POLS 321 Final Exam Study Questions - The final exam on July 24, 2002 will consist of 3 of the following 5 questions. You will be required to answer 2 of the 3 selected questions.

1. Reagan administration policy toward the Sandanistas never included a set of escalatory military policies. Robert Gates make a plea to use more force in an ill-fated memo in late 1984. Why was significant military intervention not possible? What would have had to change domestically and internationally for the administration to have seriously considered significant military intervention?

2. Develop an articulate and detailed response that can persuade the President and other key administrators why the proposal put forward by Bud McFarlane (Iran policy doc No. 60) is wrong and will produce bad consequences and that your proposal (indicating what the U.S. should accomplish and why and by what means) will provide a better solution to the problems at hand.

3. The Reagan administration got themselves into an arms for hostages policy with Iran and a politically and constitutionally controversial policy in supporting the Contras in Nicaragua. What accounts for how these policies evolved and the poor outcome each generated? Consider ideology, domestic politics, worldview, administrative style, and policymaking style in your response.

4. 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? Use ideas and arguments from the Ikenberry, Danner, and Mandelbaum articles to supplement your argument.

5. Steven Walt in his article "Beyond bin Laden" made the two following statements. 1. "The terriorist atttacks .. triggered the most rapid and dramatic change in the history of U.S. foreign policy." 2. "The United States is still the leading economic and military power in the world ... Basic U.S. foregin policy goals are unaffected." How do you reconcile these two statements if you can?