Foreign Policy of the US

Paper Code: 
MIR 323- B
Credits: 
4
Contact Hours: 
60.00
Max. Marks: 
100.00
Objective: 

Learning Objectives:Notwithstanding the diffusion of power since the end of the Cold War, the United States and its role in shaping the 21st century global order, continues to assume significance.

  • The course aims to analyses the crucial determinants which formulate and influence the external relations of the US.
  • It tries to acquaint and familiarize the nature and scope of US Foreign Policy, in its evolutionary trajectory.
  • It intends to introduce students to the changing contours of a dynamic external-policy framework, vis-à-vis different regions of the globe, not to mention its policy-response to mutating thematic challenges manifesting themselves on the horizon and delineate theundercurrents, which underpin the American policy in the global realm, highlighting the forces, institutions and actors.

 Learning Outcomes: On completion of this course, students should be able to:

  • demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of key elements of political analysis of US power and hegemony
  • demonstrate a critical understanding of  historical development of the US within the state system and related questions of power and governance
  • get a clear and comprehensive understanding of the role played by the United States in world affairs.

 

12.00
Unit I: 
Unit- I

Determinants and Process: Constitutional and Institutional Actors; Geographical, Economical and Technological Factors; Domestic Context (Political Parties, Lobbies, Mass Media)

 

12.00
Unit II: 
Unit- II

Evolution of the US Foreign Policy: Pre War, Post War and Post Cold War

 

12.00
Unit III: 
Unit- III

US and International Institutions

United Nations, NATO, OAS, G7, G20, IMF/World Bank

 

12.00
Unit IV: 
Unit- IV

US Engagement with Major and Regional Powers

China, Russia, India, Israel, Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea

 

12.00
Unit V: 
Unit- V

US Responses to Global Challenges

International Terrorism, NPT and Environmental Issues

 

Essential Readings: 

Essential Readings:

  • Kalu, K and and Kieh, G. (2013) Eds. United States-Africa Security Relations: Terrorism, Regional Security and National Interests. London:  Routledge.
  • Brzezinski, Z. (2013) Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power. New York: Perseus Books Group
  • Cha, V.D. (2016) Power-Play: The Origins of the American Alliance System in Asia. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  • Leffler, M. P. (2017) Safeguarding Democratic Capitalism: US Foreign Policy and National Security (1990-2015). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  • Ikenberry, J. (2012) Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

 

References: 

Reference Books:

  • Bucklin, S. (2001) Realism and the American Foreign Policy: Wilsonians and the Kennan-Morgenthau Thesis.  Westport: Praeger
  • Cameron, F. (2002) US Foreign Policy after the Cold War: Global Hegemon or Reluctant Sherif ?. New York: Routledge
  • Chittick, W. (2006)  American Foreign Policy: A Framework for Analysis:  Washington D.C.: CQ Press
  • Cameron, F. (2007) US Foreign Policy after the Cold War: Global Hegemon or Reluctant Sherif ?. Washington DC: CQ Press
  • Mead, W. R. (2001) Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How it Changed the World.  New York: Knopf
  • McEvoy-Levy, S. (2001) American Exceptionalism and US Foreign Policy: Public Diplomacy at the end of the Cold War. New York: Palgrave
  • Pillar, P. (2001) Terrorism and US Foreign Policy. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press
  • Steil, B. and Litan, R. (2006) Financial Statecraft: The Role of Financial Markets in American Foreign Policy,  New Haven:  Yale University Press
  •  Bacevich, A. (2018) Ideas and American Foreign Policy: A Reader. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  •  Haas, R. (2017) A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order. New York: Penguin Books.
  • Tow,W. and Stuart,D. ( 2017) The New US Strategy Towards Asia :  Adapting to the American Pivot. London: Routledge
  • Jentleson, B. (2013) American Foreign Policy: The Dynamics of Choice in the 21st Century. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
  •   Holsti, O. (2006) Making American Foreign Policy. London: Routledge.

 

Academic Year: 
2019-20
  • Printer-friendly version
  • PDF version