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Unit of study_

USSC6903: US Foreign and National Security Policy

2024 unit information

This unit focuses on the institutions and individuals that make American foreign and national security policy. It begins by examining the power of the president and Defense Department, as well as the State Department, CIA and NSC. It then provides a historical overview, examining WWII, Vietnam, the Cold War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The third module examines the impact of nationalism and liberalism on US foreign policy. Then several regional and bi-lateral relationships are studied, including US-China relations, US-NATO relations and US policy in the Middle East. Lastly, America’s responses to global warming and the international refugee crisis will be explored.

Unit details and rules

Managing faculty or University school:

United States Studies Centre

Code USSC6903
Academic unit United States Studies Centre
Credit points 6
Prerequisites:
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None
Corequisites:
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None
Prohibitions:
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None
Assumed knowledge:
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None

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the multiple disciplinary contexts for understanding the United States, such as those of political science and international relations; cultural and media studies; and business and economics
  • LO2. demonstrate a deep knowledge of the history, culture, media, politics and economy of the United States
  • LO3. demonstrate a capacity to work across disciplinary boundaries to solve specific and advanced analytic problems in the study of the United States
  • LO4. demonstrate an ability to decipher complicated written, oral, visual, material and digital texts, and contribute to secondary literature about them
  • LO5. construct an evidence-based argument in written, oral, visual, or digital form
  • LO6. to relate the interdisciplinary methods of US Studies to issues encountered in professional contexts

Unit availability

This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.

The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.

Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 1 2024
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 1 2020
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Semester 1 2020
Normal evening Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Outline unavailable
Semester 1 2021
Normal day Remote
Semester 1 2022
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Semester 1 2022
Normal day Remote
Semester 1 2023
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Semester 1 2023
Normal day Remote

Modes of attendance (MoA)

This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.