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December 2001
| Author: | Walter Russell Mead, Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy |
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The United States has had a more successful foreign policy than any other great power in history. Council Senior Fellow Walter Russell Mead attributes this unprecedented success (as well as recurring problems) to a vigorous interplay among four powerful political traditions that have shaped foreign policy since the Revolution. The tension among these competing forces guides American foreign policy toward prudent action. Mead argues that the United States is successful because its strategy is rooted in Americans’ concrete interests, which value trade and commerce as much as military security.
What is a CFR Academic Module?
Academic Modules—featuring teaching notes by the authors of CFR publications—are designed to assist educators in creating or supplementing a course syllabus. The modules are customized packages built around a primary CFR text, such as a book or report, and include teaching notes; additional readings; video, audio, and transcripts of CFR meetings; Foreign Affairs articles; and other online resources. Use of these modules is free of charge. They may be used in part or in their entirety.
December 2001
The United States has had a more successful foreign policy than any other great power in history. Council Senior Fellow Walter Russell Mead argues that the United States is successful because its strategy is rooted in Americans’ concrete interests, which value trade and commerce as much as military security.
By Walter Russell Mead
Special Providence offers an insightful and unique framework for understanding America’s role in the world. This book is equally appropriate for:
Special Providence will provide undergraduates in introductory courses with a typology of American approaches to foreign affairs that is deeply rooted in U.S. history. The four worldviews described in Special Providence will enable these students to better understand the present and envision the future of American foreign policy.
Advanced students in upper-division courses will be able to grapple with the ideological underpinnings that inform America’s encounter with the world. Special Providence will also illuminate how America’s historical experience continues to influence the course of its relations with the world.
General Courses in American Foreign Policy
Discussion Questions
Advanced Courses in American Foreign Policy
Discussion Questions
Debate Topics
Op-Eds
Assign your students to write an op-ed succinctly arguing a position on a particular policy of the Bush administration. The standard to meet is importance of the topic, clarity in presenting a specific point of view, and brevity (650–750 words). Because the op-ed is short, it requires different writing skills from a conventional term paper—the point must be made within the first or second paragraph, the writing style is usually more argumentative than in term papers, and the writing must be simple even as the ideas advanced are sophisticated. Students will need help in focusing the argument—which is best done before writing—because most students choose arguments that are either too sprawling or esoteric for good op-eds. Circulate half a dozen examples of good op-eds to give students a template to emulate.
October 27, 2005
September 2003
Task Force Report No. 48
The world’s opinion of the United States and of U.S. policy has plummeted in the wake of the war in Iraq. The resulting widespread anger, fear, and mistrust, warns this timely report of the independent Task Force on Public Diplomacy, are creating immediate and long-term problems for the United States that must be addressed.
November 2002
At a time when American primacy appears to be stronger than ever, Council Fellow and Georgetown Professor Charles Kupchan argues that the end of Pax Americana is near. What will replace American supremacy, and how American leaders should prepare for this new era, are the central questions of this provocative new book.
November 17, 2005
February 22, 2006
George Weigel discusses what he sees as the increasing secularization of Europe and how it affects U.S.-Europe relations and Europe’s role in the world.
March 7, 2006
Professor Michael Mandelbaum discusses his book, The Case for Goliath, in which he explains how the United States uses its enormous power to provide the world with the services of a government. The U.S. plays this role with the tacit consent of many of its critics, he says.
March 13, 2006
The authors argue that although often justified as reflecting shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, the U.S. commitment to Israel is due primarily to the activities of the “Israel Lobby."
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Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
The report of this bipartisan Task Force of distinguished leaders and experts represents a strong consensus on the importance of repairing America's immigration policy. It makes the case that maintaining America's political and economic leadership depends on attracting talented and hard-working immigrants, and on securing the country's borders in a smart, effective, and humane way.
This report finds that nuclear weapons will remain a fundamental element of U.S. national security in the near term, and makes recommendations on how to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. deterrent nuclear force, prevent nuclear terrorism, and strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime.
About Independent Task Forces at CFR
Complete list of Task Force reports
Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report
provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.
For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
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