Notes from Professor

Read: Hastedt Chapters 3-4

• Glenn P. Hastedt, American Foreign Policy: Past, Present and Future. 9^th (Longman, 2012). (ISBN 978-0-205-85472-1).
• Gregory M. Scott and Stephen M. Garrison, The Political Science Student Writer’s Manual. 7^th (N.J.: Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2012), (ISBN 978-0-205-83012-1))

I usually think about this rise in terms of the Presidency, since it is the face of American foreign policy: Washington and the early presidents consolidated the American hold on the original colonial land mass and its expanding frontier; Lincoln and the post-Civil War presidents gave the federal government the institutions it needed to project power into the world; Theodore Roosevelt, as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the Spanish-American War and president in its aftermath, and Woodrow Wilson, in WWI, showed that America was at least as formidable internationally as the European powers; and FDR and the later presidents established the United States as the dominant world superpower following WWII, the Cold War, and the War on Terror.

This week, we will look at the question of America’s national interest: What should America’s leadership consider the US foreign policy goals to be? Is America, as the world’s only superpower, responsible only for maintaining the peace, stability and standard of living of America’s citizens, or does it have a broader role in the world, such as guaranteeing the peace and stability of the region or the world? Does it have any responsibilities to citizens other Americans? How should America’s leadership balance the rights of Americans and America’s larger global responsibilities? We’ll consider four approaches to this problem:  Isolationism, Liberal Institutionalism, Realism and Democratic Globalism. We will also discuss how states learn from the past and we will also have an online discussion about the utility of historical analogies.

Respond to this question: Is American foreign policy a partisan issue?

Post should contain at least three distinct paragraphs, each in the 8-10 sentence range, for a total of 24-30 sentences, with at least three references, preferably excerpts, to the course readings and one scriptural citation, which also should be an excerpt with chapter and verse notation.