| General Sources
Foreign Policy In Focus Web Site • This site contains a vast array of information about all aspects of American foreign policy. The site is designed primarily for the average citizen, and is meant to help develop a better informed public.
Foreign Policy (FP) • FP is an online and print magazine dedicated to reaching a broad, nonspecialized audience that recognizes that what happens “there” matters “here,” and vice versa.
Foreign Affairs (Council on Foreign Relations) • Foreign Affair's magazine is one of America's most influential publication on international affairs and foreign policy. According to it's website, "It is more than a magazine—it is the international forum of choice for the most important new ideas, analysis, and debate on the most significant issues in the world. Inevitably, articles published in Foreign Affairs shape the political dialogue for months and years to come."
CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online) • "Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO) is the most comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs. It publishes a wide range of scholarship from 1991 onward that includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals and policy briefs." CSLA students have full access to the material on this site, but to gain access, students must log on through the library's database page.
The Stanley Foundation • The Stanley Fouondation is "a nonprofit, nonpartisan, private operating foundation. Foundation programming is focused on promoting and building support for principled multilateralism in addressing international issues." The Foundation's website provides dozens of free articles on foreign policy-related issues. Of particular interest for our class is the foundation's series of articles on "Rising Powers."
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Below are recommended readings from previous quarters. Since we are covering much of the same material this quarter, the recommended readings below are relevant to our current class.
BE ADVISED: The material below may contain broken links or otherwise be "outdated." I will not, however, be making any updates.
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Individual Level of Analysis (Neack, chapter 2)
To frame our discussion of the individual level, we will view a 20 minute excerpt from the film "Thirteen Days." The title refers to the 13-day period of the Cuban missile crisis, which was, with little argument, the closest the Soviet Union and United States ever came to nuclear war. For students interested in exploring this even more closely, there is a wealth of information on the Internet. One of the best places for students of political science to look at, however, is the the National Security Archives, hosted by George Washington University. The NSA has a special section devoted to the Cuban crisis: The Cuban Missile Crisis: 40th Anniversary o National Security Archive. This section includes primary source documents on the Cuban missile crisis from the United States, the Soviet Union, Eastern European countries, and Cuba. It also includes audio clips from the actual meetings of ExComm, U2 photographs, a chronology and in-depth analysis.
In the context of our lecture/discussion on this chapter, we will also talk about the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) and the influence of "neo-conservatives" in the Bush I administration. For a concise and simple background of the "neo-cons" a good source is the Christian Science Monitor's Neocon 101 • Also included are related articles on key neo-con figures and some of their views. Of course, you should also go to the source itself—the official web site of PNAC. One of the quotes used in today's class comes from this website and from an article aptly titled, "Bombing Iraq Isn't Enough" by William Krystal and Robert Kagan, two leading neo-cons.
In class, we will also discuss the views of Bush II himself. Some of the data--specifically his quote on nation-building--came from one of the presidential debates held at Wake Forest University in October 2000.
We will also view a number of overheads from Jim Borgman (Pulitzer Prize winner) of the Cincinnati Enquirer. You can view hundreds of Borgman's political/editorial cartoons on this site, all conveniently arranged by topic.
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Major Worldviews/Theories in IR and Foreign Policy--Marxism
Marxism can be an extremely difficult to understand body of thought, and, in this class, we will only touch the surface. For students interested in exploring Marxism further, there are hundreds if not thousands of online sources, some of which may or may not be very helpful. For those of you interested in reading Marx's own writings, a good place to start is the MarX-Files, which is and annotated web guide containing links to the major works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, as well as biographies, libraries, labor, cultural and other Marxist resources. Another useful source, especially for contemporary analyses using a Marxist perspective, is the Monthly Review, one of the oldest and most respected sources of academic Marxist analysis. For a recent analysis of the Bush administration's foreign policy from a Marxist perspective, see this article on the Youth for International Socialism web site.
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Major Worldviews/Theories in IR and Foreign Policy
In class, we will briefly discuss the Liberal views of Francis Fukuyama. Professor Fukuyama has written a great deal on variety of topics, including the triumph of the Liberal idea (discussed in his article, "The End of History?" (note: this article is not available online, although you are still encouraged to read it). For a more recent discussion, however, you may want to read Fukuyama's "Has History Restarted Since September 11?" • We also briefly discussed the role of international financial institutions, like the IMF and World Bank. To find out more, you should start at the source: The IMF homepage and the World Bank homepage • In addition, however, you should read about what critics of the IMF/World Bank have to say. One of the more comprehensive critical sources is the 50 Years is Enough web site, which, as we will learn, is an organization that exemplies a neo-idealist perspective. • Another reading of interest is Stanley Hoffman's "Crisis of Liberal Internationalism," which was written during the Clinton Administration, but which may still be of some relevance today.
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Introduction to US Foreign Policy |
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Today's required readings begin with a discussion of China-Tibet issues. This is complicated issue, and one on which there are thousands of readings. A good place to start, however, is with the official web site of the Tibetan govenment-in-exile. This includes a wide range of information, such as the current status of Tibet and a up-to-date press releases • Human Rights Watch (an international NGO) has a useful and concise summary of China and Tibet in its 1998 Human Rights Report • For the Chinese government's position, see this short article, "Tibet Must Remain Part of the Motherland" in the People's Daily online version (English edition}.
Another important topic of discussion was the Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status granted to China. For a sense of the pro-China US position, you can read an article by Senator Max Baucus on China Online or another by Congressman Paul Ryan on U.S.-China Bilateral Agreement and PNTR
[BE ADVISED: I selected these articles more or less randomly--students interested in this topic will need to a great deal of additional research]
In class, I discussed the blurring of the lines between the domestic and the international and referred to an example of US membership in the World Trade Organization. More specifically, I referred to the Fairness in Music Liscensing Act, over which British companies have launched strong complaints. For more information, read this brief opinion piece on the British Music Rights web site.
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