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The USA and the International Order
Study Course Description
Course Description Statuss:Approved
Course Description Version:3.00
Study Course Accepted:02.02.2024 12:30:15
| Study Course Information | |||||||||
| Course Code: | PZK_156 | LQF level: | Level 7 | ||||||
| Credit Points: | 5.00 | ECTS: | 7.50 | ||||||
| Branch of Science: | International Politics; Politics | Target Audience: | Political Science | ||||||
| Study Course Supervisor | |||||||||
| Course Supervisor: | Edijs Bošs | ||||||||
| Study Course Implementer | |||||||||
| Structural Unit: | Faculty of Social Sciences | ||||||||
| The Head of Structural Unit: | |||||||||
| Contacts: | Dzirciema street 16, Rīga, szf rsu[pnkts]lv | ||||||||
| Study Course Planning | |||||||||
| Full-Time - Semester No.1 | |||||||||
| Lectures (count) | 10 | Lecture Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Lectures | 20 | ||||
| Classes (count) | 10 | Class Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Classes | 20 | ||||
| Total Contact Hours | 40 | ||||||||
| Study course description | |||||||||
| Preliminary Knowledge: | A general understanding of US politics. | ||||||||
| Objective: | The course will provide students with an overview of the evolution of American foreign policy, diplomatic practices and strategic debates. The discussion will be grounded in the history of American foreign relations insofar as it provides a better understanding of how established policy traditions influence contemporary developments. | ||||||||
| Topic Layout (Full-Time) | |||||||||
| No. | Topic | Type of Implementation | Number | Venue | |||||
| 1 | The creation of United States and the geopolitical context of the emerging superpower. Challenges in early American foreign policy. Traditions of “isolationism”, “internationalism”, “idealism” and “realism”. | Lectures | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 2 | The “Monroe Doctrine” and territorial expansion until the Civil War. The path towards “empire”: the Spanish-American War and America’s place in the changing global geopolitical setting at the turn of the 20th century. | Lectures | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 3 | Students are expected to have read documents provided as source material for the essay. The title of the seminar discussion will be: “The Founding Fathers debate American foreign policy”. | Classes | 4.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 4 | Towards the Pax Americana: World War I, Woodrow Wilson and the traditions of liberal internationalism. World War II and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s ideas about the international order. | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 5 | The Cold War and the American “grand strategy” in the age of bipolarity: the various conceptions of “containment” and simultaneous attempts to continue the pursuit of a liberal world order. | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 6 | Cold War case study: the Vietnam War. Outline of the history of the conflict and its significance for the study of American foreign policy. | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 7 | Post-Cold War: Bill Clinton administration’s ideas about the “democratic enlargement” with a specific focus on the development of relations with the Baltic States in the 1990s. | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 8 | George W. Bush administration and 'neoconservative’ ideas about American grand strategy. | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 9 | The “reluctant realism” and “progressive pragmatism” of the Obama administration. | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 10 | Donald Trump’s worldview and his administration's approach to global affairs. | Classes | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 11 | The Unquiet Frontier: America and Regional Allies in Eurasia. | Classes | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 12 | The U.S. as a European power. The U.S. as a regional power in Middle East. Destined for War? The U.S., China and the Thucydides Trap. | Classes | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| Assessment | |||||||||
| Unaided Work: | Essays, final paper, presentation. | ||||||||
| Assessment Criteria: | Active participation during classes and seminars (as well as criticism and recommendations given in response to other students' reports): 35% Essays: 10% Final report: 20% Presentation of the final report: 15% Exam: 20% | ||||||||
| Final Examination (Full-Time): | Exam (Written) | ||||||||
| Final Examination (Part-Time): | |||||||||
| Learning Outcomes | |||||||||
| Knowledge: | Students will be able to identify factors, which determine the role of USA in the international system in general as well as in various regions. | ||||||||
| Skills: | Students will be able to present information on the foreign policy of the US. | ||||||||
| Competencies: | Students will be able to analyse the role of the US in international relations in a wider historical perspective. | ||||||||
| Bibliography | |||||||||
| No. | Reference | ||||||||
| Required Reading | |||||||||
| 1 | Excerpts from Felix Gilbert, To the Farewell Address: Ideas of Early American Foreign Policy (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1970). | ||||||||
| 2 | Excerpts from Charlie Laderman and Brendan Simms, Donald Trump: The Making of a World View, (London: I.B.Tauris, 2017). | ||||||||
| 3 | Excerpts from Jakub J. Grygiel , A. Wess Mitchell, The Unquiet Frontier (Princeton UP, 2017) | ||||||||
| 4 | Excerpts from Graham Allison, Destined for War (London: Scribe, 2017) | ||||||||
