HIS 349: Foreign Policy of the United States

Our course examines U.S. foreign relations from the colonial era to the present. Our objective is to better understand and explain America’s place in the world, with an eye toward identifying historical patterns as well as historical anomalies. Traditionally, the three most prominent goals of American foreign policy have been defined as security, prosperity, and the creation of a better world (also referred to as a liberal world order). We will question the extent to which those three goals continue to guide foreign policy in the 21st century, and we will pay particular attention to the relationship to democracy. Does a “democratic tradition” exist in the history of U.S. relations with other nations? To what extent does or should the United States promote democracy abroad? What is the relationship between national security and civil liberties at home? We will be asking these questions and others, as we examine the historical place of the United States in the world.