COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is a US foreign policy class focused on examining United States military and CIA interventions in Central America since World War II. US interventions in Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador will be examined. Topics addressed include: 1.) major theories of imperialism, and other theories explaining US interventions, including the diversionary theory of war, 2.) past and present policy debates over intervention (Should the US intervene? What does the US gain? How did elites argue for intervention at the time? Have these debates changed across time?) 3.) history and case study analysis of these interventions, 4.) history, laws and debates about CIA operations, 5.) the war powers of the president and were US decisions to intervene arrived at democratically?
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The course will examine the history of US interventions in Central America and analyze the US foreign policy decision making using case study methods. Students will learn multiple theories of intervention, and how to test these theories. Students will understand the history of the CIA, and debates about its operations in Central America. Students will understand the constitutional war powers of the US president, and congressional oversight of interventions. Students will learn to critically evaluate US foreign policy.
Student Outcomes. Students who successfully complete this course will:
-Understand the history of US interventions in Central America
-Understand CIA operations in Central America
-Understand the diversionary theory of war and other theories of US domestic politics
-Learn to critically analyze US foreign policy