• Español

Estudios Norteamericanos (Conjunto con UAH)

Master's Programme. Academic Year 2024/2025.

POLÍTICA EXTERIOR ESTADOUNIDENSE - 608561

Curso Académico 2024-25

Datos Generales

SINOPSIS

COMPETENCIAS

Específicas
CE1 - Students will be able to question the validity of relativistic assertions about American idiosyncrasies.
CE2 - Students will be able to discern the various milestones of American political and cultural history in both synchrony and synchrony.
CE3 - Students will be able to carry out a research work with an adequate structure, a clear writing, a solid argumentation and respecting all the rules of citation and relation of sources typical of this type of work and assimilating the theories or opinions exposed in other studies on the subject.
CE5 - Students will have the ability to interpret and evaluate all types of current American texts (press, advertising, reports, communiqués, scientific or economic texts, ideological, historical, literary, etc.), revealing their ideology, objectives, and function.
CE6 - Students will have an overview of transatlantic cultural, political, and historical relationships from the creation of New England to the present day.

ACTIVIDADES DOCENTES

Clases teóricas
60%
Clases prácticas
20%
Presentaciones
10%
Otras actividades
10%

Presenciales

5

Semestre

1

Breve descriptor:

This course will familiarize students with the major issues, their ideological bases, historical development, institutional structures and actors in U.S. foreign policy. Isolationism, Monroe Doctrine, Manifest Destiny and the first foreign policy traditions, such as the Hamiltonian, Jeffersonian or Jacksonian: Besides the doctrines and traditions of U.S. foreign policy from the Puritans to the present will be studied. Imperialist era and World War I will be analyzed in relation to the development of U.S. national policy, the arrival of Idealism and the impact of the Great Depression and World War II.

 

The student will receive the fundamentals of the institutional system created for foreign policy from the Cold War and its transformation since the creation of the system of national security and the development of the policy of Containment during various governments with reference to the impact of competition with the Soviet Union and various U.S. regional policies from the Truman Doctrine through creation of NATO and the network of alliances created by the U.S., the Suez Crisis, the Crisis of Cuba, the Vietnam War, the Nixon Doctrine and Tripolarity; the Carter Doctrine, the Reagan Doctrine and the end of the Cold War.

 

In the analysis of the post-Cold War and Unipolarity and the structural changes in the international system will help the students to understand what general framework is designed and developed by the U.S. foreign policy and its main parameters. U.S. policy in the Bush Administration will be reviewed to end the Cold War and remain as the only superpower, starting then Unipolarity. This policy is based on three basic facts: A review of U.S. strategic posture: an end to contention; German reunification, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and transatlantic relations; and the Gulf War. It will also deal with the two Clinton administrations, analyzing their strategic posture of Engagement and Enlargement, and the development of the first design of foreign policy in Clinton's first administration. Some of the main topics to be discussed are: the new foreign policy and geo-economic shift to Asia; transatlantic relations, the New Transatlantic Agenda of 1995 and the enlargement of NATO; change and continuity in Asia; and the Oslo PLO-Israel negotiation process.

 

The attacks of 11 September caused changes in policy and of the institutional structure of foreign policy, along with the increased influence of the neoconservatives in the Bush administration. The analysis of the two administrations of George W. Bush will be in two parts, those due to the changes brought on 11 September, the invasion of Iraq and subsequent changes in its foreign policy from 2005 to the GWOT to the "Long War"; and Global Counterinsurgency; the New Transatlantic Relations after the Iraq crisis; the rise of Asia: China, India, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia; the "Great Central Asia"; policy toward Africa. Finally, the analysis of the current foreign policy of the Obama Administrations shall address the impact of the economic crisis in the U.S. foreign policy; the end of the interventions in AFPAK and Iraq and an end to the GWOT. The appearance of the "Obama Doctrine, including the "Reset"-The new policy towards Russia ¿the New START treaty and nuclear disarmament policy; and new policies toward Iran and the Middle East, besides the Pivot to Asia. The American First program of the Trump Administration, its transactional vision and Independent Internationalism will be analyzed. The main emphasis will be on commercial revisionism, its Indo-Pacific policy and in the Middle East with the Abraham Accords and the end of the nuclear agreement with Iran. Finally, reference will be made to the changes and continuities of the Biden Administration in its first year in office.

Requisitos

General requirements for admission to the master's degree

Objetivos

Advanced knowledge of the ideological and historical bases, historical development, geopolitical projects and strategies, institutional structures and actors of US foreign policy.

Contenido

 1. THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONCEPTS AND DOCTRINES IN US FOREIGN

POLICY SINCE INDEPENDENCE.

- “The City upon the Hill and the Founding Fathers. Exceptionalism,

Isolationism, Monroe Doctrine, Manifest Destiny and the first foreign

policy traditions: Hamiltonian, Jeffersonian or Jacksonian

- Foreign Policy and constitutional powers:-the President and the Congress

2. THE RISE OF UNITED STATES TO GREAT POWER STATUS 1890-1945

- Theodore Roosevelt and Alfred Mahan: The Imperialism.

- Woodrow Wilson and Idealism.

- The New Deal, FDR and the Second World War.

2. THE COLD WAR. 1947-1987

3. THE “NEW WORLD ORDER” 1989-1999. George H.W. Bush 1989-93. William Clinton 1993-2001:

4. THE 9/11 ERA AND THE “LONG WAR”. 2001-2008.  George W. Bush. 2001-2009.

5. THE POST 9/11 ERA 2009-2016.  Barak Obama 2009-2017.

6- THE END OF LIBERAL ORDER AND THE RETURN OF GREAT POWER COMPETITION. Donald Trump 2017-2021. Joseph Biden 2021-

Evaluación

A research paper will be the 80% of the final grade. The rest of the grade note will be based on journal and articles analysis, and attendance to conferences and seminars.

Bibliografía

Allison, Graham T. and Zelikow, Philip. The essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis. Longman, 1999.
Bader, Jeffrey A. Obama, and China's Rise: An Insider's Account of America's Asia Strategy. Brookings. Washington DC. 2012.
Brzezinski, Zbigniew. The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives. Basic Books. 1997.
Daalder, Ivo H. and Lindsay, James M. America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy. Brookings Institution Press. Washington DC. 2003
Fernandez, N. and Smith, M. Perceptions and Policy in Transatlantic Relations. Routledge. London. 2009.
Gaddis, J. L. Strategies of Containment. Revised Edition. Oxford. 2005.
Gordon, Philip. and Shapiro, Jeremy. Allies at War: America, Europe, and the Crisis over Iraq. McGraw and Hill. 2004.
Thomas, Evan. The War Lovers. Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst and the rush to Empire 1898. Little, Brown and Company. 2010.
Woodward, B. Bush at War. Simon and Schuster. NY. 2002.
-----------------. Obama’s War. Simon and Schuster. NY. 2010.
Zelikow, P. and Rice, C. Germany Unified and Europe Transformed. Harvard, London. 1995

Otra información relevante

The information on this file does not replace the program of the subject, which is the document where activities, material, readings, and thematic content will be specified.

During the first week of a face-to-face class, said the program will be delivered in the classroom, and will also be available on the virtual campus of the subject.

Estructura

MódulosMaterias
No existen datos de módulos o materias para esta asignatura.

Grupos

Clases teóricas y/o prácticas
GrupoPeriodosHorariosAulaProfesor
Grupo T12/09/2024 - 13/12/2024MIÉRCOLES 18:00 - 21:00A-22ADAVID JAVIER GARCIA CANTALAPIEDRA
RUBEN HERRERO DE CASTRO