Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL2106: America in the World

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

The aim of this module are to provide you with a detailed examination of US foreign policy. A key emphasis of the module will be to enrich contemporary understandings of international crises and global security through the use of a range of theoretical approaches, keen use of empirical material and solid reasoning. Through taking this module and fully participating in it, you will leave with a grasp of key debates in US foreign policy and knowledge of potential global strategic trends based on historical evidence and analysis of current developments in global politics.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. demonstrate good knowledge of key issues in international security as they pertain to US foreign policy and develop the capacity to apply this knowledge to a range of theoretical positions, case studies and international crises;
2. display knowledge of the contemporary historical dimensions of US foreign policy and world order;
Discipline-Specific Skills3. develop analytical understanding of the role of great powers, especially the US in helping shape world politics;
4. exercise informed judgment concerning the role of the US in world politics and how this role pertains to international security whilst locating arguments within an historical context;
Personal and Key Skills5. conduct independent research, exercise critical judgment, write cogently and persuasively;
6. demonstrate personal responsibility for knowledge interpretation, assimilation and articulation.
7. work independently, within a limited time frame, and without access to external sources, to complete a specified task.

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Basic reading:

Michael Cox & Doug Stokes (eds.) US Foreign Policy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018) 3rd Edition.

Alan Collins (ed.), Contemporary Security Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 2nd ed.

Inderjeet Parmar, Linda B. Miller and Mark Ledwidge (eds.)  New Directions in U.S. Foreign Policy (London: Routledge, 2009/13).

Barry Buzan and Lene Hansen, The Evolution of International Security Studies (New York: Cambridge University press, 2009)

William Wohlforth and Stephen G. Brooks, World Out of Balance: International Relations Theory and the Challenge of American Hegemony (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008)

Christopher Layne, The Peace of Illusions:  American Grand Strategy from 1940 to the Present (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006)

G. John Ikenberry, Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011).