UMass Boston

Course Overview

Description

This course will equip the student with the skills to apply foreign policy analysis to the real world based on a consideration of the various approaches to the study of the process of foreign policy, such as decision-making, Graham Allison's rational actor model, the organizational process and bureaucratic politics model, social psychology, the role of public opinion in foreign policy-making, comparative foreign policy, the pre-theory model of foreign policy, the role culture and identity in foreign policy making, and national role conception identity work. Students will analyze real world case studies utilizing these various approaches. Students will engage in intensive analysis of historically significant international crises. At the end of the course, students will engage in a role playing and simulation exercises based on a topical geopolitical situation.