PSI.403 AMERICAN POLITICS AND FOREIGN POLICY Course Syllabus
Course Description:
This is a course on US foreign and domestic politics. The course has a critical approach to US foreign policy. It examines the historical, political and economic factors that influence the making of US foreing policy. It also focuses on the enduring values and myths, interests and institutions in order to understand the elements of change and continuity and on-going dilemmas in American politics.
Lecturer:
Dr. Emre Kayhan
emrekayhan@cankaya.edu.tr
Course Website: psi403.cankaya.edu.tr
Reading Materials:
Ole R. Holsti, Making American Foreign Policy, Routledge, New York & London: 2006
George C. Herring, From Colony to Superpower: US Foreign Relations since 1776, Oxford Universtiy Press, Oxford, 2011
Walter R. Mead, Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How it Shaped the World, Routledge, New York, 2002
Weekly Schedule:
Week 1: Introduction & Logistics
Week 2: History of the United States: The Colonial Period
Week 3: History of the United States: The Making of the Federation and the Federalist Papers
Week 4: World War I: Engagement vs. Isolationism, Wilsonianism and the League of Nations
Week 5: World War II: The United Nations, World Bank and IMF
Week 6: The Cold War and the Containment of the Soviet Union
Week 7: Major Presidential Doctrines: Nixon, Carter and Reagan Doctrines
Week 8: Midterm Exam
Week 9: The End of the Cold War and he Unipolar World
Week 10: The US Foreign Policy in the Middle East: Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran
Week 11: The US Foreign Policy in the Middle East: Egypt, Libya, Israel, Syria
Week 12: The Arab Spring and the US
Week 13: Turkey and the US
Week 14: Wrapping up the course
Attendance, Exams, Grades, and Class Rules:
There will be one midterm and one final examination.
Students are expected to attend the classes and behave according to the rules and regulations of the University as well as the basic rules of courtesy.