Monday, February 18, 2008

Introduction

Introduction

18 February 2008

Office: Rosenberg 108

M: 1-2; W 1-3; or by appointment

kcjohnson9@gmail.com

I. Course Structure

1. Requirements

2. Structure

II. Time Periods

1. Through World War II: 1783-1945

(US and a Revolutionary World; initial contacts: strategic, economic, cultural; 19th century contacts and US retreat; World War I and Wilsonianism—self-determination, origins of mandate system, role of League of Nations, transformation US economic policy; World War II—US and Jewish refugees, strategic concerns and North African campaign; the Big Three and battles over postwar colonialism)

2. Aftermath of War: 1945-1960

(Middle East and postwar world—British, US, Soviet desires; tensions in the Northern Tier—Iranian crisis, Britain and Turkey, origins of Truman Doctrine; Truman and the recognition of Israel—moral concerns, political concerns, strategic concerns; from Truman to Eisenhower: covert operations and Iranian coup; oil diplomacy and Eisenhower Doctrine; US and Algerian civil war)

3. Transition Years: 1960-1973

(Kennedy and redefining the Israeli alliance, Dimona and nuclear diplomacy; LBJ: domestic and international constraints, role of Vietnam, US and Six Days’ War; Nixon & Kissinger: realpolitik and redefining the Cold War, limits of the imperial presidency, the US and the 1973 war, the origins of OPEC)

4. Realignments: 1974-1989

(congressional power, the Eagleton amendment, and strains on the Turkish alliance; Carter and foreign arms sales; Camp David and Carter successes; Iran and Carter failures; Reagan: balancing Saudi Arabia and Israel, Charlie Wilson and origins of US involvement in Afghanistan, Iran-Iraq war, Lebanon fiasco, origins of Iran-contra affair)

5. Beyond the Cold War: 1990-present

(Saddam and the invasion of Kuwait; Bush I, the Saudi alliance, and the First Gulf War; end of war and a missed opportunity?; Bosnia and limits of Bush vision; Clinton and Arab/Israeli peace process; Clinton and bin Laden—international difficulties, domestic constraints; terrorism as law enforcement or foreign policy issue?; Bush years—Afghanistan and Iraq wars, Iranian tensions, strains with Turkey and Saudi Arabia)

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