понедельник, 9 декабря 2013 г.

Courses on coursera.org. 21st Century American Foreign Policy

21st Century American Foreign Policy

The course   21st Century American Foreign Policy is given by  Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at Duke University Bruce Jentleson. The goal of the course is to gain more understanding of what U.S. foreign policy is, who makes it, why is it the way it is, and how it affects the rest of the world. It includes combining video lectures, background readings and quizzes to delve deeper into the issues, the history, the broader context and debates concerning the strategy of U.S. foreign policy towards different countries, regions and the world as a whole. Each part of the course is structured as a unit on one of the topics. From the beginning, an overview, an analytic framework and the process of making U.S. foreign policy are provided. Then the next 5 blocks of the course are dedicated to U.S. foreign policy in different regions: Asia, the Middle East, Western Europe, Russia, Latin America, Canada, and Africa. Thereby, this course just doesn’t concern major and accurate issues in U.S. foreign policy, but also gives an opportunity to discuss it and to share its own opinions with people from all over the world. In addition,  it’s useful for further studying the theme within the seminar session.
The syllabus of the course consists of 6 weeks studying of the proposed topics. It includes:

1.Course Overview, Analytic Framework and the Making of U.S. Foreign Policy
2.Asia’s Rising Strategic Importance: U.S. Relations with China and in the Asia-Pacific Region
3.War, Peace, Terrorism, Democracy:  Old and New Challenges in the Middle East
4.Old Friends, Old Enemy: 21st Century Relations with Europe and Russia
5.The Americas: Relations with Latin America and Canada
6.Africa: Persisting Old Issues, Pressing Newer Ones

Suggested Readings
The course draws extensively on book Professor Bruce Jentleson’s book American Foreign Policy: The Dynamics of Choice in the 21st Century (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 5th edition 2013).  Among the other reading sources there are lots of articles, surveys and interviews that are important for making more careful analysis of a particular issue of U.S. foreign policy.

Unit 1: Welcome, Course Overview and Analytic Framework
·          Pew Research Global Attitudes Project, “American International Engagement on the Rocks” (July 2013)                                                                      
Unit 2: Asia's Rising Strategic Importance: U.S. Relations with China and in the Asia-Pacific Region
Unit 3: War, Peace, Terrorism, Democracy: Old and New Challenges in the Middle East
Unit 4: Old Friends, Old Enemy: 21st Century Relations with Europe and Russia
John Lewis Gaddis, The Cold War: A New History  (London: Penguin Books, 2005) 
Odd Arne Westad, The Global Cold War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007) 
Unit 5: The Americas: Relations with Latin America and Canada
Unit 6: Africa: Persisting Old Issues, Pressing Newer Ones