17.40 | Fall 2017 | Undergraduate

American Foreign Policy: Past, Present, and Future

Calendar

SES # TOPICS DUE DATES
I. Theories and Strategies
1 Introduction  
2 Power and Security: Overview of U.S. Foreign Policy Since 1914  
3–5 Theories of U.S. Foreign Policy  
6–8 U.S. Interests and Grand Strategies Response paper due
II. America’s Major Wars: World War I, World War II, Cold War, & Korea
9–12 World War I and World War II Quiz
13–14 Cold War Origins and Conduct; the Korean War  
III. Interlude: U.S. National Security Policy; The Terror War; U.S. Foreign Economic Policy
15–16 U.S. National Security Policy, 1945–present Finished draft of first paper due
17 The U.S. “War on Terror,” 9/11/01–present First paper due
18 U.S. Foreign Economic Policy, 1945–present  
IV. Cold War Crises: Berlin, Taiwan Straits, and Cuba 1962
19–20 The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis; Other Cold War Crises Quiz 
V. American Interventions in the “Third World”
21–22 The Indochina War, 1950–1975 Finished draft of second paper due
23–24

Other American Interventions:

1900–1934 (Panama, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Mexico, Russia)

1945–1993 (Iran 1953, Guatemala 1954, Chile 1973, Angola 1975, Indonesia 1957, Guyana 1964, Congo 1960, the Wars of the Reagan Doctrine, Panama 1989, Persian Gulf 1991, Somalia 1992–93)

Non-Interventions:

(Mexico in 1930s; Bolivia in 1950s)

Second paper due
VI. The Road Ahead: Current Crises and Future Policies
25–26 Current Issues and Crises; Assessment of Bush 43 and Obama Administration’s Foreign Policies; The Future of American Foreign Policy  
27 Final Exam  

Course Info

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Fall 2017
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