This course provides an introduction to the study of U.S. foreign policy. Its main focus will be on problems and possibilities confronting the world during the Cold War as well as global political changes in the post-Cold War era and since 9/11. Important foreign policy strategies which will be discussed include the strategy of containment, NSC-68, the Eisenhower-Dulles New Look, the Kennedy-Johnson flexible response, ditente, the democratic peace, and contemporary approaches to combating global terror. Theoretical readings in history and political science will be used as analytic filters to assess both scholarly evaluations of American foreign policy and key historical episodes.
