POLS 336 National Security in Practice: How Washington Works

This course is an examination of how American national security policy is conducted and explores the principles practices and problems related to contemporary American foreign policy making. The course will touch on the basic historical patterns of American foreign policy; however it will focus on current practices and operation of the foreign policy machinery in Washington as well as examine some contemporary cases to demonstrate how the system works. Close attention will be paid to the structures of national security decision-making involving the Presidency and the National Security Council the Congress the Departments of State and Defense as well as the Intelligence Community and other new national security agencies. For Politics UEP and DWA majors only.