference: Congress’s Failure of Leadership in
Foreign Policy (New York: Basic Books, 1995), pages 178-194
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Lee H. Hamilton, with Jordan Tama, A Creative Tension: The Foreign Policy Roles of
the President and Congress (Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2002)
pages 72-91
National War Powers Commission Report (July 2008), pages 5-10, 43-48
April 29: Final exam due at 5 PM
4. Course Requirements and Assignments
A general note: In all of your writing for this course, please proofread your work
carefully to eliminate grammatical errors and maximize the clarity of your writing.
Class participation (20% of grade): You should come to each class prepared to discuss
the assigned readings. I will evaluate your participation based on your attendance and the
quality of your contributions to class discussions.
Report on congressional hearing (15% of grade): At some point between the
beginning of the semester and March 26, you should attend a congressional hearing on
Capitol Hill and write a short report about what transpired and what you observed at the
hearing. The purpose of this assignment is to give you a deeper understanding of the
dynamics of congressional operations.
Your report should describe both the substance of the hearing and your impression of
what was happening in the room during the hearing. For instance, the report could cover
what the purpose of the hearing seemed to be; the main points made by witnesses in their
testimony; whether the hearing revealed conflicts between Republicans and Democrats or
between Congress and the administration; whether the hearing was well-attended by
members of Congress, the media, and the public; and whether the members of Congress
attending the hearing seemed to be very engaged in it. The report should be 1000-1500
words, and it must be submitted by noon on Monday, March 29.
Congressional hearings are open to the public, and there are many congressional
committees that deal with foreign policy and national security issues. You may attend a
hearing of any of the following committees: House Foreign Affairs Committee; Senate
Foreign Relations Committee; House Armed Services Committee; Senate Armed
Services Committee; House Homeland Security Committee; Senate Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs Committee; House Appropriations Subcommittee on State,
Foreign Operations, and Related Programs; Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on
State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs; House Appropriations Subcommittee
on Defense; or Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
As these committees announce their schedules for hearings, I will send you the schedules
so that you can pick a hearing to attend. Most committees hold hearings on Tuesday,
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Wednesday, or Thursday, in either the morning or afternoon. Be sure to arrive at the
congressional office building at least 15 minutes early so that you can go through security
and get a seat at the hearing room. I will be happy to provide more information about
attending hearings if you have any questions about this.
If your schedule does not allow you to attend a hearing (for instance, if you have classes
in the morning and afternoon on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday), please speak to
me early in the semester and we will work out an alternative assignment for you.
Research paper (35% of grade): You are required to write a research paper consisting
of a case study describing and analyzing the roles of Congress and the president on a
particular foreign policy issue or decision. The issue or decision can be historical or
current.
You must submit a 1-2 paragraph proposal for the paper, along with a preliminary
bibliography, by the beginning of class on February 25. The full paper should be 30003500 words. It is due on Monday, April 12 at noon.
You should follow the Chicago Manual of Style or Modern Language Association
guidelines for citations and bibliographic references.
Take-home final exam (30% of grade): The final exam, to be taken outside of class,
will cover course readings and lectures from the entire semester. I will give you the exam
on April 22, and you must submit it by 5 p.m. on April 29.
Academic integrity: Standards of academic conduct are set forth in the University's
Academic Integrity Code. By registering, you have acknowledged your awareness of the
Academic Integrity Code, and you are obliged to become familiar with your rights and
responsibilities as defined by it. Violations of the Academic Integrity Code will not be
treated lightly, and disciplinary actions will be taken should such violations occur. Please
see me if your have any questions about the academic violations described in the
Academic Integrity Code in general or as they relate to particular requirements for this
course.
5. Support Services and Disabilities
If you experience difficulty in this course for any reason, please don’t hesitate to consult
with me. In addition to the resources of SIS, a wide range of services is available to
support you in your efforts to meet the course requirements.
Academic Support Center (x3360, MGC 243) offers study skills workshops, individual
instruction, tutor referrals, and services for students with learning disabilities. Writing
support is available in the ASC Writing Lab or in the Writing Center, Battelle 228.
Counseling Center (x3500, MGC 214) offers counseling and consultations regarding
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personal concerns, self-help information, and connections to off-campus mental health
resources.
Disability Support Services (x3315, MGC 206) offers technical and practical support
and assistance with accommodations for students with physical, medical, or
psychological disabilities.
If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please notify me in a timely
manner with a letter from the Academic Support Center or Disability Support Services so
that we can make arrangements to address your needs.
6. Emergency Preparedness
In the event of a declared pandemic (influenza or other communicable disease),
American University will implement a plan for meeting the needs of all members of the
university community. Should the university be required to close for a period of time, we
are committed to ensuring that all aspects of our educational programs will be delivered
to our students. These may include altering and extending the duration of the traditional
term schedule to complete essential instruction in the traditional format and/or use of
distance instructional methods. Specific strategies will vary from class to class,
depending on the format of the course and the timing of the emergency. Faculty will
communicate class-specific information to students via AU e-mail and Blackboard, while
students must inform their faculty immediately of any absence due to illness. Students are
responsible for checking their AU e-mail regularly and keeping themselves informed of
emergencies. In the event of a declared pandemic or other emergency, students should
refer to the AU Web site (www.prepared.american.edu) and the AU information line at
(202) 885-1100 for general university-wide information, as well as contact their faculty
and/or respective dean’s office for course and school/college-specific information.
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