Assignments

Assignments Overview

Your grade in this course depends upon:

Section participation / presentations
Two ungraded 2-page papers
Two 8-page papers

Section Presentations: What They Are

Top policy makers are often asked to present their views on important foreign and security policy matters to the National Security Council (NSC), the key Executive Branch forum where such matters are discussed. In our sections you will also be asked to present to the NSC. As in a real NSC appearance you will give a short presentation and then you will be questioned by an opinionated and perhaps skeptical panel that includes the President of the United States and some Cabinet officers. You should assume that the meeting is held in tight secrecy. There is no point in playing to the cameras because there aren’t any. But you better impress the President or he/she might fire you!

Your presentation will last five (5) minutes. If you run over you may be cut off. Your presentation should include (1) an argument, and (2) supporting evidence or reasoning. Your TA and your fellow students will then pose questions and ask you to address counter-arguments, in role as NSC members. Be prepared to defend your argument with deductive or historical evidence. You choose the topic of your presentation. You can make an argument that reacts to an issue raised in class or in the course readings, or you can address a subject of special concern to you. Your presentation can overlap with your paper topic.

We suggest that you bring an outline of your presentation and either hand it out or put it up on the blackboard, to help your audience follow your argument. We also suggest that you summarize your argument in a couple of sentences before marching through it. Again, this makes you easier to follow. We recommend that you practice your speech a couple of times-to the mirror or, better still, to a friend-before giving it.

The NSC sometimes hears differing views in its deliberations. Accordingly we will try to organize presentations as debates between two members of the section who frame different views of an issue. Reminder: you are also required to provide your TA with a two-page (double-spaced) paper summarizing your talk, due on the day you speak.

Papers

Students will write two short ungraded papers-a response paper that reacts to a course reading or lecture or class discussion, and a paper summarizing your in-section presentation-and two longer papers on questions arising from the course material. The two ungraded papers each will be two pages long, double-spaced. The longer papers will be 8 pages. One 8-page paper assignment asks you to explain a past case of American conduct-what accounts for American behavior? A second 8-page assignment asks you to evaluate a past American policy: was the policy appropriate, or would another policy have produced better results? However, we are flexible about paper topics. You can negotiate your paper topics with us if you want to write on another subject.

Two Ungraded Papers

Your ungraded response paper is due by Session 8. Your ungraded talk-summary paper is due on the day you present your talk.

Your response paper should advance an argument about an issue raised by the reading, lectures, or section discussions, or about a foreign policy issue you care about. You can dispute or endorse argument(s) or theories advanced in the reading, lectures or section; or you can assess or explain policies or historical events mentioned in the reading or lectures. You are also free to advance an argument about a foreign policy issue or idea not covered in the class. We encourage evaluation of policies or ideas. Are policies wise or unwise? Good or bad? Are policy ideas right or wrong?

Somewhere in your paper-preferably at the beginning-please offer a 1-2 sentence summary of your argument. Your paper should be about two typed pages (double-spaced) with standard one-inch margins on left, right, top and bottom. It will not be graded but is mandatory and must be completed to receive full credit for class participation.

Your papers may be improved by keeping up with current international affairs during the semester. Four publications offer especially good international coverage: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Financial Times, and The Economist (a weekly). The websites of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and National Public Radio (NPR) are also valuable.

Two 8-page Papers

Your first 8-page paper is due at the beginning of Session 17. Your second 8-page paper is due at the beginning of Session 23.

We require that you submit a finished draft of at least one of your 8-page papers eight days before its due date in order to get comments for rewrite from your TA. You are wise to submit both papers to your TA for comments. So leave yourself time to get comments on drafts of the 8-page papers from your TA before you submit final drafts.

For detailed information on the graded papers, see First Paper Assignment and Second Paper Assignment.

Select an episode in American foreign policy and write a short paper that identifies what you believe is the single best explanation for American policies. Please also identify one or two competing explanations and explain why you find them less compelling. Finally, feel free to identify policy prescriptions that follow from your analysis, if any do. Use historical evidence to support your argument. You may want to draw on theories discussed in this course to construct your explanation but can also rely on other theories.

Following is a list of suitable episodes for your paper. (This list is not exclusive; other episodes are also allowed).

United States policy before U.S. entry into World War I, and /or U.S. entry into World War I, and / or U.S. conduct of World War I.
U.S. policy before U.S. entry into World War II, and / or U.S. entry into World War II, and / or U.S. conduct of World War II.
The U.S. decision to wage the Cold War.
U.S. strategies and tactics in the Cold War.
U.S. entry into and / or conduct of the Korean War.
U.S. conduct of the War on Terror, 2001–present.
U.S. decisions toward the Soviet installation of missiles in Cuba, October 1962 (the Cuban Missile Crisis). E.g., the U.S. decision to insist on the missiles’s removal; or to pursue a blockade instead of bombing and invading.
U.S. intervention decisions, e.g., the U.S. decisions not to intervene in Rwanda in 1994; to intervene in Libya in 2011; to intervene in Iraq 2003; to intervene in Vietnam 1965.

If the facts you need to fully assess your explanations are not found in the available course readings, describe what additional facts you would need to provide a more thorough assessment, and explain why these additional facts would shed light on the questions you address.

If you want to pursue a paper on another topic-for example, a paper that uses a case to test a theory of US foreign policy, or a paper that evaluates a US foreign policy-we are open to it. Consult your TA.

Your paper should be roughly eight typed double-spaced pages, with normal 1’’ margins and normal-size typeface.

Start your paper with a short summary introduction that states your guestion(s) and distills your answer(s). And offer a conclusion.

Your paper is due at the beginning of Session 17.

Your TA will give you feedback on a draft of your paper if you submit a draft a week before you submit your final paper. You must do this for one of your two papers. You are wise to do it for both papers.

Write a short paper that evaluates a U.S. foreign policy (to include a broad U.S. policy, strategy, or doctrine, or a specific U.S. decision); or a foreign policy idea that was suggested but not adopted.

In your evaluation you can (1) describe and evaluate the key factual and theoretical beliefs that motivated the policy. Were these beliefs true or false?

And / or you can (2) describe and assess the consequences of the policy (if you assess a policy that was adopted); or the consequences that probably would have followed if the policy had been adopted (if you assess an unadopted policy idea). Were these consequences good or bad for the U.S.? Were they good or bad for other states? Were they desired or undesired by U.S. policymakers?

And / or you can (3) assess whether the process by which the policy was decided was good or bad. Were alternative policies considered? Was relevant evidence marshalled and examined in a systematic fashion? Overall, did the policy making process follow the rules of science? Was it “rational-legal”?

In asking if the consequences of the policy were good or bad, you can assess the policy against a pragmatic standard (“the policy improved US national security”) or a moral standard (“the policy violated universal human rights”), or both.

If the evidence available in the assigned readings is too thin to allow you to fully evaluate the policy or policy element that you have chosen to discuss, please say so and describe the information that you would need to perform a more thorough evaluation. Alternately, you can consult works listed in the ‘‘Further Readings’’ pdf, which can be found in the Readings section, or you can ask your TA for suggestions on further reading. (Extra reading is not mandatory but we encourage it if your paper seems to call for it.)

Examples of policies you might evaluate:

U.S. foreign policies in the interwar years (1919–1941).
The U.S. decision to pursue Containment (1947).
The policy of rollback against the USSR that was suggested by some during 1949–1954 but not adopted.
The national security policies’ of the Eisenhower Administration (1953–1961). (Note: ‘‘National security policy’’ refers to policies to protect national sovereignty and physical safety; these include national grand strategy, general military policy, and more specific foreign policies.)
U.S. policies in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
The 1965 U.S. decision to send large ground forces to Vietnam.
Other U.S. policies in Vietnam/Indochina, 1945–1975.
Any other U.S. intervention in the Third World, e.g., the 1954 CIA coup in Guatemala.
The 2001–present War on Terror.
The 2003 Iraq war.

Your paper should be about eight typed double-spaced pages, with normal 1" margins and normal-size typeface.

Start your paper with a short summary introduction that states your guestion(s) and distills your answer(s). And offer a conclusion.

Your paper is due at the beginning of Session 23.

Your TA will give you feedback on a draft of your paper if you submit a draft a week before you submit your final paper. You must do this for one of your two papers. You are wise to do it for both papers.

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American Foreign Policy: Past, Present, and Future