This course will explore the history of American foreign policy since 1776, focusing on diplomatic and military interactions and the evolution of American strategic thought. Students will also traverse the broader history of international relations and will engage some of the basic vocabulary of IR theory. Topics will range from the territorial expansion of the United States to the making of Cold War strategy and beyond. Students will be asked to consider how historical knowledge and reasoning might inform the making of foreign policy.

History 130 explores the historical development of US foreign policy. The course addresses the making and implementation of national strategy; the evolution of the international system; and the uses of history in the making of policy. Topics covered include the rise and nineteenth-century expansion of the United States; the redefinition of national security in the twentieth century; US involvement in the world wars and the Cold War; and the dilemmas of post-Cold War U.S. foreign policy. Daniel E. Zoughbie is an Associate Project Scientist at the Institute of International Studies and a Lecturer in History, International and Area Studies, and the MDP program at the University of California, Berkeley. Previously, he was Vice Chair of CMES. Zoughbie's research interests include diplomatic history, international security, and international health. Previously, Zoughbie was an International Security Program Research Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School, a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, and a Visiting Researcher at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. Zoughbie is the founder of Microclinic International, a not-for-profit development organization that seeks to revolutionize how deadly diseases are prevented and managed worldwide. After receiving his undergraduate education at UC Berkeley, Zoughbie received an MSc in Social Anthropology as a Marshall Scholar and a DPhil (PhD) in International Relations as a Weidenfeld Scholar, both from the University of Oxford. He is the author of Indecision Points: George W. Bush and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (MIT Press: 2014) as well as several studies in peer-reviewed journals, including Lancet Global Health, Diabetes, Circulation, and JAIDS.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills