POLS 5254 - Comparative Foreign Policy:
Theories and Applications
Spring 2018
Sunday 05:00 - 07:45 pm (Walled C140)
Professor Mohamed Kamal
Office Hours: Sunday and Wednesday 02:30 am to 03:30 pm. Room 2031 HUSS
Course Overview:
The purpose of this course is to try to make connections between theories of foreign policy and practice of these theories as reflected in the foreign policy of a group of states.
The course will examine the sources of incentives, constraints, and preferences on foreign policy decision-making. The course will also analyze how external and internal factors interact in the processes leading to foreign policy actions. We will pay particular attention to the cases of the United States, China, Russia, and Egypt.
Course Requirements:
-Attendance and Participation 60%
-Term paper 40%
Schedule:
Week 1: Introduction: Relationship between foreign theory and practice
Week 2: The Role of Institution
Bruce W. Jentleson, American Foreign Policy: The Dynamics of Choice in the 21st Century. New York: W.W. Norton and Co.(Pp. 27- 84) Blackboard
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Week 3:Role of Ideology
1-Barry R. Posen and Andrew L.,Competing Visions for U.S. Grand Strategy,International Security, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Winter, 1996-1997), pp. 5-53 (Blackboard)
2-Verlan Lewis,The President and the Parties’ Ideologies:Party Ideas about Foreign Policy Since 1900, Presidential Studies Quarterly,Vol. 47, No. 1, March 2017, pp. 27–61 (Blackboard)
Week 4:Ideas and Foreign Policy
Capitol Idea. Think Tanks and U.S Foreign Policy-Chapters 2, 4, 7, 9 and Conclusion (Blackboard)
Week 5:Interest Groups
- Ch. 21 InterestGroups Routledge_Handbook_of_American_Foreign_Policy(Blackboard)
- Ch.5 The Israel Lobby, The_Domestic_Sources_of_American_Foreign_Policy (Blackboard)
Week 6:Public Opinion and the Media
-Ch.19 Public opinion, and Ch.20
News Media,
Routledge_Handbook_of_American_Foreign_Policy(pp. 263 -290).(Blackboard)
Week 7:Leadership and Foreign Policy
* The Foreign Policy of President Obama
1- BarakObama and the Dilemmas of American Grand Strategy (Blackboard)
2- The ObamaDoctrine(Blackboard)
3- The ObamaDoctrine and the Middle East(Blackboard)
* The Foreign Policy of President Trump
1- The Return of Jacksonianism(Blackboard)
2- In search of a Trump administrationMiddle East policy(Blackboard)
Week 8 and 9: Chinese Foreign Policy : Theory and Practice
1-How are Foreign Policy Decisions Made in China? (Blackboard)
2-China and the World in the 21st Century (Blackboard)
3- China's New foreign policy under Xi Jinping(Blackboard)
4-A China in Transition: The Rhetoric and Substanceof Chinese Foreign Policy under Xi Jinping(Blackboard)
China and the United States
The Thucydides Trap: Are the U.S. and China Headed for War?
- China and the Middle East
- Chapter 3, China and the Middle East (Blackboard)
- China's Gulf Policy (Blackboard)
Week 10 and 11:Russian Foreign Policy: Theory and Practice
– Dina Rome Spechler, “Russian Foreign Policy During the Putin Presidency: TheImpact of Competing Approaches,” Problems of Post-Communism, Vol. 57, No. 5(September/October 2010), pp. 35-50.
– Andrei P. Tsygankov, “Preserving Influence in a Changing World: Russia’s GrandStrategy,” Problems of Post-Communism, Vol. 58, No. 2 (March/April 2011), pp.
28-44.
– Dmitry Suslov, “US-Russia Confrontation and a New Global Balance,” Strategic Analysis, Vol. 40, No. 6 (2016), pp. 547-560
- Alexander Lukin, “Russia’s Pivot to Asia: Myth or Reality?” Strategic Analysis,Vol. 40, No. 6 (2016), pp. 573-589.
– Derek Averre and Lance Davies, “Russia, Humanitarian Intervention and theResponsibility to Protect: The Case of Syria,” International Affairs, Vol. 91, No. 4(2015), pp. 813-834.
Week 12: The Foreign Policy of Egypt : Theory and Practice
1- Background (blackboard)
2- Egypt and the United States (blackboard)
3- Egypt and Iran (blackboard)
4-Egyptian foreign policy from Mubarak to Morsi (blackboard)
Week 13 and 14: Soft Power and Foreign Policy
- The soft power 30 report (blackboard)