POLS 321 Final Exam Study Questions - The final exam on July 20, 2004 will consist of 3 of the following 5 questions. You will be required to answer 2 of the 3 selected questions. Each response ill be worth 50% of the final exam grade.

 

1. What aspects of the Clinton administration's foreign policy appear to be a continuation of classic cold war U.S. foreign policy? What aspects appear to be new and could be referred to as Post-Cold War policy? Does the notion of acquiring and maintaining client states seem to fit the Clinton Years?

2. In the article "The Path to War" we have a story about how the Bush Administration took the US to war against Iraq. How would you account for this process and its outcome -- a decision to go to war. Is it consistent with the doctrine of preempitve action? Is it consistent with traditional objectives of political stability and order, and economic openness? Is it typical of how cold war and post cold war Presidential administration's have employed US military force?

3. How do you account for the Bush the Elder's Administration decision to use massive force in the Gulf War in 1990-1991? What rationales appeared to be most effective in persuading Congress and the American Public to support the use of force?

4. Many of the authors you have read in the last couple of weeks of the quarter, suggest (in different ways) that U.S. foreign policy is either imperial in nature and/or is characterized as based on the development of an empire. Does this make sense? Does is square with the evidence? Is is consistent with traditional US foreign policy articulated and practiced during the Cold War? Is such a policy sustainable?

5. The current Bush Administration's national security strategy argues for preemptive actions against the enemies of the United States. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this shift in strategic thinking?