GOVT 405 US Foreign Policy in a Changing World

This seminar deals with the challenges to American foreign policy in the contemporary world. It compares the predictable environment of the Cold War and the competition with the Soviet Union to the unchartered waters of the post-Cold War era. The seminar begins by analyzing alternative paradigms of today's world both in terms of the distribution of power (uni-, bi-, tri-, or multi-polar system) and in terms of the fundamental nature of international conflict (state-based power politics, clash of civilization, religious fundamentalism). It then examines possible U.S. responses to this "deregulated" world dealing with classical dilemmas of American foreign policy (e.g. isolationist tendencies vs. interventionism, U.S. as a world policeman vs. a "reluctant sheriff"). The seminar will cover U.S. policy vis-a-vis different regions and countries (Europe, the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, Russia, the Peoples' Republic of China) and toward a variety of issues (human rights, weapons of mass destruction, NATO expansion). Satisfies exposure to international politics subfield. [W]