SIS-688 Domestic Politics, War, and National Security (3)

This course looks at the dynamics between internal domestic politics and U.S. foreign and national security policy with a focus on wartime. Topics include the rise of the military establishment after World War II; changing civil-military relations; the struggle between Congress and the president over war powers; obstacles posed by congressional partisan politics; the influence of the media, public opinion, and interest groups on the formulation and implementation of foreign policy; the power of the president’s “bully pulpit,” the “rally-‘round-the flag” phenomenon and the diversionary theory of war; press-government relations in war time; and the politics of military interventions.