CPOLS 3202 U.S. Foreign Policy
The term United States foreign policy" means many different things to many different people. How is it made? Is it effective? Is it good? Who's making it? Who's influenced by it but can't say anything about it? These simple ideas (many people many meanings) provide the central goals of this course. The first (and most traditional) goal is to provide students a better understanding of past and current policies and policy-making processes of the United States foreign policy establishment. The second goal is to move beyond description and to ask "why?" questions: why specific political decisions are made. A third goal of the course is to encourage students to think about policy justness and the culpability of a democratic society in foreign policymaking. These policies have both intended and unintended consequences whatever their goals and we are increasingly forced to consider how our ("we the people of the USA") values and choices are affecting the lives of those who have no recourse within the United States' policy making process.
Offered
Fall