This module is not currently running in 2021 to 2022.
This class analyzes American identities, power, and policy-making processes in encounters between multiple American "Selves" and “Others” in the world. It examines ?historical and contemporary interactions with places and actors abroad through sets of ideas, strategies, and technologies commonly labeled “foreign policy”. It does so through a bifocal approach. First, after the module is situated at the intersection of Foreign Policy Analysis, International Relations, Security Studies, and Geopolitics, it turns to the discourses of American exceptionalism, Manifest Destiny, frontier spirit, post-nationalism, and declinism to outline how they have shaped the conduct of US foreign policy and its purported tendencies toward “isolationism”, “adventurism”, and “interventionism”. Second, the module focuses on case studies of American involvements with political elites, populations, economies, military apparatuses, and ideologies across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Central and Southeast Asia. Roughly, they are divided into Cold War and post-Cold War timeframes.
Contact hours: 24
Private study hours: 176
Total hours: 200
This module will be of interest to students in a range of programs, in particular MA in International Relations (Primary Specialization) with Foreign Policy Analysis (Secondary Area of Specialization).
Evaluation paper, 1,000 words (10%)
Research essay, 4,000 words (70%)
Reassessment Methods: Like-for-like.
Reading List (Indicative list, current at time of publication. Reading lists will be published annually)
Campbell, David (1998) Writing Security. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press
Smith, Steve; Hadfield, Amelia and Dunne, Tim (2012) Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Stephanson, Anders (1995) Manifest Destiny: American Expansion and the Empire of Right. Hill and Wang
Goldstein, Gordon M. (2008) Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam. New York: Henry Holt
Darnton, Christopher (2014) Rivalry and Alliance Politics in Cold War Latin America. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press
Inbar, Efraim and Rynhold, Jonathan (2016) US Foreign Policy and Global Standing in the 21st Century: Realities and Perceptions. New York: Routledge
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes. On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
8.1 understand, independently research and critically evaluate contemporary debates on the formulation and practice of foreign policy of the United States in broader international, theoretical (such as Political Realism or Two-Level Games), spatial (geopolitical) and historical contexts
8.2: understand and critique leading policy and normative ("ideological") frameworks used to describe and interpret the politics and practice of US foreign policy (e.g. neoconservatism, liberal internationalism, non-interventionism, isolationism, etc.)
8.3: understand and critique various historical and popular discourses of "Self" that have informed the politics and practice of US foreign policy (e.g. American exceptionalism, Manifest Destiny, frontier spirit, post-nationalism, declinism, etc.)
8.4: analyse the politics of American foreign policy in a manner informed of the formal decision-making apparatus and various governmental and non-governmental actors and structures
8.5: assess and understand the role of international institutions and regimes (e.g. the UN, NATO, IMF, World Bank, nonproliferation regime, WTO, bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements, etc.) in constraining and enabling the politics, articulation and pursuit of US foreign policy goals and strategies
8.6: identify the practical and ethical problems and political and practical limits of US foreign policy goals, strategies and instruments (e.g. support for democracy abroad, maintaining bilateral and multilateral alliances, unilateral intervention, humanitarian intervention, nation and state building abroad, or the use of ISTAR, drones and precision bombing in the War on Terror, etc.)
The intended generic learning outcomes. On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
9.1: work with theoretical knowledge and recognize theory as integral to the realities of diverse social spaces
9.2: reflect upon the ethics of the scholarly work done in their broader discipline in general as well as in their own work
9.3: analyse complex, incomplete or contradictory areas of knowledge and make carefully constructed arguments
9.4: command a level of conceptual understanding that will allow them to critically evaluate research, policies, and practices
9.5: reflect upon and critique their work
9.6: use the internet, bibliographic search engines, online resources, and effectively conduct research
9.7: engage in academic and professional debates and conversations with others
9.8: show and grow independent learning ability required for further study or professional work
University of Kent makes every effort to ensure that module information is accurate for the relevant academic session and to provide educational services as described. However, courses, services and other matters may be subject to change. Please read our full disclaimer.
