AN3010MA Topics in North American History:
United States Foreign Policy after 1945
Time: TUE 14-16
Place: 55
Program: NAD MA Yrs 1-2
Tutor: Tibor Glant
Office Hours: MON 16-17, TUE 13-14, and by appointment (120/2, )
Course Description
This course is designed to offer an in-depth analysis to United States foreign policy of the Cold War and after. Instead of a chronological survey, we will conduct a topical analysis of the driving forces and aims of American foreign policy makers. We begin with an overview of the constitutional framework, the rhetoric and ideologies framing the decisions, then focus on the concept of the American Century and certain specific Cold War issues, and conclude with post-Cold War ideological musings and the effect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. At the same time, classic historical issues, such as Vietnam and the Cuban Missile Crisis, are also to be addressed. The main theme of the course is the difference between public policy and actual diplomacy. Please note that class dates will be set in class 1 because of my upcoming research trip (February 25-March 12).
Course Requirements
All UD rules for seminars apply: students may not miss more than three classes under ANY circumstances, they are expected to come to class prepared and ready to contribute, and no late arrivals or early departures will be tolerated. Students will be graded on the basis (1) of class participation, (2) one oral presentation, (2) one take-home paper, and an (4) in-class written exam that concludes the course. Each will account for 25% of the final grade.
Research Paper
Topics will be agreed upon during the course, matching the interests of the individual students. The paper must be 4,000 words including footnotes, following the rules of the Chicago Manual of Style. ANY form of plagiarism will result in an automatic fail grade. The deadline for submission will be set in the first class. Late submission will result in a 5% loss of grade per week. Papers submitted two weeks after the deadline will not be accepted. The papers will be graded on the basis of research, argument, language, and format. Please make sure you edit your paper carefully: expect to lose one grade point per five errors; in cases of extensive academic carelessness the paper will be turned down. The paper must be typed, double-spaced, in an ordinary font (Times New Roman 12), and must include a cover page and the Institute’s plagiarism disclaimer.
Oral Presentation
It should cover one key issue matching the topic of the given class. It should not be longer than 15 minutes, and a 15-miunte discussion session will follow. Films, music, or any other medium may be used. Either a handout or a ppt presentation is required. Presentations will be graded on the basis of argument, organization, and language use.
Readings
Readings for individual classes are listed below. For background readings please check the North American History and Political Culture 2 (AN3028MA) textbooks and Walter LaFeber, The American Age: U.S. Foreign Policy at Home and Abroad, 1750 to the Present, 2nd ed. (New York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 1994). Students are individually responsible for catching up on the historical background of each class, as most of this has been covered in earlier BA and MA classes. You are welcome to look up related materials on various US governmental and private websites. These will be introduced in the first class.
Grading Policy
ANY form of plagiarism will result in an automatic fail grade with no make-up opportunity. Otherwise, the general UD rules apply: A=91-100; B=81-90; C=71-80; D=61-70; F is 60 or below. In case of borderline grades, participation in class discussion and the individual student’s pattern of work (progress) will be considered. Grades and grading policy will only be discussed in person. Extra credits may be acquired if a convincing case is put forward.
Week-by-Week Description of Course
Week 1 (FEB 17): Orientation
Rules of the game, setting deadlines, agreeing upon student presentation topics, opening discussion of students’ perception of US foreign policy and current Hungarian responses to it.
Week 2: The Processes of Foreign Policy Decision Making
Discussion:Traditions in American diplomacy: Monroe Doctrine, Manifest Destiny, isolationism, open door, etc. Institutional forms of foreign policy decision making: the State, War, Navy and Defense Departments, the Joint Chiefs, the National Security Council, the CIA, and private advisors. Domestic and foreign influences of the decision making process. What is MISSING from the readings?
Required reading: Michael H. Hunt, “Traditions of American Diplomacy: From Colony to Great Power,“ and J. Gerry Clifford, “They Don’t Come Out Where You Expect”: Institutions of American Diplomacy and the Policy Process,” Gordon Martel, ed., American Foreign Relations, 1-36.
Presentation: the immigrant vs. frontier tradition and ethnic lobbying: Godfrey Hodgson, “Immigrants and Frontiersmen: Two Traditions in American Foreign Policy,” in Michael J. Hogan, ed., The Ambiguous Legacy: U.S. Foreign Relations in the “American Century”(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 337-55 AND Introduction and Conclusion from: Ieva Zake , ed., Anti-Communist Minorities in the U.S. Political Activism of Ethnic Refugees (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).
Week 3: American Century, American Empire: Please note that this class will be rescheduled
Discussion: The rhetoric of the American century, debates about American empire: is it missing, is it by invitation, is it the cause of anti-Americanism in the world?
Required reading: Henry Luce, “The American Century,” Hogan, ed., Ambiguous Legacy, 11-29. AND John Lewis Gaddis, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History (New York and London: Oxford University Press, 1997): Chapter 2 on empires in Europe AND Amy Kaplan, “Left Alone with America: the Absence of Empire in the Study of American Culture” in Amy Kaplan and Donald E. Pease, eds., Cultures of United States Imperialism (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1993), 3-21.
Oral Presentation: Is US foreign policy a story of failure or success? Max Paul Friedman, “Anti-Americanism and U.S. Foreign relations” in Diplomatic History Vol. 32, No. 4, 2008 AND Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001): chapter one.
Week 4: Cold War Theories: Please note that this class will also be rescheduled
Discussion: Cold war definitions and interpretations: who started it, when, and why? Lessons of the cold war: controlled nuclear violence, abuse of civilian populations, the issues of right and wrong. Images of the Soviet Union in the US.
Required reading:Melwyn P. Leffler, “The Interpretive Wars over the Cold War, 1945-60,” John M. Carroll and George C. Herring, eds., Modern American Diplomacy, Rev. ed. (Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources Inc., 1996), 106-24; and Gaddis: We Now Know, chapter 10, 281-95. Documents: presidential doctrines: Glant, ed., American History, 106, 122-24, 134-36, 156-57, and handout.
Oral presentation:What could have been done in a different way?Robert L. Messer, “Paths Not Taken: The United States Department of State and Alternatives to Containment, 1945-1946,” Diplomatic History Vol. 1 No. 4 (Fall 1977), 297-319 and Les K. Adler and Thomas G. Paterson, “Red Fascism: The Merger of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia in the American Image of Totalitarianism, 1930’s-1950’s,” American History Review 75 (1970), 1046-64.
Week 5: Rhetoric and Strategies of Containment
Discussion: Kennan and “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” and Gaddis and “Strategies of Containment”: the gap between Cold War rhetoric and action
Required reading: the Kennan article from Foreign Affairs (available online) AND John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of American National Security Policy during the Cold War. Revised and updated ed. (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2005): both prefaces and epilogue.
Oral Presentation(s): ANY one or two chapters from the Gaddis book
Week 6: The Hottest Moment of the Cold War: The Cuban Missile Crisis
Discussion: the pitfalls of writing Cold War history: the unreliability of sources (written and oral), projection of the self instead of analysis, conspiracy theories
Required reading: Glant, “’Már a kubai rakétaválság sem a régi’: Gondolatok a hidegháború legforróbb pillanatának 50. évfordulója alkalmából” in AETAS Vol. 29, No. 2 (2014), 126-42.
Oral presentation(s): film makers respond to the CMC: Dr. Strangelove, Or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) and Fail Safe (1964) AND/OR the original Planet of the Apes movie cycle.
Week 7: Empire Over Ideals: The US and Latin America in the Cold War
Discussion: variations on US policy towards Latin America, the Gaddis-Empire debate over Latin America? What has changed since Reagan?
Required reading: Lester D. Langley, “Latin America in the Cold War and After” Carroll and Herring, eds., Modern American Diplomacy, 223-241; LaFeber, American Age for background on Guatemala, Nicaragua, Chile, and the 1980s.
Oral presentation: LaFeber’s Inevitable Revolutions (1983, revised in 1993) concept.
Week 8: America’s Longest War: Vietnam and the Vietnam syndrome
Discussion: what made Vietnam a special war in American history? What is the Vietnam syndrome? The interpretative wars over Vietnam: how the revisionist take was replaced by the conservative one.
Required reading: Herring, “The Vietnam War” Carroll and Herring, eds., Modern American Diplomacy, 205-22; Joyce-Glant textbook section on the Vietnam War, LaFeber, American Age, for background history of the war.
Oral presentation(s): Reliving Vietnam on film: Apocalypse Now (1979), The Deer Hunter (1978), Hair (1979), and the Rambo movie cycle: how does Vietnam compare to the Civil War in pop culture? AND/OR Vitenam historiography (requires database search)
Week 9: The US and the Middle East vs. the US in East-Central Europe
Discussion: how the US came to be seen as the new colonizer, and what did this lead to; AND what were the limits of Cold War meddling in each other’s sphere of influence: a case study of 1956 in Suez and Hungary
Required reading: Glant, “Terrorism and Anti-Americanism: 9/11 Ten Years After” in HJEAS Vol. 18, Nos. 1-2 (2012), 507-21; AND Brian McCauley, “Hungary and Suez, 1956: The Limits of Soviet and American Power,” Journal of Contemporary HistoryVol. 16, No. 4 (October 1981), 777-800.
Oral presentation: American and German responses to 1989 (Various Borhi writings online)
Week 10: The End of History, the Clash of Civilizations, or the Age of New Barbarism?
Discussion: the effect of winning the Cold War on US diplomacy: new challenges and new answers; rivaling new narratives: Fukyama vs. Huntington vs. (John) Lukacs
Required reading: Francis Fukuyama, “The End of History” AND Samuel P. Huntington, “The Clash of Civlizations” articles, both online
Oral presentation: John Lukacs, A XX. század és az újkor vége (Budapest: Európa, 1994): the age of new barbarism? AND/VS. Mead, Special Providence, chapter 8 on the New World Order.
Week 11: 9/11 and After: New Wars, New Empires, Anti-Americanism as a Global Ideology
Discussion: effects of 9/11: rhetoric, politics, new wars, legitimacy concerns, Bush failures, Obama victories; a new US policy towards Europe, East and West, the “New Cold War” of 2014; is Hollander correct in assuming that anti-Americanism is the/a new global ideology?
Required reading: Bush’s State of the Union on the “Axis of Evil” (online), current press coverage of TTIP negotiations and the “New Cold War”
Oral presentation: Imperial overstretch (Kennedy and Zubok)
Week 12: in-class written exam
Week 13: evaluation
1