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Making Foreign Policy
Psc 359-1 (class number 40178) TuTh 11-12:20 pm, Heroy 113
Instructor James P. Bennett, office 405b Maxwell Hall, 443-1749,
email
Course Assistant Aslı İlgit, office Eggers 023, 443-9071 email, office hours, Tu & Th 12.30-2.00 pm.
Focus:
Aristotle said that decision is deliberation followed by choice. This semester we shall study some theories of choice. We shall also study some accounts of recent deliberations within governments. We thereby investigate contemporary theory and practice. Although we shall read about trade negotiations, the European Union's policy toward eastward expansion, and the general procedures and processes underlying making contemporary foreign policies, our focus this semester is on making foreign policy toward Iraq.
We shall give special prominence to the policies of the United States and the European Union, with only occasional attention to policymaking by other governments. Consequently, it is essential that you follow several diverse news outlets during the full semester. We start with two background readings: Bob Woodward's third book about the Bush Administration's foreign policy, and the final report of the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Task Force. Read these first!
Requirements:
Your primary work for the semester is sequential preparation and presentation of two group reports. Groups will number from 4-6 individuals. Each group consists of a manager and several specialists. The topic for each report will be assigned to the group (by means of a future link to a separate web page from this page). The group will present a draft (fully researched and fully composed but unpolished) version of each report, and then a final version two weeks later. With the final version the group also makes a formal presentation to the class. When computing the course grade (as explained immediately below), your contribution to the draft version will count equally with the group's final version. I shall explain the reason for this and the means of assessment more fully in the second class meeting. In preparing the reports, you will act as if you are working for a senior political figure: you are thus acting as if you are functioning as an external consultant to your client. Your client will be interested not only in factual information about the topic, but even more in what he or she should do. The client seeks your help to formulate a limited and focused 'foreign policy' which addresses a threat or opportunity represented by the assigned topic.
The course grade:
1. Seven quizzes will occur in the course of the semester. Thirty points of the course grade is derived from the average of the five highest quiz grades. Each 10-minute quiz will present one question drawn from the reading assigned for the preceding class meeting or the material presented in the last lecture before the date of the quiz. Quizzes occur at the beginning of the class meeting on random dates; no quiz will occur on those class meeting marked with a pound sign (#) on this syllabus.
2. 12.5 points of the grade is derived from the grade on each of the four group reports (with draft versions of the reports and final versions counting equally). Your average grade for the reports thus constitute 50 points of the course grade. The grade for the final report reflects the quality of the written component and the professionalism of the oral report presented to the class.
3. 10 points of the grade (aproximately equal to an increment or decrement of one-helf grade step, e.g., B+ -> A- or A- -> B+) comes from the judgments of the instructor and course assistant of your performance in the groups' projects. Also considered will be your active listening and questioning at other groups' presentations. If the instructor feels that you are not fulfilling responsibly your obligations to a group, he may in unusual circumstances lower your course grade one full grade step (e.g., B+ ->C+), but he will not do this without having given you a written warning prior to the 23rd class meeting of the course.
4. There is no midterm or final exam.
Required Readings:
As soon as possible read:
Bob Woodward, State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III, Simon & Schuster, 2006, ISBN-10:
0743272234, and James H. Baker, Lee H. Hamilton and others, The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward - A New Approach,
Four books have been ordered at Follett's Orange Student Bookstore. We shall read substantially all of each.
These are: Ole Holsti, Making American Foreign Policy, Routledge, 2006, ISBN-10: 0415953758 (pb)
Karen E. Smith, The Making of EU Foreign Policy: The Case of Eastern Europe, 2nd ed., Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, ISBN-10: 1403917183 (pb) [Be sure your read the 2nd edition.]
I. M. Destler, American Trade Politics, 4th ed., Institute for International Economics, 2005, ISBN-10: 0881323829 (pb) [Be sure you read the 4th edition.]
Alexander George, Theory and Practice in Foreign Policy, United States Institute of Peace, 1993, ISBN-10: 1878379224 (pb)
Several short articles available via SU's subscriptions to electronic media are denoted on the syllabus. Items below enclosed in brackets ([...]) are recommended but not required; viz., no quiz question will address them. All of the articles listed below which are not accessed through JSTOR are available via the course's Blackboard web pages.
Administrative Matters:
If you experience any learning disability described
here
Firms and their Clients: First Second
Schedule:
1. Jan 16 Overview of the course
Mod(ule of theory) 1: What's policy, what's foreign, what's making,?
Practice 1: The U.S. invades Iraq for the second time. Why? George, Introduction and Part One.
2. Jan 18 Policy inputs and outputs, implementation, consequences, outcomes, unanticipated outcomes; comparing policies. What should we look at?
Mod 2: Centrality of decision making; rationality-1
Practice 2: Policy making in the 2nd Bush Administration.
Bob Woodward, State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III, Simon & Schuster, 2006, pp. 1-110
3. Jan 23 Principal concepts Quiz Question
Mod 3 Rationality-2: 'Unitary rational actor'; utilty; abstraction and aggregation
Practice 3: Policy evaluations, in theory and in practice.
Bob Woodward, State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III, pp. 111-293.
James H. Baker, Lee H. Hamilton and others, The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward - A New Approach, USIP, 2006.
4. Jan 25 Comparing policy processes: some significances of 'constitutional' settings Notes More notes
Practice 4: Some comments upon policy making in democratic vs authoritarian systems, in executive-dominant vs legislative-dominant systems, and in centralized vs decentralized systems
[Robert Thomson and Madeleine Hosli, "Who Has Power in the EU? The Commission, Council and Parliament in Legislative Decision-making," Journal of Common Market Studies 44, 2(2006), 391417.]
Bob Woodward, State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III, pp. 294-492.
George, Part Two
5. Jan 30 The 'Big 3' paradigms of political analysis
George, Part Three
Holsti, chapter 5
Mod 4 Core claims of Realism(s)
Mod 5 Core claims of Liberalism(s)
[An excellent summary of the claims asserted by Realists and Liberals is found in Chapters 7-10 and 13 in John Baylis and Steve Smith, eds., The Globalization of World Politics, 3rd ed. Oxford University Press, 2001. On reserve in Bird Libary]
Destler, chapters 1-2
[Mod 6 Core claims of Marxisms(s)]
6. Feb 1 Choosing rationally Quiz Note
Mod 7 Varieties of 'rationality' (1) 'bounded rationality' (cognitively, resource-limited, knowlege-limited); 'satisficing'; rational expectations; prospect theory
Smith, chapters 1 & 2
[Herbert A. Simon, "Theories of Decision-Making in Economics and Behavioral Science," American Economic Review 49, 3, (1959) 253-283. Stable URL: ]
Jack S. Levy, "Prospect Theory, Rational Choice, and International Relations," International Studies Quarterly 41, 1 (1997), 87-112 Stable URL:
7. Feb 6 Discerning the 'national interest' Notes Item
Holsti, chapter 5
Mod 8 Perception of the 'self' and 'other'
Martin Hollis and Steve Smith, "Roles and Reasons in Foreign Policy Decision Making,"British Journal of Political Science 16, 3 ( 1986), 269-286. Stable URL:
[Scott Crichlow, Psychological Influences on the Policy Choices of Secretaries of State and Foreign Ministers, Cooperation and Conflict 40, 2 (2005), 179-205.]
Practice 5 Discerning the 'national interest' (in Political Realism)
[Michael Howard
Practice 6 Constructing the 'national interest' (in Liberalism)
[Henry A. Kissinger
['X'(George F. Kennan)
Holsti, chapters 1 & 2
Smith, chapters 3 & 4
8. Feb 8 Course administrative matters: Identifying clients, topics; assigning consulting teams. Quiz
Holsti, chapter 7
Destler, chapter 9.
9. Feb 13 Overview of processes (1) : recognizing problems or opportunities, formulating options, setting agendas, limiting voice (participation). Notes
Holsti, chapter 10
Mod 9 Bureaucratic politics Graham T. Allison; Morton H. Halperin, "Bureaucratic Politics: A Paradigm and Some Policy Implications," World Politics 24, Supplement (1972), 40-79. Stable URL:
Mod 10 Loosely coupled decision making systems: 'behavioral' theory of the firm
[Richard M. Cyert and Herbert Simon, The Behavioral Theory of the Firm, chapter 5.] (on 2-hour Reserve in Bird Library).
Jack S. Levy, "Organizational Routines and the Causes of War,"International Studies Quarterly 30, 2 (1986) 193-222. Stable URL: ]
Practice 7 How bureaucracies exert power
David Mitchell, Making Foreign Policy: Presidential Management Of The Decision-making Process, Ashgate, 2005, chapters 7 and 8 (on 2-hour Reserve in Bird Library).
10. Feb 15 Consulting teams meet
11. Feb 20 Overview of processes (2) : small group interactions, exit and access, lobbying participants. Notes
Practice 8 Exercising power, leverage and bandwagoning
[David S. Scharfstein and Jeremy C. Stein, "Herd Behavior and Investment", American Economic Review 80, No. 3 1990), 465-479. Stable URL: ]
Mod 11 Leadership and public opinion
Holsti, chapter 8, 11
Margaret G. Hermann and Joe D. Hagan, "International Decision Making: Leadership Matters, "Foreign Policy 110, Special Edition (1998), 124-137. Stable URL:
[Neta C. Crawford, "The Passion of World Politics: Propositions on Emotion and Emotional Relationships," International Security 24, 4 (2000), 116-156.]
[David McElhinney and Tony Proctor, "The concept of entrapment and decision-making,"Management Decision 43, 2 (2005), 189 - 202.]
Mod 12 Advising and advisory systems
[Alexander L. George, "The Case for Multiple Advocacy in Making Foreign Policy," American Political Science Review 66, 3 (1972),751-785. Stable URL: ]
Destler, chapter 10
12. Feb 22 Consulting teams meet
13. Feb 27 Overview of processes (3) : intra-group negotiation, exercising choice, authorizing and formulating policy. Notes1 Notes2
Mod 13 Using 'history', its lessons and information
Practice 7 Using 'history', its lessons and information
Holsti, chapter 6
Smith, chapters 6 & 7
Mod 14 Making decisions under pressure, risky shift, conservative shift and 'Groupthink'
[Paul 't Hart, Groupthink in Government, A Study of Small Groups and Policy Failure, Johns Hopkins Press 1990, Part II.]
Eric Stern and Bengt Sundelius, "The essence of 'Groupthink',"Mershon International Studies Review 38, 1 (1994),101-107. Stable URL:
14. Mar 1 Consulting teams meet [Draft versions of reports due.]
15. Mar 6 Summarization of theory and practice; half-time review
Smith, chapter 5
Destler, chapters 11-12.
16. Mar 8 Consulting teams meet (Spring vacation)
#17. Mar 20 Report presentations (1) Firms working for Giuliani, Rice, ASD
#18. Mar 22 Report presentations (2) [Final versions of reports due.] Firms working for EU Commission, Pelosi, Beckwith
19. Mar 27 Report presentations (3) Firms working for McCain, Clinton; Assignment to second firm, too!
20. Mar 29 Modalities of influence in foreign lands, US vs EU
Smith, chapter 7
21. Apr 3 Consulting teams meet
22. Apr 5 The formal written policy statement
Smith, chapter 8 & 9
Practice 8 Policy regarding use of nuclear weapons
Practice 9 NSDM93
Practice 10 What if there exists no formal written statement?
[Kerry Mullins and Aaron Wildavsky, "The Procedural Presidency of George [H. W.] Bush,"Political Science Quarterly 107, 1 (1992), 31-62. Stable URL: ]
23. Apr 10 Consulting teams meet
24. Apr 12 Publicizing policymaking Practice Speechmaking; rhetorical salesmanship
Ronald Reagan, 23 March 1983, "Address," CNN Archive
[John M. Jones and Robert C. Rowland, "The Weekly Radio Addresses of President Ronald Reagan," Journal of Radio Studies 7, 2 (2000), 257-281. Not available in digital form]
Mod 15 Formal political argumentation
James P. Bennett, handout on 'practical reasoning
25. Apr 17 Consulting teams meet
26. Apr 19 Implementation and oversight (If you're sleeping soundly -- and don't wish to -- read this.) [Draft versions of reports due.] Presidential executive orders with respect to national security: FAS archive. (one related to today's quiz!); the SIOP
Practice 11 The 'diplomatic offensive'
27. Apr 24 Mayfest, no class. [Specialists' drafts will be available in the envelope on my office door after 11 am.]
#28. Apr 26 Report presentations (3) Firm 1 (Manager: Louis Omiatek) Firm 2 (Manager: Evan Panayi) Firm 5 (Manager: Ross Rustici) Firm 8 (Manager: Joe Putnam)
#29. May 1 Report presentations (4) Firm 3 (Manager: George Bullen) Firm 4 (Manager: Kelly Cooper) Firm 7 (Manager: Patrick Clark) Firm 6 (Manager: Jordan Gerstner) Firms' final reports due by 5 pm.