maxwell course website

U.S. National Security and Foreign Policy

PPA/PSC 706

Fall 2008

Course Time: Wednesday, 9:30-12:15 pm Prof. Renée de Nevers

Room: Newhouse-3 250 Office Hours: Monday, 2-4 pm,

or by appointment

Office: 333 Eggers Hall

Email: denevers@maxwell.syr.edu

Phone: 443-7093

Course Description

This course will explore U.S. national security and foreign policy. The goal is to familiarize students with factors affecting policy decisions in this area, and the dilemmas confronting policy makers. Foreign and security policy decisions are influenced by history, domestic and bureaucratic politics, and allied concerns, among other things. The course is divided into three parts: U.S. national security and foreign policy from 1945 to the present; the policy process; and current challenges in foreign and security policy. We will examine U.S. policy during the cold war to establish a framework for understanding the policy challenges the U.S. faces today. We will also explore issues ranging from the U.S. national security structure, diplomacy, intelligence, the use of force, and the role of morality in U.S. policy. The course will use a combination of readings, case studies, and guest speakers examine these issues.

Course Requirements and Grading

1. Class Participation

This course is a seminar; attendance and participation are essential. Students are expected to complete assigned readings prior to the class session, and to be prepared to discuss the topics under consideration. Students should also stay informed about international events by reading a major newspaper every day. Keep in mind that participation involves more than talking in class. Some people who voice their opinions freely may actually contribute less than those who say insightful things less frequently. Quantity is not quality.

2. Policy Memorandums

You will be expected to write a one-page policy memorandum on two of the cases examined during the course. Memos are due at the beginning of the class session on which the case will be discussed. In the memos, you are expected to assess the key issue at stake in the case, and to propose an appropriate course of action to address the issue as you see it. Separate instructions will be handed out on this assignment. NOTE: you must submit a memorandum on either case #1 or #2; after that, you may choose which cases you wish to write on.

3. Short Paper on U.S. Policy Process.

Students will be expected to write a 5-page paper, typed and double-spaced, after the second section of the course. The paper will address the U.S. policy process. Instructions for the paper will be handed out separately. The paper will be due at the beginning of class on October 8.

4. Group Projects

Students will also participate in two group projects during the term. For the first project, the class will be divided into six to eight policy groups, depending on class size. Each group will submit a 5-7 page paper and make a 10-15 minute oral presentation on U.S. policy toward a geographical region or a set of issues. Group presentations will be made in class on two dates: October 15 and October 29. All papers are due on October 15.

The second group project will be a policy presentation of U.S. options and priorities in its relationship with Pakistan, which will be made in class on November 12. Members of the class will be assigned to different parts of the U.S. government, and will be expected to advocate policy priorities in the U.S.-Pakistani relationship from the perspective of their institution or office. This will be part project, part simulation, with the end goal to engage the class as a group in a discussion about policy trade-offs when key priorities intersect and clash. Further instructions will be provided a few weeks prior to this project.

5. Final Examination

There will also be a take-home final exam assignment designed to cover the entire course. The final will be due on December 10 at 4:30 pm.

Grades will be based on the following:

Class Participation: 15%

Memos: 10% (5% each)

Short Policy Process Paper: 15%

Group Project and presentation: 15%

Pakistan Presentation: 15%

Take-home Final Examination: 30%

Policies

Assignments will be penalized one half grade for each day they are late. Students must contact me prior to assignment due dates if they wish to request extensions.

Accommodation Policy and Academic Honesty

Students who are in need of disability-related academic accommodations must register with the Office of Disability Services (ODS), 804 University Avenue, Room 309, 315-443-4498. Students with authorized disability-related accommodations should provide a current Accommodation Authorization Letter from ODS to the instructor and review those accommodations with the instructor. Accommodations, such as exam administration, are not provided retroactively; therefore, planning for accommodations as early as possible is necessary. For further information, see the ODS website, http://disabilityservices.syr.edu/.

I expect students to abide by the academic rules and regulations established by Syracuse University. These require students to "exhibit honesty in all academic endeavors. Cheating in any form is not tolerated, nor is assisting another person to cheat. The submission of any work by a student is taken as a guarantee that the thoughts and expressions in it are the student's own except when properly credited to another. Violations of this principle include giving or receiving aid in an exam or where otherwise prohibited, fraud, plagiarism, or any other deceptive act in connection with academic work. Plagiarism is the representation of another's words, ideas, programs, formulae, opinions, or other products of work as one's own, either overtly or by failing to attribute them to their true source" (Syracuse University Bulletin 2003-2004: p. 2).

I take this extremely seriously. It is your responsibility as a student to understand what plagiarism is and how correctly to reference documents and attribute other peoples’ arguments that you are citing. If you have any questions about what constitutes plagiarism, see the definition and examples at Syracuse University’s website: http://academicintegrity.syr.edu. If you have questions about how to make references in papers, consult any of the standard references on writing, such as The Elements of Style.

Required Books and Articles

Books are available at Follett’s Orange Bookstore in the Marshall Street Mall.

Steven W. Hook and John Spanier , American Foreign Policy Since World War II, 17^th ed. (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2005)

Lee H. Hamilton with Jordan Tama, A Creative Tension: The Foreign Policy Roles of the President and Congress (Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2002)

Case Reader, available at the bookstore.

Course Packet, available at Campus Copy in Marshall Street Mall.

Group Presentation Topics:

U.S. Policy toward: Western Hemisphere

Europe and Eurasia

Africa

East Asia and the Pacific

South and Central Asia

Middle East and North Africa

The Role of Nuclear Weapons in U.S. policy

Climate Change and Energy policy

Course Schedule and Readings

1. August 27: Introduction and Overview

Part I: National Security and Foreign Policy since 1945

2. September 3: U.S. Foreign Policy, 1945-1972

Timeline: The Early Cold War

Readings:

Steven W. Hook and John Spanier, American Foreign Policy Since World War II, chs. 1-5, pp, 1-135.

3. September 10: U.S. Foreign Policy, 1972-1990s

Timeline: Cold War and Beyond

Readings:

Steven W. Hook and John Spanier, American Foreign Policy Since World War II, ch.s 6-12, pp. 136-298.

Part II: The Policy Process

4. September 17: Actors and Tools: The President and the Executive Branch

Readings:

Sam Sarkesian, John Allen Williams, and Stephen J. Cimbala, “The Military Establishment, The President, and Congress,” (11 pp.) [packet]

Anna Kasten Nelson, “The Evolution of the National Security State,” in Bacevich, The Long War, pp. 265-301 [packet].

Elizabeth Drew, “Power Grab,” New Yorker, June 22, 2006, (11 pp.) [packet].

Whittaker, Smith, and McKune, The National Security Policy Process, National Defense University (April 2007), pp. 5-60 [online].

James C. Thomson, Jr., “How Could Vietnam Happen? An Autopsy,” 409-419 [packet]

Case: Arms Control and Nuclear Non-Proliferation

Terry L. Deibel, “Inside the Water's Edge: The Senate Votes on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty,” Pew Case Study #263. Read part A before class.

5. September 24: Congress, Public Opinion, and Lobbying

Readings:

Lee H. Hamilton with Jordan Tama, A Creative Tension: the Foreign Policy Roles of the President and Congress, 2-91.

William G. Howell and Jon C. Pevehouse, “When Congress Stops Wars,” Foreign Affairs, September/October 2007, pp. 95-107 [online].

Lawrence R. Jacobs and Benjamin I. Page, “Who Influences U.S. Foreign Policy?” American Political Science Review (February 2005) 107-123 [online].

Alan Kuperman, “Bomb-Grade Bazaar,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March/April 2006, pp. 44-50 [online].

Case: Arms Control and Nuclear Non-Proliferation (Continued)

Terry L. Deibel, “Inside the Water's Edge: The Senate Votes on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty,” Pew Case Study #263. Read part B before class: bring part C with you to class.

6. October 1: Intelligence and National Security

Readings:

Mark M. Lowenthal, Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy, ch.s 3, 4, 13, pp. 30-68, 255-273 [packet].

Amy Zegart, “September 11 and the Adaptation Failure of U.S. Intelligence Agencies,” International Security (Spring 2005), 78-111 [online].

Mike McConnell, “Overhauling Intelligence,” Foreign Affairs (July/August 2007), 49-58 [online].

Tim Shorrock, “Domestic Spying, Inc.” Corpwatch, [online: http://timshorrock.com/ ].

Richard Betts, Enemies of Intelligence, Ch. 2, pp. 19-52, [packet].

Case:

Richard L. Russell, “Fog of War: NATO” Pew Case Study #253 (10 pp.)

Part III: Foreign and Security Policy Challenges

7. October 8: The Use of Force and Alternatives

SHORT PAPER DUE

Readings:

Gordon Craig and Alexander George, Force and Statecraft: Diplomatic Problems of Our Time, ch.19, 258-274 [packet].

Andrew Bacevich, The New American Militarism, Ch. 2, pp. 34-68 [packet].

Barry R. Posen, “Command of the Commons: The Military Foundation of U.S. Hegemony,” International Security (Summer 2003), pp. 4-46 [online].

Peter J. Boyer, “The New War Machine,” New Yorker, June 30, 2003, 55-71 [online]

Michael Desch, “Bush and the Generals,” Foreign Affairs, May/June 2007, pp. 97-108 [online].

Jonathan Stevenson, “The Somali Model?” The National Interest, July/August 2007, pp. 41-45 [online].

Stephen Baar, “Contractors, the Army’s Neglected Stepchildren,” Washington Post, November 5, 2007 [online].

Case:

Howard Diamond, “The One-Hundred Hour War,” Pew Case Study #469 (28 pp).

8. October 15: Group Presentations

ALL GROUP PAPERS DUE

Groups: U.S. Policy toward Europe and Eurasia; East Asia and the Pacific; Africa; The Role of Nuclear Weapons in U.S. policy

Readings:

National Security Strategy of the United States, March 2006 (48 pp) [online].

Dimitri Trenin, “Russia Redefines itself and its Relations with the West,” Washington Quarterly (Spring 2007) 95-105 [online].

Jason T. Shaplen and James Laney, “Washington’s Eastern Sunset,” Foreign Affairs (November/December 2007) 82-97 [online].

James P. Rubin, “Building a New Atlantic Alliance,” Foreign Affairs (July/August 2008), pp. 99-110 [online].

Mitchell B. Reiss, “Hope over Experience,” The National Interest (May/June 2007), 20-25 [online].

Robert Litwak, “Living with Ambiguity: Nuclear Deals with Iran and North Korea,” Survival (February/March 2008), pp. 91-118 [online].

(continues)

Kier Lieber and Daryl Press, “The Rise of U.S. Nuclear Primacy,” Foreign Affairs (March/April 2006), 42-54 [online].

Hook and Spanier, American Foreign Policy Since World War II, pp. 362-371.

John Prendergast and Colin Thomas-Jensen, “Blowing the Horn,” Foreign Affairs (March/April 2007), 59-74 [online].

Greg Mills, “The US and Africa: Prisoners of a Paradigm?” Current History (May 2008), pp. 225-230 [online].

9. October 22: International Terrorism

Readings:

Hook and Spanier, American Foreign Policy Since World War II, ch.12-13, 299-361.

Bruce Hoffman, “Challenges for the U.S. Special Operations Commands Posed by the Global Terrorist Threat,” Testimony submitted to the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats, and Capacities, 110th Cong., 1st sess., February 17, 2007 [online].

Marc Sageman, “Understanding Terror Networks,” Foreign Policy Research Institute, November 1, 2004 [online].

Philip Gordon, “Winning the Right War,” Survival, Winter 2007/08, 17-46 [online].
Alasdair Roberts, “The Limits of Control: The Market State, Divided Power, and the Response to 9/11,” International Public Management Journal, 2006, pp. 313-332 [online].

Michael Howard, “Are We at War?” Survival, August-September 2008, pp. 247-256 [online].

Case:*

Mark Mazzetti and David Rohde, “Amid U.S. Policy Disputes, Qaeda Grows in Pakistan,” New York Times, June 30, 2008 [online].

* [For purposes of memo assignment, but not course discussion]

10. October 29: Group Presentations

Groups: U.S. Policy Toward: South and Central Asia; Middle East and North Africa; Western Hemisphere; Climate Change and Energy Policy

Readings:

Quadrennial Defense Review, February 6, 2006 (113 pp.) Skim. [online].

Hook and Spanier, American Foreign Policy Since World War II, pp. 371- 379.

R. Nicholas Burns, “America’s Strategic Opportunity with India,” Foreign Affairs November/December 2007), 131-146 [online]

Jorge Castaneda, “Latin America’s Left Turn,” Foreign Affairs, May/June 2006, pp. 28-44 [online].

(continues)

Martha Brill Olcott, “The Shrinking US Footprint in Central Asia,” Current History (October 2007), 333-339 [online].

Shibley Telhami, “America in Arab Eyes,” Survival (Spring 2007), 107-122 [online].

Alan Dupont, “The Strategic Implications of Climate Change,” Survival (June/July 2008), pp. 29-47 [online].

11. November 5: Iraq and Afghanistan

Readings:

Chaim Kaufmann, “Threat Inflation and the Failure of the Marketplace of Ideas: The Selling of the Iraq War,” International Security, Summer 2004, pp.5-48 [online].

H.R. McMaster, “On War: Lessons to be Learned,” Survival, February-March 2008, pp. 19-30 [online].

Steven E. Miller, “The Iraq Experiment and U.S. National Security,” Survival, Winter 2006-7, pp. 17-50 [online].

Jack Keane, “Iraq: Why We are Winning,” American Enterprise Institute (August 2008) [online]

Austin Long, “The Anbar Awakening,” Survival, April-May 2008, 67-94 [online].

Seth G. Jones, “Averting Failure in Afghanistan,” Survival, Spring 2006, pp. 111-128 [online].

Barnett R. Rubin, “Saving Afghanistan,” Foreign Affairs (January/February 2007), pp, 57-78 [online].

12. November 12: Group Project: U.S. Policy toward Pakistan

Description and Instructions to be handed out in class

Background Readings:

Seth Jones, “Pakistan’s Dangerous Game,” Survival (Spring 2007), 15-32 [online].

Craig Cohen and Derek Chollet, “When $10 Billion is Not Enough: Rethinking U.S. Strategy Toward Pakistan,” Washington Quarterly (Spring 2007), 7-19 [online].

Bruce Hoffman and Seth Jones, “Cellphones in the Hindu Kush,” The National Interest (July/August 2008), pp. 42-51 [online].

Bruce Reidel, “South Asia’s Nuclear Decade,” Survival (April/May 2008), pp. 107-126 [online].

13. November 19: Morality, Public Diplomacy and the “Battle of Ideas”

Guest Speaker: Bill Smullen

Readings:

Joseph Nye, Jr., Soft Power, ch. 2, pp. 33-72. [packet]

“Cultural Diplomacy: The Linchpin of Public Diplomacy,” Report of the Advisory Committee on Public Diplomacy, State Department (September 2005). (30 pp.)

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/nss/Billsfinalwith%20colorSept.15.pdf

Joseph Nye, Jr., “Recovering American Leadership,” Survival, February-March 2008, pp. 55-68 [online].

Marwan Kraidy, “Arab Media and U.S. Policy: A Public Diplomacy Reset,” (Policy Analysis Brief), The Stanley Foundation, January 2008 [online].

Philippe Sands, “The Green Light,” Vanity Fair, May 2008 (17 pp) [online].

Case:

“Donald Rumsfeld and Prisoner Abuse at Abu Ghraib,” Electronic Hallway (21 pp.)

14. December 3: Conclusion

Readings:

Hook and Spanier, American Foreign Policy Since World War II, pp. 380-388.

Fareed Zakaria, “The Future of American Power,” Foreign Affairs (May/June 2008), pp. 18-43 [online].

Brent Scowcroft, “The Dispensable Nation?” The National Interest (July/August 2007), 4-6 [online].

Kishore Mahbubani, “The Case Against the West,” Foreign Affairs, May/June 2008, pp 111-125,” [online].

Charles A. Kupchan and Peter L. Trubowitz, “Dead Center: The Demise of Liberal Internationalism in the United States,” International Security (Fall 2007), 7-44 [online].

William L. Waugh Jr., and Gregory Streib, “Collaboration and Leadership for Effective Emergency Management,” Public Administration Review (December 2006), 131-140 [online].

Michele Flournoy and Shawn Brimley, “The Defense Inheritance: Challenges and Choices for the Next Pentagon Team,” Washington Quarterly, 59-76 [online].

TAKE HOME FINAL EXAM DUE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 4:30 PM

Syllabus

Accommodation Policy and Academic Honesty