POL2210Y1Y L0101

Undergraduate Course Code: POL420Y1Y L0101

Elements of United States Foreign Policy

Themes

Seminar on the tradition, process, and implementation of American foreign policy.

Texts

David E. Sanger, The Inheritance: The World Obama Inherits and the Challenges to American Power;
Fareed Zakaria, The Post-American World;
The 9-11 Commission Report (Norton);
Eugene R. Wittkopf & James M. McCormick, The Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy, 5th ed. (Rowman and Littlefield);
Eugene R. Wittkopf, Charles W. Kegley, Jr., and James M. Scott, American Foreign Policy, 7th ed. (Wadsworth).

Format and Requirements

A critical review of the Sanger and Zakaria books is due early in the course. This assignment is worth twenty per cent. A take home test on the required readings worth thirty per cent is due in December. Each student will prepare a forty page (fifty pages for graduate students) foreign policy position paper that is due in April. This assignment counts forty per cent. An oral presentation on the implementation of U.S. foreign policy towards a specific region or problem constitutes the remaining twenty per cent of your grade. Attendance at all classes is mandatory and bonus points worth an additional ten per cent may be added for class discussion. Critical review (20%); test on the readings (30%), position paper (30%) and oral presentation (20%).