POLS 236 What Do Countries Want and Why?
Effectively tackling global challenges such as climate change, pandemics, nuclear proliferation, and the decline of democracy and trade liberalization, to name just a few examples, is not reducible to the interests and preferences of the United States. Indeed, most outcomes in global politics never are and have never been. Other countries have interests and preferences of their own, and those influence international outcomes as well. Why, for instance, does it make sense for North Korea to have a nuclear arsenal despite US interests to the contrary? And for China to try to become a hegemonic power in East Asia despite the US decades long presence in the region? Why is Putin's Russia pushing so hard against NATO’s eastward expansion? And Latin America against U.S. influence in the Western Hemisphere? International affairs look fundamentally different when assessed from a non U.S.-centered perspective. And, history shows, U.S. interests are best served when, at the very least, take into consideration other actors' interests and preferences and where these may come from. This course will provide students with the analytical tools necessary to start unpacking any country's interests and foreign policies, as a first step towards recognizing that satisfactory answers to current and future global challenges require the active acknowledgment of all actors' preferences with stakes on the matter, no matter how "powerful" the United States might be.