Background:

This is a relatively new course at WLSC that I will be teaching for only the third time. My approach to the course has changed substantially with each effort, but even more so this time. This variability stems partly from my not having settled on an pedagogical approach for this course, and partly from the inherently unsettled nature of U.S. foreign policy in a post-Cold War era in which America's role has yet to be clarified the way it was during the Cold War.

I am excited about the values clarification method that I have decided to use this semester because it takes me back to the very first article that I published two decades ago: "Teaching American National Politics: A Values Clarification Approach," in a refereed journal called Teaching Political Science. Two decades ago I very much liked the values clarification approach that I developed, but then it dropped from my radar screen when I ceased teaching American National Politics. However, many parallels exist between that course and this one, so I have resurrected it and adapted it here.

Values clarification tries to personalize education by combining the factual, conceptual, and valuative levels in the context of examining vital issues. It does so using an inductive, inquiry method, not a deductive, didactic method like lecture courses do. You will make up your own mind on key issues by reading, discussing, thinking, and writing about them. I hope that you will find it interesting and relevant-as well as informative.

Course Goal and Objectives:

The general goal involves three parts: (1) to make you conversant with trends in U.S. foreign policy historically; (2) to contrast that historical backdrop with the controversial policy issues currently dividing American public opinion; (3) to consider these issues in a manner that links the affective and cognitive domains of learning, systematically and personally, by moving from general to specific position-taking on 12 current policy issues.

The specific objectives include: (1) to present an historical backdrop by lecturing on eight thematic areas of U.S. policy; (2) to provide sufficient information (lecture, reading, A-V) for rational position-taking on 12 vital issues; (3) to structure inductive V.C. exercises in ways that personalize at the micro-level essentially macro-level policy issues; (4) to enhance skills in expressing orally and in writing positions on contemporary issues; (5) to facilitate awareness of the complexity inherent in these issues and an acceptance of others' right to hold values and policy opinions at variance with one's own; (6) to conceptualize the relationship between cumulative positions taken on specific issues and a broader sense of one's place on the philosophical continuums of liberalism/conservatism and idealism/realism; (7) to use the Summative Issues Assessment as a means bringing closure to the courses' content and methods; (to foster your active participation; (8) to employ a contract grading system allowing you set your own goal regarding the grade for this course.

Hist/Pols 426 and the Curriculum:

This course is unusual in that it is available for three credits under two different disciplines. It meets requirements for the major or minor in both history and political science. In reality, this seeming anomaly is not so strange. The arbitrary lines dividing the social sciences have more to do with administrative convenience than with intellectual imperatives. The symbiotic disciplines of history and political science lend themselves to sharing methods and insights. In most history departments this course is labeled US Diplomatic History, while political science departments usually call it US Foreign Policy. I am incorporating academic elements from both disciplines.

Required Text and Closed Reserve:

The required text for this course is Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American Foreign Policy (Dushkin McGraw-Hill, 2000), edited by John Rourke. It is chosen for its recency, good crisp articles, readability, introductions and postscripts to each issue, and useful Internet sources provided for further study. John Rourke is one of the most successful authors of international studies textbooks. We will be covering 12 of the issues in the text.

In addition, several other texts will be placed on closed reserve in the library. Specific assigned chapters from these books will be assigned for you to read. Most of them relate to the general historical background to contemporary US foreign policy that I will lecture about in the first three weeks. The books and assigned chapters include:

• My V.C. article, "Teaching American National Politics: A Values Clarification Approach," Teaching Political Science, vol. 5, no. 4 (July 1978), pgs. 457-69.
• John Rourke, Ralph Carter, and Mark Boyer, Making American Foreign Policy (Brown & Benchmark, 1996), chaps. 1-4, & Appendix A (for research paper).
• John Spanier and Steven Hook, American Foreign Policy Since WW II (CQ Press, 1998), chap. 6.
• William Baugh, United States Foreign Policy Making (Harcourt Brace, 2000), chap. 2.
• Donald Snow and Eugene Brown, US Foreign Policy: Politics Beyond the Water's Edge (St. Martin's, 2000), chaps. 2 & 10.
• My Friend or Foe? Russians in American Film and Foreign Policy, 1933-1991 (Scarecrow Press, 1998), chaps. 7, & 8 (Coda).
• M. Neil Browne and Stuart Keeley, Political Science on the Internet: Evaluating Online Resources (Prentice Hall, 2001), Preface, chaps. 1, 8, 12, & Appendix B. This book is specifically related to the Research Paper, which builds on one of your V.C. positions taken, and expands it to the level of a research project. This book will help you to perform the difficult task of evaluating and assessing the worth of Internet URLs.
  
  

Course Content Themes:

It should already be apparent that both an historical review of US foreign policy themes and a systematic approach to taking positions on current policy dilemmas pervade this course. Thus the place in our curriculum as both a history and a political science designation makes sense, as explained in the section below. Foreign policy, of course, does not take place in a vacuum. In today's shrinking world of global interdependence, the milieu has, in some respects, shifted from an international one to a global one. The realities of globalization mean that our fate as Americans is now more intimately tied to what happens in Beijing or Bangkok than it was only a generation ago. Even the once unassailable definition of national security as a strictly military concept has been altered to include economic growth, human rights, and environmental protection (sometimes called human security).

American foreign policy has had to adapt to three massive CHANGES to the international system in the twentieth century; notably: World War I, World War II, and the end of the Cold War. This fact of life raises four questions of perennial interest: 1) How has America reacted to the three great transformations? 2) Does a prevailing pattern exist over time? 3) To what extent can we describe the U.S. as either a typical or atypical player among nations on the world stage? 4) What useful lessons from the past remain applicable to the post-Cold War era?

The last of the three massive changes referred to above--the end of the Cold War--has exacerbated the tension between continuity and change in U.S. foreign policy at the end of the century. The differences between the Cold War era, and the post-Cold War era, will be referred to often in our efforts to understand where the U.S. has been and where it is going in its foreign policy.

Organization of the Course:

U.S. foreign policy is my only 400-level seminar course, making it more susceptible to mutually agreeable twists and turns, so don't hesitate to suggest changes. Our 15-week class sessions will be divided into 3 weeks of historical background lectures, followed by 12 weeks in which one issue per week will be treated in a values clarification framework. The assigned readings should be completed prior to class meetings. Details are provided in the course schedule below.

The three-week introduction includes the general background information that you need to discuss and take positions on the 12 issues covered in the course and taken from the Rourke textbook. Background lectures relate to specific chapter taken from various foreign policy textbooks that will be placed on closed reserve in the library for you to read. A brief quiz concludes this prefatory section.

A copy of my original values clarification article will also be on closed reserve for you to read, although those principles transferred to this course are also explained in the syllabus. With each of the 12 foreign policy issues, we will proceed from a more general, conceptual, and loose discussion of the issue to a more specific, concrete, and tight issue analysis.

There will be one class devoted to reading, lecture, and A-V germane to the issue; one class reserved for small-group discussion and a preliminary, loose selection from two dichotomized choices concerning that issue; and, one class committed to further discussion of the issue, recording of your personal position taken on the 7-point V.C. continuum (on handout), and writing a 1-pg. (250-word) required in-class Position Paper.

A contract grading system is used here, and one of the choices involves whether you wish to contract for an "A" grade or "B" grade or "C" grade. To be eligible for an "A" grade, the required 1-pg. in-class Position Paper must be followed by an Expanded Position paper, using library or Internet resources and totaling a minimum of four pages (1000-words). To be eligible for a "B" grade, the required 1-pg. in-class Position Paper must be followed by an Expanded Position Paper, using library or Internet resources and totaling a minimum of two pages (500-words). Contracting for a "C" grade entrails meeting all of the Minimal Course Requirements identified in the section on grading criteria. Contracting for a "C" grade and failing to meet one of the Minimal Requirements results in a "D" grade, and failing to meet two of the Minimal Requirements results in an "F" grade for the course. A Research Paper is required for those contracting for "A" or "B" grades, but not for those contracting for a "C" grade.

Research Paper:

In examining the policy-oriented issues at the heart of this course, we continually bump into the tension between CONTINUITY AND CHANGE. This inherent duality runs beneath the content as a of this course as a subtext and influences the Research Paper assignment. You are asked to examine a particular issue from the text that you have written about. The assignment requires you to pursue the spirit of either continuity or change in post-Cold War U.S. foreign policy. While there may be some indications of both continuity and change in the chosen issue, which does it exhibit more, and (of course), why?

Any time you address why type questions, you are engaging in analysis rather than description. While a descriptive essay involves summarizing or capsulizing events or viewpoints in the manner of most straight news reporting, an analytical essay requires something more. Above all, that you think more complexly and more creatively. For example, like an editorial, an analytical essay requires developing a theme or a point of view, and then backing it up. What makes it challenging to teach analysis is that there is no specific formula. That reality, however, does not reduce its importance. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmess said of pornography, "I may not be able to define it, but I know it when I see it." There are three elements that I consider indicative of analysis: 1) it is conceptual, operating at an abstract level of ideas and serving to integrate facts or ideas in a general way; 2) it is explanatory, and must go beyond the obvious and explain the subject under discussion in an imaginative way; 3) it is personal; who you are and the way you think ought to give a unique perspective to your analysis of the subject.

If you choose to contract for a "C" grade in this course, then you DO NOT have to do submit a Research Paper (see grading criteria section for details on semi-contract grading system). If you seek to contract for an "A" grade, then I want an excellent paper whose minimum length is 3,000 words, typewritten, stapled, and not presented in a folder. If you seek to contract for a "B" grade, then I want an above-average paper whose minimum length is 1,500 words. More details will be provided as we progress through the semester. In general, I am looking for these qualities as evaluative criteria: for a B-minimum length, on task, neatness, spelling and grammar, accuracy, coherence, organization; for an A--clarity, logic, comprehensiveness, excellent and diverse sources of research, depth, creativity. I think creativity is probably the most under-rated skill in our educational institutions. Research papers will be constructed cumulatively, thus that you will have assignments to turn in as the semester progresses.

Research Paper -- cumulative assignment deadlines:

10/8/01---select general topic

10/15 /01---identify overall theme and approach to subject

10/29/01---submit a paragraph giving an overview of what you hope to get at in the paper

11/12 /01---cite relevant literature examined, 1 key work, and sources which yielded this literature

11/19/01---provide a "start to finish" outline and the general conclusion you have reached

12/2/01---turn in a polished first page

12/9/01---finished product and brief class presentation

I am also asking you to research your paper completely online. If that proves troublesome for you, let me know and we can make adjustments. An abundance of information of all kinds regarding U.S. foreign policy now exists online. I will provide you with a copy of Dushkin Press Online, a detailed compendium of 32 valuable websites.

Among the more useful ones are these:

U.S. State Department website <http://www.state.gov>

CIA site <http://www.odci.gov/cia/ciahome.html>

World Bank site <http://www.worldbank.org/>

Counter-Terrorism Page <http://www.counterterrorism.com/>

American Diplomacy online (journal of commentary, analysis, and research) <http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/>

The WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources <http://www.etown.edu/vl/>

Foreign Policy in Focus: Internet Gateway to Foreign Policy <http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org>

Heritage Foundation Foreign Policy Homepage <http://www.foreignpolicy.org>

World Factbook <http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html>

Foreign Media Website Access <http://emedia1.mediainfo.com/emedia/>

United Nations Human Rights <http://www.un.org/rights/>

The Council of Economic Advisers <http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/CEA/html/>

DefenseLinks <http://www.defenselink.mil>

Bureau of International Organization Affairs <http://www.state.go/www/issues/index.html>

To cite files available for viewing/downloading via the World Wide Web, give the author's name (if provided), the full title of the work in quotation marks, the title of the complete work (if applicable) in italics, the full http address, and the date of visit. For example:

Burka, Laura P. "A Hypertext History of Multi-User Dimensions." MUD History. Http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/lpb/mud-history.html (5 December 1997).

For e-mail, Listserv, and Newslist citations, give the author's name, the subject line from the posting in quotation marks, and the address of the Listserv or Newslist, along with the date:

Bruckman, Amy S. "MOOSE Crossing Proposal." mediamoo@media. Mit.edu (20 Dec. 1994). The assigned book by M.Neil Browne and Stuart Keeley that is on closed reserve has a good Appendix on citing online sources, but another helpful book is: Xia Li and Nancy Crane. Electronic Style: A Guide to Citing Electronic Information. (Westport, CT: Meckler, 1998).

Attendance:

Since discussions and V.C activities require your presence, you are expected to attend class. Three unexcused absences will be allowed without penalty. More than three cuts will not meet minimal course requirements as spelled out in the syllabus section on grading, and precludes achieving a grade higher than "C" in this course. Excused absences for valid reasons, of course, do not count as class cuts.

Final Grading Criteria:

Minimal Course Requirements (to earn a "C" grade):

1) maximum of three cuts;

• completion of 250-word Position Paper with passing grade (P), plus submission of V.C. graph, for each of 12 issues discussed in class (papers may be rewritten if necessary);
• completion of Summative Issues Assessment (750-word minimum) tying together positions taken on all 12 issues and drawing conclusions about ideological perspective;
• passing grade (P) on essay quiz covering first 3 weeks;
• passing grade (P) on final exam (both essay and objective) covering Rourke book with questions taken from the Instructor's Manual (closed reserve in library).
  
  

Grade of "D" = failure to satisfactorily complete any one (1) of the above minimal requirements

Grade of "F" = failure to satisfactorily complete any two (2) of the above minimal requirements

Grade of "B":

1) complete satisfactorily all minimal course requirements;

• minimum two-page (500-word) Expanded Position Paper on each issue;

3) above-average Research Paper, minimum 1,500-words, and reflecting: on task, neatness, spelling/grammar, accuracy, coherence, organization.

Grade of "A":

• complete satisfactorily all minimal course requirements;
• minimum four-page (1000-word) Expanded Position Paper on each issue;
• excellent Research Paper, minimum 3,000-words, and reflecting all criteria for a "B" paper, as well as: clarity, logic, comprehensiveness, diverse sources of research, depth, creativity.
  
  

Course Schedule:

Weeks: Topics, Readings, Activities:

Introduction - Background Lectures to U.S. Foreign Policy

1-3 Lectures and Relevant Chapters:

Chap. 2 in R, C, & B: "Historical International Setting"

Chap. 2 in Baugh: "Continuity Themes in US Foreign Policy"

Chap. 1 in R, C, & B: "Democracy and Foreign Policy"

Chap. 2 in Snow & Brown: "The Cold War Context to Foreign Policy"

Chap. 6 in Spanier & Hook: "Vietnam: The Cost of Containment"

Chap. 4 in R, C, & B: "Political Culture-Domestic Setting"

Chap. 6 in Friend or Foe: "Cold War Reprise in early '80s"

Chap. 7 and Coda in Friend or Foe: "Cold War Transformation"

Chap. 3 in R, C, & B: "Current International Setting"

V. C on US Foreign Policy Issues

4 Intro. Quiz and issue #1: Internationalism or Isolationism? Rourke, pgs. 2-19

(1 class lecture & reading; 1 class group discussion & dichotomized choice; 1 class discussion, position-taking on 7-pt. handout form, & 1-pg. handwritten Position Paper)

5 Issue #2: Should US Seek Global Hegemony? Rourke, pgs. 20-39.

6 Issue #3: Unilateralist US Policy? Rourke, pgs. 40-63.

7 Issue #4: Kosovo Intervention by US Justified? Rourke, pgs. 66-81.

8 Issue #5: Continue Present Policy Towards Russia? Rourke, pgs. 82-101.

9 Issue #6: Continue Strategic Engagement with China? Rourke, pgs. 102-25.

10 Issue #7: Should US Ease Sanctions Against Cuba? Rourke, pgs. 126-44.

11 Issue #8: Should Human Rights Be Minimized in US Policy? Rourke, pgs. 192-208.

12 Issue #9: Is Economic Globalization Good for the US? Rourke, pgs. 234-47.

13 Issue #10: Should Kyoto Treaty on Global Warming Be Supported? Rourke, pgs. 248-64.

14 Issue #11: Should the US Immediately Build a Missile Defense System? R. pgs. 290-317.

15 Issue #12: Is US Justified in Refusing to Pay Back Dues to the UN? Rourke, pgs. 374-99.

16 Final Exam (essay and objective covering Rourke book; I.M. on closed reserve in library)

Turn in Summative Issues Assessment of positions taken

Submit Research Paper (if applicable)

For Research Paper only: Appendix A in R, C, & B: "Writing the Great American Term Paper;" and Preface, plus chapters 8 & 12 in Browne and Keeley book.

N.B. For each issue: one class devoted to reading and background lecture; one class for small-group discussion and preliminary choice on dichotomized issue; one class spent on further discussion and recording of position on 7-pt. continuum (handout form) and 1-pg. position paper.