U.S. Foreign Policy Seminar

The U.S. Foreign Policy Seminar provides an interdisciplinary perspective on both the study and the practice of United States foreign policy, in the past and the present. The course features a series of invited speakers, half scholars and half practitioners. Open to the wider campus community, the course introduces students to the history, theory, and practice of American foreign policy. Students and participants will learn how U.S. foreign policy is made, and they will explore some of the major challenges facing U.S. foreign policy in the twenty-first century: geopolitical rivalries with China and Russia, the quest for stability in the Middle East, the stakes of nuclear proliferation, the threat of terrorism, the promotion of human rights and international law, and so on.

The course is a one-unit seminar co-listed by the Departments of History(link is external) and Political Science(link is external) and offered under the auspices of the Institute for International Studies (IIS).

Past Events

Fall 2017 – Spring 2018

September 28, 2017
“Liberalism, War, and the Invention of National Security”
Andrew Preston (University of Cambridge)

October 12, 2017
“NATO: Obsolete Or Adapting?”
Ambassador Douglas Lute

November 2, 2017
“How Everything Became War And The Military Became Everything”
Rosa Brooks (Georgetown University)

November 14, 2017
“America's Next War And How To Prevent It”
Paul Stares (Council on Foreign Relations)

November 30, 2017
“State-Building And Political Development In US Foreign Policy”
Francis Fukuyama (Stanford University)

February 1, 2018
“The Future Of Cybersecurity And Trends In Technological Risk: Implications For US Foreign Policy And Politics”
Jonathan Reiber (University of California, Berkeley)

February 12, 2018
“The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale And The American Tragedy In Vietnam”
Max Boot (Council on Foreign Relations)

February 14, 2018
“A Conversation About U.S. Foreign Policy”
Michèle Flournoy (Center for New American Security)

April 25, 2018
“Pax Americana: Sketches For An Undiplomatic History”
Daniel Sargent (University of California, Berkeley)

May 15, 2018
“The Korean Challenge to U.S. Foreign Policy”
Ambassador Kathleen Stephens

Fall 2016 – Spring 2017

October 6, 2016
“India And China, The New Superpowers”
Anja Manuel (Center for International Security and Cooperation)

October 10, 2016
“The Long Game: How Obama Defied Washington and Redefined America’s Role in the World”
Derek Chollet (The German Marshall Fund of the United States)

November 28, 2016
“Making the Unipolar Moment: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Rise of the Post-Cold War Order”
Hal Brands (Johns Hopkins University)

February 21, 2017
“The Russian Challenge In The Next Four Years”
Eugene Rumer (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)

March, 7, 2017
“Alliances In The Indo-Pacific: A Practitioner's Perspective”
Vice Admiral Robert L. Thomas

April 12, 2017
“Applied History and the Uses (and Misuses) of the Past”
Frederik Logevall (Harvard University)

April 17, 2017
“The Way Of The Strangers: Encounters With The Islamic State”
Graeme Wood (The Atlantic)

April 20, 2017
“Arab Spring And Arab Winter: Should The United States Support Democracy In The Middle East?”
Elliot Abrams (Council on Foreign Relations)

Fall 2015 – Spring 2016

September 17, 2015
"The Opening with Cuba: How Critical to US Foreign Policy?" 
Julia Sweig (Council on Foreign Relations)

October 14, 2015
"US Foreign and Defense Policy in the Middle East" 
Matthew Spence (Department of Defense)

October 22, 2015
"The UN at 70: It's evolving role in USFP" 
Rosemary DiCarlo (Ambassador)

November 19, 2015
"Assessing the Obama Foreign Policy Legacy" 
Peter Feaver (Duke University)

January 26, 2016
“History and Policy”
Francis Gavin (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

February 11, 2016
“The Assumptions Behind Obama's Grand And Regional Strategies”
Peter Feaver (Duke University)

March 1, 2016
“The Armed Forces In The Age Of The War On Terror”
David M. Kennedy (Stanford University)

April 7, 2016
“American Foreign Policy In A Time Of Retrenchment”
Kori Shake (International Institute for Strategic Studies)

April 11, 2016
“A View From The National Intelligence Council: How It Connects To U.S. Policy”
Gregory F. Treverton (National Intelligence Council)

May 3, 2016
“Restless Empire: China And The World”
Odd Arne Westad (Harvard University)

Fall 2014 – Spring 2015

September 5, 2014
"The Uses of History in Grand Strategy and Statecraft: Insights from Five Historian-Strategists in the Anglo-American Tradition”
Will Inboden (University of Texas, Austin)

September 19, 2014
“The Two-Way Street Between Social Science and Nuclear Policy"
Scott Sagan (Stanford University)

October 3, 2014
“A Broken Promise: What the West Really Told Moscow About NATO Expansion”
Mary Sarotte (University of Southern California / Harvard)

November 20, 2014
"Does The United States Have A Grand Strategy In Asia?"
Michael Greene (Practitioner)

February 2, 2015
Charles Edel (U.S. Naval War College)

February 12, 2015
"US Policy And The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict"
Rob Danin (Practitioner)

February 27, 2015
"US Policy And The Middle East Crisis"
Ambassador Frank Wisner

April 24, 2015
"Liberalism Unraveling: The United States And The Developing World In The 1960s"
Mark Lawrence (University of Texas, Austin)

Fall 2020

Events are typically held in 223 Moses Hall. Based on campus guidance all events will be held virtually until further notice.