Dr C Alden, CLM 6.06

This lecture course is not examinable as a course in itself. It is offered to any interested students on its own or as part of the teaching for the BSc Foreign Policy Analysis I course (IR202.1). It is only available as credit for General Course students as part of IR202.1 as a whole.

The foreign policies and foreign policy processes of selected major states since 1945, depending on examination requirements and teachers available.

An analysis of the foreign policies of a selected group of major states, with due regard to their respective national interests, external commitments, traditional values and other relevant factors. The role of internal group interests and electoral considerations. Constitutional machinery for the formulation of foreign policy. Diplomatic services and techniques. Illustrative material will be drawn mainly from the post-1945 period. This year there will be lectures on Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union/Russia, France, Japan, India and China.

A number of members of the International Relations Department, as well as guest lecturers, participate in the series. There will be fifteen lectures in all, held in LT.

Recommended texts include 

(a) The United States: J Ikenberry (Ed), American Unrivaled: the Future of the Balance of Power (Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP 2002); N Ferguson, Colossus: the Price of American Empire (New York: Penguin 2004); C Kegley & E Wittkopf, American Foreign Policy: Patterns and Process (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1996). 

(b) The United Kingdom: M Curtis, The Ambiguities of Power: British Foreign Policy Since 1945 (London: Zed Press, 1995); J Dumbrell, A Special Relationship: Anglo-American relations in the Cold War and after, Palgrave, 2001. 

(c) The Soviet Union/Russia: R Donaldson & J Nogee, The Foreign Policy of Russia: Changing Systems, Enduring Interests (London: M E Sharpe, 1998); F Fleron, et al (Eds), Classic Issues in Soviet Foreign Policy: From Lenin to Brezhnev (New York, Aldine de Gruyter, 1991); F Fleron, et al (Eds), Contemporary Issues in Soviet Foreign Policy: From Brezhnev to Gorbachev (New York, Aldine de Gruyter, 1991). 

(d) France: P Gordon & S Meunier, The French Challenge: Adapting to Globalization (2001); S Gregory, French Defence Policy into the Twenty-First Century (2001). 

(e) China: T W Robinson & D Shambaugh (Eds), Chinese Foreign Policy: Theory and Practice (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994); S Zhao (Ed), Chinese Foreign Policy: Pragmatism and Strategic Behavior (Armonk, NY, M E Sharpe, 2003), David M. Lampton (Ed), The Making of Chinese Foreign and Security Policy in the Era of Reform (Stanford UP 2001).

(f) India: B R Nayar, India in the World Order: Search for Major Power Status (Cambridge University Press 2003). 

(g) Japan: G Hook, et al, Japan's International Relations: Politics, Economics and Security (London: Routledge 2005, 2nd rev.ed).