IRPS 450Comparative Foreign Policy

This course helps students acquire knowledge about theoretical and analytical structures for the comparative study of governments and their foreign policies. Comparative Foreign Policy takes a regional approach that highlights cultural, historical, economic and political features common to all or most of the states within a given geographic area. The course provides the basis for comparison of foreign policies between states and across regional boundaries. It documents the continuous transformation of actors and issues that comprise the ever-changing nature of foreign policy. How countries determine their foreign policies will be examined in depth. The following factors will be addressed: the end of the bipolar, superpower impasse generated by the Cold War; increased interdependence and globalization; ethnic tensions; and rising disparities and events post-September 11.