HIST 388 - U.S. Foreign Relations since 1898

Credit Hours: 3

This course explores America’s major international relationships - diplomatic, economic, military, and cultural - since 1898. While keeping in mind the interplay between diplomacy and domestic developments, the course will focus on fundamental questions such as: Are America’s international relationships primarily motivated by a drive for security and prosperity? To what degree have Americans embraced a national mission to spread liberal, democratic values abroad? To what extent have cultural undercurrents influenced American diplomacy? Major topics will include America’s rise to global power, the World Wars, the Cold War, ideology, the military-industrial “complex,” U.S.-Latin America relations, the international arms trade, and relations in the Middle East.