1. What is foreign policy? What are some examples of foreign policy that you know about? Try to use these examples to describe the various ways that the government tries to manage foreign affairs.

2. In what ways might foreign policy be harder than domestic policy? In what ways might foreign policy be easier than domestic policy? What tools do foreign policy experts have to work with?

3. How did the collapse of the Soviet Union make American foreign policy more complex? Simpler?

4. Why might a bipolar world be more difficult than unipolar world? Why might the opposite be true? How might approaches to foreign policy vary in each context?

5. Think about Keenan’s argument about how the United States should interact with the Soviet Union. Does this describe a plausible way to act with Russia currently? Why or why not?

6. Think about Keenan’s argument about how the United States should interact with the Soviet Union. A major component is a psychological argument about how Russian leaders would be expected to behave. Does this approach seem reasonable? Why or why not? How would you test whether or not Keenan’s policy approach was successful?

7. Some scholars have argued that we have transitioned from a unipolar world to a multipolar world. Does that seem reasonable to you? Why or why not? How might we test that proposition?

8. One of the sources of modern conflict with Russia deals with the NATO alliance. Should the United States maintain the alliance? Should the United States deemphasize the alliance? Why or why not?

9. How would you describe the Monroe doctrine: a strategy designed to promote independent countries in the Western Hemisphere or a strategy to gain American dominance over the Western Hemisphere? Does the Roosevelt Corollary help you answer that question?

10. What was the Reagan Doctrine? How successful was the approach in terms of ending of the Cold War? How might we test its success?

11. What is a preemptive war? Can a preemptive ware ever be justified? In other words, can it be considered ethical? If not, why not? If so, under what circumstances?

12. How much should elected officials follow the public on foreign policy issues? Do you think Americans have enough foreign affairs knowledge to form valid opinions on the issues?

13. Have the class look at Figure 18.3. Why does the United States spend so much on defense relative to the rest of the world? Should it reduce this amount, why or why not?

14. What do you think about George Will’s assertion that Obama’s actions in Syria violated the War Power Resolution? Does this seem accurate, why or why not?