HIST 378/478 American Foreign Relations, 1898 to the Present
The goal is to better understand the underlying philosophies, concepts, and tensions present in our foreign relations; the domestic and international context of events and policies, and the continuity and change over more than a century. Students analyze patterns, concepts/theories and the historians’ changing interpretations of foreign relations, i.e., historiography. Students learn to employ lenses/perspectives to analyze topics: Liberal Commercial World Order and Mission; National Security, Core Values, and Power; Bureaucracy and Politics; World Systems and Hegemony; Race and Ethnicity; Gendering of Peoples and Nations; and Cultural Interactions and Personality. Students will be required to complete a major primary source-based research paper on a topic of their choosing.