HISTORY OF U.S. FOREIGN RELATIONS

This course aims to analyze the evolution of U.S. foreign relations during the post-World War II period. In particular, it will address the consolidation of U.S. global hegemony after 1945 by drawing on four analytical lenses: 1. Cultural hegemony 2. Economic interventions 3. Military hegemony 4. Human rights narratives. Each sphere will serve as a window into how the U.S. has interacted with the wider world, building a stable—albeit contested—global hegemony.
In the first part of the course, these four analytical lenses will be introduced through lectures that draw on specific historiographical works. In the second part of the course, we will use U.S. primary sources to illustrate how culture, development economics, military interventions, and human rights policies were woven into Washington’s foreign policy initiatives aimed to shape and build its global hegemony.

More specifically:
The first lens will focus on the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF), an organization covertly funded by the CIA by the early 1950s. CCF sought to use culture as a Cold War weapon, subsidizing art exhibits, music concerts, and literary conferences which should promote, in CIA’s intentions, an anti-totalitarian interpretation of Western culture on a global scale.

The second lens will examine U.S.-backed development strategies in the Third World. Specifically, it will analyze both the theory and policies of the Alliance for Progress, the Kennedy administration’s (1961-1963) flagship program to counter the influence of the Cuban Revolution (1959) in Latin America by fostering economic development in the region through U.S. aid.

The third lens will address the use of military power as a tool of interaction with the wider world, employed by the United States in specific cases to impose a political order aligned with Washington’s geopolitical concerns. The case of U.S. military intervention in Vietnam by the mid-1960s will be specifically addressed.

The fourth lens will explore the ambiguity that has marked Washington’s use of the human rights narrative as a tool for its foreign policy. In particular, it will focus on the transition from the Nixon/Ford administrations (1968-1977) to the Carter administration (1977-1981), highlighting the profound differences in how the Republican and Democratic administrations approached human rights agendas in crafting their foreign policies.

Through the readings, the lectures, and the class discussions, by the end of the course students should have acquired:

a) a confident knowledge of the facts, concepts and characters of US foreign policy during the post-1945 decades;

b) a confident knowledge of the main interpretations concerning the drivers, the making and the outcomes of US foreign policy over the decades;

c) a good degree of ability in treating various kinds of primary and secondary sources, to critically interpret them and to elaborate their critical interpretation in both written and oral form;

This course has no formal requirement, except a basic knowledge of modern and contemporary history as from High School programs. For RIC students, since this is a second year class, having already taken the first-year exam of History of International Relations is not a formal prerequisite but is highly advisable. Finally, a deep interest in the subject and a serious approach to the lessons and the reading materials are not formal requirements, but usually help.

Program


Week 1

Introduction to the course


Week 2

Cultural hegemony


Historiography:
Giles Scott-Smith, The Politics of Apolitical Culture. The Congress for Cultural Freedom, the CIA and Post-war American Hegemony. Chapter 4.

Week 3

Economic interventions

Historiography:
THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF AMERICA AND THE WORLD * VOLUME IV 1945 to the Present: Corinna R. Unger, American Development Aid, Decolonization, and the Cold War, p. 190


Week 4

Military hegemony

Historiography:
THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF AMERICA AND THE WORLD * VOLUME IV 1945 to the Present: Christopher Goscha, Decolonization and US Intervention in Asia, p. 213


Week 5

Human Rights

Historiography:
THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF AMERICA AND THE WORLD * VOLUME IV 1945 to the Present: Barbara Keys, Human Rights, p. 328


Week 6

How to work on a primary source


Week 7


Cultural hegemony


Primary source:
Primary source on the Indian Congress for Cultural Freedom first conference, 1951 (posted on moodle)


Week 8

Economic interventions


Primary source:
FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1961–1963, VOLUME XII, AMERICAN REPUBLICS
37. Highlights of the First Meeting of the Working Group on Problems of the Alliance for Progress1, Washington, January 16, 1962. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v12/d37


Week 9

Military hegemony


Primary sources:
FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1961–1963, VOLUME IX, FOREIGN ECONOMIC POLICY
84. Report Prepared by the Policy Planning Council
Washington, undated. US MILITARY AID POLICY TOWARD NON-NATO COUNTRIES
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v09/d84


Week 10

Human Rights


Primary sources:

Subject: Secretary's Meeting with Argentine Foreign Minister Guzzetti, October 7, 1976 https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB104/Doc6%20761007.pdf

FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1977–1980, VOLUME I, FOUNDATIONS OF FOREIGN POLICY
40. Address by President Carter, South Bend, Indiana, May 22, 1977 https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v01/d40


Week 11

Students’ presentations


Week 12

Students’ presentations


Week 13

Students’ presentations


Week 14

Students’ presentations


Week 15

Final remarks

THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF AMERICA AND THE WORLD * VOLUME IV 1945 to the Present

Students will be evaluated based on their participation in class (10%) and two different, specific class activities. The first class activity (40%) will involve a group presentation on the primary sources assigned for one of the sessions. The second class activity will be the development and presentation of a brief research paper (7 pages, using primary sources) focused on an aspect of the history of U.S. foreign relations, examined through one of the four lenses introduced in class. The final mark will be represented by the average of the three evaluations.

Lectures, interactive online exchange, in-depth individual study of recommended readings. The lectures are in part frontal lectures, with possible use of slides and multimedia material, and in part interactive classes, including with the students' presentations of the own works.

English

oral