ASTK12254U American National Security Policy: New Challenges and Opportunities

Volume 2014/2015
Content

Can the United States sustain its unipolar position in the 21st century? How will the US adapt to the rise of new global powers, such as China and India? Will terrorism remain a challenge in the decades to come? How do these overall issues translate into concrete policies? This course examines the global security challenges facing the United States at the dawn of the 21st century.

The course will be structured thusly:

1. Introduction
2. Foreign Policy Theory: Domestic and International Causes of American Security Policy
3. Key Debates in American Grand Strategy
4. American Decline? America’s Role in the World after the Financial Crisis
5. US-Chinese Relations
6. US-India Relations
7. WMD Proliferation: Iran, Syria, and North Korea
8. Anti-Terrorism Strategy
9. Small Wars: Afghanistan and Iraq
10. American Development Policy
11. US-Russian Relations
12. The Future of Transatlanticism: NATO and US-EU Relations
13. Does Denmark Play a Role in Washington?
14. Wrap-up: The Future of American Power

The final content of the course will be adjusted to suit student interests.
Drawing on the teacher’s own research on grand strategy, the course introduces students to the American grand strategy debate and the factors that shape US foreign policy. This framework is then used to explore how overall ideas are translated into concrete policy responses to salient global issues, including terrorism, the rise of China, WMD proliferation, the future of NATO, and the Arab

Learning Outcome

The course enables students to:

  • Present the American grand strategic debates and connect them to International Relations theory.
  • Compare basic grand strategic arguments.
  • Describe the American options regarding the policy issues covered by the course.
  • Use the grand strategy framework on concrete cases and analyze whether US policies reflect an overall grand strategy.
  • Determine the value and coherence of various grand strategic positions.

A comprehensive syllabus will be available before the beginning of term.

The main textbook will be Richard Betts (2012): American Force – Dangers, Delusions, and Dilemmas in National Security, New York: Columbia University Press.

The course syllabus will also include excerpts from:

Barry Posen and Andrew Ross (1996/97): Competing Visions for U.S. Grand Strategy, in International Security, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 5-53.

John J. Mearsheimer (2001): The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, New York: W. W. Norton and Company.

Robert J. Art (2003): A Grand Strategy for America, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Fareed Zakaria (2009): The Post-American World, 2nd edition, New York: W. W. Norton and Company.

G. John Ikenberry (2012): Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Michael E. O’Hanlon (2013): Healing the Wounded Giant: Maintaining Military Preeminence While Cutting the Defense Budget, Washington D.C.: Brookings.

Christopher Layne (2006): The Peace of illusions. American Grand Strategy from 1940 to the Present, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Paul Pillar (2001): Terrorism and U.S. Foreign Policy, Washington D.C.: Brookings.

The 9/11 Commission (2004): The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, New York: W. W. Norton and Company.

The students are expected to have passed International Relations at the BA-level or an equivalent course. They are also expected to have a general knowledge of current events and the recent history of American foreign policy, and an interest in American politics in general.
The course will be taught through a combination of class teaching, student presentations, and group and class discussions. Each class will, if feasible, be prefaced by a presentation by a relevant expert guest speaker, who will provide a contextual overview for each theme.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 28
  • Exam
  • 79
  • Preparation
  • 168
  • Total
  • 275
Credit
10 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written examination
Written exam
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
Criteria for exam assesment

Criteria for achieving the goals:

  • Grade 12 is given for an outstanding performance: the student lives up to the course's goal description in an independent and convincing manner with no or few and minor shortcomings
  • Grade 7 is given for a good performance: the student is confidently able to live up to the goal description, albeit with several shortcomings
  • Grade 02 is given for an adequate performance: the minimum acceptable performance in which the student is only able to live up to the goal description in an insecure and incomplete manner