1. INTERNATIONAL POLITICS AND US FOREIGN POLICY
Boston University Summer Challenge Program
Session 2 (2015)
Instructor: Claire Leavitt

2. INTRODUCTORY STUFF
 Introductions  Syllabus  Group assignments  Current events (preliminary discussion)

3. US FOREIGN POLICY: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
 Which do you think best describes US foreign policy in the 21st century?  What is America’s “global image?” What is responsible for this image?  Why was the world hopeful about the Obama presidency and the possibility of a “new” American foreign policy?

4. US FOREIGN POLICY: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
 President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”  Did Obama deserve this prize?  Why did the Nobel Committee award it to him?

5. OBAMA’S VISION
 Peace Prize acceptance speech:  How does President Obama characterize and describe US foreign policy?  How does President Obama feel about war? Does he believe the world will someday eradicate war?

6. THE 21st CENTURY WORLD
 What do you think are the biggest problems facing the world today? How do you think the US should respond? Should the US respond?

7. WHY DO WARS OCCUR?
 “Why do countries go to war with one another?” is the foundational question of international politics  Every facet of international politics—international law, diplomacy, negotiations—is dedicated toward this goal

8.  Three “images” for explaining why wars occur:
WHY DO WARS OCCUR?
 Three “images” for explaining why wars occur:
1) Man (who makes decisions?) 2) The state (how is a nation internally organized?) 3) The international environment (what kind of arena do nations operate within?)

9. FIRST IMAGE
 The flaws of individual leaders are responsible for wars—e.g., Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin  Humans are fallible creatures who are motivated by power; they cannot be trusted to always do the right thing  Obama’s view of the cause of war?

10. SECOND IMAGE
 Wars are caused not by flawed individuals but by imperfect states  How have nation-states decided to structure themselves? Internal organization determines whether countries wage war  Are non-democratic states, or capitalist states, more likely to wage war?

11. THIRD IMAGE
 Wars are caused by the features of the international environment in which they operate  The international environment is anarchic—there is no enforcer of international law (countries can convince others to follow international law, but there is no way to enforce that law)  Thus, countries wage war because they can