B5583 - HISTORY OF US FOREIGN POLICY SINCE 1945

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is that students acquire an advanced knowledge on US foreign policy from 1945 until the election of Donald Trump. Examining the role of the United States within the international system, at the end of the course students will be able to: • describe the different historical phases of US foreign policy; • detect the multiple political, geopolitical and economic factors that have affected the development of US foreign policy; • analyze the transitional moments and the turning points in the evolution of US foreign policy; • understand the link between domestic and foreign policy.

Course contents

After an introductory section on the period before World War II, the course will examine the history of U.S. foreign policy from 1945 to the second presidency of Donald Trump. Examining the US role and place in the world, specific questions will be raised and discussed: what triggered the American hegemonic rise? How do we conceptualize the response to the deployment of America’s multifaceted global power? How do we investigate the connection between domestic politics and foreign policy choices?

The course will consider the impact of the political, geopolitical and economic transformations of the past century on the foreign policy choices and particular attention will be paid to specific turning points and transition moments (i.e.: the modernization policy of the Sixties, the crisis of the Seventies, the end of the Cold War, 9/11 and the war on terrorism).
The course will follow a chronological pattern. Historiographical debates  will also be thoroughly discussed and examined.

The course is divided into 20 lessons, including seminars and lectures. Each lesson (including seminars) provides a framework for the topics covered, supported by summary diagrams and timelines.

The program for attending students alternates lectures and seminars, where students must have read the assigned material (provided by the Professor and available on the Unibo Virtual platform). Active participation will be required through the presentation of essays and research. 

For more specific information regarding the structure of the lessons and seminars, please download the file available in Virtual at the beginning of the course.

For exchange students:

the admission to optional courses of the LM/Master IR is allowed to incoming students at Master level.

As for undergraduate students, they must demonstrate to the Professor having already acquired competences in the disciplines of US History in their respective Transcripts of Records.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Attending students:

• Warren I. Cohen, Nation like all others : a brief history of American foreign relations, New York, Columbia University Press, 2018.

• primary sources and essays discussed during the seminars:

Primary sources

- A French Tribute to Wilson from “L’Humanité”, December 1918 [suggested]

- FDR’s Quarantine Speech, 1937.

- FDR’s Four Freedom Speech.

- G. F. Kennan’s Long Telegram (excerpts).

- A Soviet View of U.S. Intensions.

- Ronald Reagan, “Evil Empire” Speech, March 8, 1983.

- Clinton Statement on Kosovo, 1999.

- Kofi Annan, Responsibility to Protect, 1999 .

- Bush National Security Doctrine, 2002.

- Open letter on Donald Trump, march 2, 2016 (https://warontherocks.com/2016/03/open-letter-on-donald-trump-from-gop-national-security-leaders/ ).

Chapters and essays

- Frank Ninkovich, The Wilsonian Century. U.S. Foreign Policy since 1900, University of Chicago Press, pp. 48-77.

- William Appleman Williams, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy, 91-108.

- Warren F. Kimball, “Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Successful Wartime Diplomacy”, in D. Merrill, Th. Paterson (ed.), Major Problems in American Foreign Relations, Vol. 2, since 1914, 166-176.

- Anders Stephanson, “Liberty or Death: The Cold War as U.S. Ideology”, in O.A. Westad, Reviewing the Cold War, pp. 81-100.

- Melvyn Leffler, “The Emergence of an American Grand Strategy, 1945-1952” in Leffler, Westad, Cambridge History of the Cold War, Vol.1, 2012, pp. 67-88.

- Jeremi Suri, The end of the Cold War. An Emerging Consensus, in Journal of Cold War Studies, Vol.4, no.4, 2002 pp. 60-92.

- Beth Fischer, US Foreign Policy under Reagan and Bush in Melvin Leffler e Arne Westad (eds.), The Cambridge History of the Cold War. Vol. III: Endings, pp. 267-288.

- Melvyn Leffler, “9/11 in Retrospect: George W. Bush’s Grand strategy Reconsidered, in Foreign Affairs, 2011.

- Dueck C., The Obama Doctrine. American Grand Strategy Today, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015, p. 13-39.

- Unger D., The Foreign Policy Legacy of Barack Obama, in «The International Spectator», 2016 Vol. 51, No. 4, 116 .

- A. Grieco Kelly, The 2018 National Defense Strategy: Continuity and Competition, in «Strategic Studies Quarterly» Vol. 12, No. 2 (Summer 2018), pp. 3-8.

- Del Pero M., The Crisis of the US-Chinese Centered Globalization, in Four Years of Trump. The US and the World, edited by Mario Del Pero and Paolo Magri, ISPI, 2020.

 

Not attending students:

- Warren I. Cohen, Nation like all others : a brief history of American foreign relations, New York, Columbia University Press, 2018.

- Andrew J. Bacevich, The Short American Century. A Postmortem, Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University Press, 2012.

- Mary Nolan, The Transatlantic Century, Cambridge University Press, 2012

Teaching methods

The course consists of both lectures and seminars.


In the lectures, the instructor will give a detailed overview of the key dynamics in the history of U.S. foreign policy and the relevant historiographical debates.


During the seminars, students will discuss and present the readings and primary sources assigned in advance, which are accessible on Virtuale.

Assessment methods

For attenting students:

The midterm test will consist of three open-ended questions and seven multiple-choice questions, together accounting for 50% of the final grade. The focus of the midterm will be on the first part of the program. In addition, there will be a final oral exam, which will also contribute 50% to the final grade and will concentrate on the second part of the program. For further details, please refer to the syllabus, which will be available on Virtuale at the beginning of classes.o the syllabus, which will be available on Virtuale at the beginning of classes

 

For not attending students:

oral exam on the following texts

• Warren I. Cohen, Nation like all others : a brief history of American foreign relations, New York, Columbia University Press, 2018.

• Andrew J. Bacevich, The Short American Century. A Postmortem, Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University Press, 2012.

• Mary Nolan, The Transatlantic Century, Cambridge University Press, 2012.
  

 

Evaluation criteria:

1. Knowledge of the textbook and assigned lessons.

2. Ability to develop detailed summaries of the topics presented.

3. Ability to critically analyze historiographical debates.

 

Students with DSA or temporary or permanent disabilities

It is recommended to contact the responsible University office in good time (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it): it will be their responsibility to propose any adaptations to the students concerned, which must however be submitted, with a 15-day notice, to the approval of the teacher, who will evaluate the opportunity also in relation to the educational objectives of the course.

 

Teaching tools

Power points, essays, documents, slide.

Office hours

See the website of Angela Santese