Check here periodically for recommended site and pages related to our course (I will try to keep this page updated throughout the quarter) • Please e-mail me your suggestions.

WORLD ORDER PERSPECTIVES: Can a more enlightened, but still interest-oriented foreign policy help prevent human rights abuses? This is a difficult question to answer, but one of central concern to advocates of world order perspectives. For one perspective on this question, read Katherine Marie Metres' article, U.S. AND U.N. Human Rights Policy Toward Argentina • Proponents of World Order are vitally concerned with issues of global injustice, inequity, and discrimination; indeed, some argue that the system of global capitalism today is essentially the same as the system of apartheid in South Africa, and that this is one of the main sources of conflict in the world. For a more detailed discussion of this, see Titus Alexander's Power Politics and Poverty, which is available on my web site

RADICALISM: A leading source of analysis from a radical or Marxist perspective is the Monthly Review, which has a number of full-text essays available on its web site • Another useful source of full-text articles on a range of topics is the New Internationalist

NEOISOLATIONISM: To many in the foreign policy making establishment, isolationalism represents a dangerous perspective. This view is expressed by Samuel Berger, U.S. National Security Advisor, in his address on American power: Hegemony, Isolationism or Engagement? • On the other hand, a leading advocate of neo-isolationism today Pat Buchanan, argues just the opposite. To Buchanan, it is the interventionist, corporate-dominated foreign policy of the United States that represents the greatest threat to America. For a sample of his views, read his article, America First, NAFTA Never. Other sources:

• Three American Foreign Policies Don't Add Up, by William Pfaff

NEOREALISM: From a neorealist perspective, the breakdown in "friendly" relations between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China during the Cold War represented clear evidence of the validity of this approach. Why? Quite simply because the breakdown demonstrated that it is was not ideology that binded states together, but interests. Thus, as long as it served the interests of both communist countries to remain allies, their relationship was close, but as soon as conditions changed, so did the nature of the relationship. In short, the Sino-Soviet rift destroyed the myth that Communism transcended nationalism and power politics. This was further reinforced when the Soviets and Chinese almost went to war against one another over a border dispute (at one point, Chinese soldiers ambushed and killed 31 Soviet soldiers) • The USSR Foreign Ministry's Appraisal of Sino-Soviet Relations on the Eve of the Split, September 1959 is an analysis by Mark Kramer that provides an "insider" view of Sino-Soviet relations---Kramer's analysis is based on recently released documents from the former Soviet Union • the original Foreign Ministry appraisal is also reproduced in full (hosted by the National Security Archive, a treasure trove of information related to US foreign policy and international relations) • For the Chinese view, read The Emerging Disputes Between Beijing and Moscow: Ten Newly Available Chinese Documents translated and Annotated by Zhang Shu Guang and Chen Jian

In the minds of many reassertionists, the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 was unambiguous proof of the dangers of communist expansionism. For a brief overview of the Soviet invasion, read "The Dreaded Devil's Spiral: Treaties & Events leading to the 1979 Invasion" • For additional links to information on the Soviet invasion, see The Guardian Unlimited Weblog Special on Afghanistan.

• One of the main selections in the chapter on Neorealism is an article by Tom Farer. Farer is still active and is currently Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver. This interview with Dr. Farer provides a nice perspective on the background that informed his neo-realist approach.

REASSERTIONISM: With the end of the Cold War, reassertionism is no longer of great relevance in the foreign policy making process. Still, old-time reassertionists live on. The links here are to the leading reassertionist scholars, authors, and political leaders mentioned in the Michalak book. One of the main figures in the reassertionist camp is Jeane Kirkpatrick, former Ambassador to the UN. To see how her worldview continues to influence her understanding of the world, read her interview in New Perspectives Quarterly, "Facing a World Without Threats"

LINKS RELATED TO IN-CLASS VIDEO. Reassertionists pursued a particularly bloody policy in the Third World, including countries like El Salvador, where tens of thousands of people were murdered by a US-supported right wing dictatorship • to learn more, read Benjamin Schwarz' Dirty Hands, which provides an overview of the US-El Salvadoran relationship via a review of a book on the subject • Did the US government sanction the murder of American citizens sympathetic to the guerilla movement? According to one FBI informant, this was exactly the case. Read an interview with this informant (who also discusses the murder of four American nuns • Who was Archbishop Oscar Romero? He was an outspoken critic of the El Salvadoran government, who was ultimately murdered by right wing death squad.

• A leading reassertionist columnist is George Will, who writes extensively on a broad range of both domestic and foreign policy issues. To see an archive of his recent columns, see the Townhall.com site

• Will, of course, was not alone. Indeed, as Michalak argues, a new breed of neo-conservative played a key role in the development of a reassertionist policy. For a overview of this neo-conservative role, see this 1991 article from the Washingto Report entitled "The 'Neocons': From the Cold War to the 'Global Intifada'"

• Richard Nixon is generally understood as a leading advocate of reassertionism. To find out more about his foreign policies, a good place to look is in the Nixon library, which contains archives and other documents

• The reassertionist position is exemplified by the policies of Ronald Reagan and what became known as the Reagan Doctrine. For a critical assessment of the Reagan Doctrine, see this reading by Thomas Bodenheimer and Robert Gould and for a positive assessment, see this interview with Richard Lugar, a leading Republican.

CONTAINMENT: For a first hand account of some of the issues George Kennan (the famous "Mr. X") discussed in his containment article, see this interview he had with David Gergen in 1996. You can also find about more about Kennan from the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, which was established as a "forum for bringing historical depth on and contemporary understanding of Russia and the former Soviet Union to the nation's capital"

What was role did Kennan's concept of containment actually play in American foreign policy? For one example, see this interview with Robert McNamara.

For more information on Truman and the Truman doctrine, explore the Truman Doctrine Study collection.

For a more in-depth analysis of--or statement of the US position on-- the "Soviet threat" during the early stages of the cold war, see the full-text of NSC-68: United States Objectives and Programs for National Security

BELOW ARE READING FROM THE PREVIOUS TIME I TAUGHT THIS COURSE. SOME LINKS MAY BE EXPIRED.

• For a thought provoking set of articles on military spending, defense, and national security, try these online articles, the first by Carl Conetta and Charles Knight, entitled Dueling with Uncertainty: The New Logic of American Military Planning and the second by Gary Chapman, called Military Spending and the American Economy

• How does the US match up with other countries in terms of military spending? To find out, read a Fact Sheet on World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers prepared by the Department of State

• For information on the Gulf War, see Front Line's "The Gulf War" site •US-Iraq Policy and the Kurdish Problem (Foreign Policy In Focus report)

• The Vietnam War and its Aftermath. It was just over 25 years ago that was just over 25 years ago that the first tanks of the North Vietnamese army smashed through the gates of the presidential palace in Saigon. The decade-long conflict known to Americans as the Vietnam War was over • In an audio feature, experts discuss the war and its aftermath.

• For many decades, the US government has been accussed of helping to overthrow foreign governments--in Iran, Chile, Cuba and elsewhere. Through the release of formerly classified documents, we are now finding out just what the US role was • For information about Iran, read the New York Times special on The Secret History of the CIA in Iran • For information about Chile, read Tim Weiner's How the CIA Took Aim at Allende. You can also read declassified documents on Chile via the National Security Archive (maintained by George Washington University)

The Kissinger Page • a critical and sometimes funny look at Henry Kissinger's less memorable (at least from his perspective) policies toward Indonesia, East Timor, Chile, and so on • hosted by ETAN, the East Timor Action Network • Kissinger, Metternich and Realism is an article written by Robert Kaplan on Kissinger (published in the Atlantic Monthly); Kaplan provides a generally positive view of Kissinger's role as Secretary of State and of the factors that influenced his thinking