PSCI 424
American Grand Strategy Fall 2025
Division II W Writing Skills

This course will examine US national security policy since the First World War. The class begins with an overview of the different conceptual frameworks that scholars and policymakers have suggested have guided–and/or should guide–American foreign policy. Thereafter, it will examine US policy throughout World War I; American entry into World War II; key moments during the Cold War; US nuclear strategy; and Washington’s foreign policy since the end of the Cold War. The final section of the class will examine contemporary issues, such as the policies that the United States has pursued toward East Asia, Europe, and the Middle East in recent years. It will also investigate the varying approaches to foreign affairs that different American administrations have taken since 1991, as well as grapple with a number of policy challenges that US decision-makers currently confront.