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Jerel
Rosati
GINT 816
Spring 1994
SEMINAR IN FOREIGN POLICY ANALYSIS:
POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITIVE APPROACHES
Please read the syllabus carefully for I have given great thought to the development of this course.
PURPOSE AND GOALS
The purpose of the course is to provide you with an intensive knowledge and understanding of the political psychology of cognition as applied to the study of foreign policy; to have you produce a scholarly paper that reflects your interest and has the potential to be presented at a professional conference and be submitted for publication; and to have you learn how to engage in scholarly research and writing. This course is much more research-oriented then other courses I offer.
REQUIREMENTS
1. Direct Participation (40%). Every individual will regularly participate and receive a grade based on the quality of their participation. An initial evaluation will be provided at mid-semester.
2. Bibliographic Exercise (10%). Described under course topics.
3. Professional paper (50%) Details about the paper project are provided below.
Late assignments. All written assignments are due no later then 1:30 p.m. the day before class. If you cannot fulfill a requirement by the due date, as a matter of courtesy I expect that you will contact me (or the GINT office) WITHIN 24 HOURS OF THE DUE DATE and provide a legitimate explanation (e.g., medical illness). Assignments which are allowed to be completed after the due date will be expected to meet higher standards given the additional time granted.
GRADES
The grades are based on the quality of participation and scholarship demonstrated. An A represents "excellence"; a B+ represents "very good"; a B represents "good". Grades below B indicate that the level of work in the course is below the level expected of graduate students.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Jerel Rosati is an Associate Professor and has been a member of the Department of Government and International Studies at Carolina for eleven years. His area of specialization is political psychology and its relevance to the theory and practice of foreign policy, especially as it affects the U.S. foreign policymaking process. He is the author of The Carter Administration's Quest for Global Community: Beliefs and Their Impact on Behavior and The Politics of United States Foreign Policy, and the co-editor of The Power of Human Needs in World Society and Foreign Policy Restructuring: How Governments Respond to Global Change. He teaches courses on U.S. foreign policy, foreign policy analysis, American politics, and international relations. He has been named the Outstanding Professor of the Year in the Humanities and Social Sciences by the South Carolina (Honors) College and the Outstanding Teacher in International Studies in the Department of Government & International Studies. He has been a Research Associate in the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division of the Library of Congress's Congressional Research Service, has served as President of the International Studies Association's Foreign Policy Analysis Section, and is currently the Vice President of the Southern region of the International Studies Asociation. He is the proud father of three small children and enjoys travelling, coffeehouses, sports, music, reading, and good conversation.
If you have any questions or if you want to pursue some topic, please feel free to come see me during my office hours or during the afternoons, which is when I am most available.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY AND STRATEGY
The class will be structured around what I call a class dialogue in which information, knowledge, and thought will be generated through lecture/background, the Socratic method, and, in particular, discussion. The class dialogue emphasizes the importance of student participation and "active learning" as a means to improve everyone's interest, information, knowledge, and understanding.
Reading Expectations and the Question-oriented Essays. I expect every student to come to class prepared to discuss the required topics and readings. I also expect every student to write a question-oriented essay--typed, single-spaced, in no more than one full page--discussing one major question raised by the readings for the week: presenting the question, explaining why it is being raised, integrating the required readings, discussing their relevance (strengths and weaknesses, or trade-offs), and suggesting possible solutions. I expect each question-oriented essay to be "thoughtful" and well-written. Question assignments are due by 1:30 pm the day before class. The purpose of the question-oriented essays are to generate significant questions and thought for the student and for class discussion.
REQUIRED BOOKS
Daryl J. Bem, Beliefs, Attitudes, and Human Affairs (Brooks/Cole, 1970)
Robert Jervis, Perception and Misperception in International Politics (Princeton University Press, 1976)
Susan T. Fiske and Shelley E. Taylor, Social Cognition (McGraw-Hill, 1991)
Deborah W. Larson, Origins of Containment: A Psychological Explanation (Princeton University Press, 1985)
Jerel A. Rosati, The Carter Administration's Quest for Global Community: Beliefs and Their Impact on Behavior (University of South Carolina Press, 1987)
Yen Foong Khong, Analogies at War: Korea, Munick, Dien Bien Phu, and the Vietnam Decisions of 1965 (Princeton University Press, 1992)
Universal packet of readings (call to see when ready, 254-8931).
The required readings for each week are specified under Course Topics and Readings below.
COURSE TOPICS AND READINGS
1. Overview (January 20)
Morton Deutsch, "What is Political Psychology," International Social Science Journal 35 (1983), read pp. 221-29
Margaret Hermann, "Political Psychology: Fad, Fantasy, or Field," paper presented at the American Psychological Association, 1989, all
Herbert C. Kelman, "Social-Psychological Approaches to the Study of International Relations: Definition of Scope," in International Behavior: A Social-Psychological Analysis, edited by Herbert C. Kelman (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967), pp. 3-39 (read 3-10, 20-24, 30-35; peruse the rest)
Ole Holsti, "Foreign Policy Formation Viewed Cognitively," in Structure of Decision, edited by Robert Axelrod (Princeton University Press, 1976), pp. 18-54
Jerel A. Rosati, "A Cognitive Approach to the Study of Foreign Policy," in Foreign Policy Analysis: Continuity and Change in the Second Generation, edited by Laura Neack, Patrick J. Haney, and Jeanne A.K. Key (Prentice Hall, forthcoming), all
THE FIRST GENERATION STUDY OF ATTITUDES AND CONSISTENCY THEORY
2. Images and Mirror Images (January 27)
Daryl J. Bem, Beliefs, Attitudes, and Human Affairs (Brooks/Cole, 1970), all
David J. Finlay, Ole R. Holsti, and Richard R. Fagen, Enemies in Politics (Rand McNally, 1967), preface, chapters 2 and 5
Ralph K. White, Nobody Wanted War: Misperception in Vietnam and Other Wars (Doubleday, 1968), preface, chapters 1, 8-10
3. BIBLIOGRAPHIC EXERCISE (February 3)
Each student is to prepare a comprehensive list of articles (and possibly chapters) and abstracts which are EXPLICITLY based on a psychological/cognitive approach to foreign policy derived from a set of journals (or books) over time. This exercise will allow us to determine the breadth and variety of cognitive-oriented studies in foreign policy and journals that exist throughout the profession.
4. Op Codes, Cognitive Maps, and Causal Attribution (February 10)
Stuart Oskamp, Attitudes and Opinions (Prentice-Hall, 1977), chapters 1, 3, 8 and 9
Stephen G. Walker, "Cognitive Maps and International Realities: Henry Kissinger's Operational Code and the Vietnam War," Journal of Conflict Resolution 21 (1977), pp. 129-68.
G. Matthew Bonham and Michael J. Shapiro, "Explanation of the Unexpected: The Syrian Intervention in Jordan in 1970," in Structure of Decision: The Cognitive Maps of Political Leaders, edited by Robert Axelrod (Princeton University Press, 1976), pp. 113-41
Daniel Heradstveit and G. Matthew Bonham, "Decision-Making in the Face of Uncertainty: Attributions of Norwegian and American Officials," Journal of Peace Research 23 (1986), pp. 339-56
Alexander L. George, "The Causal Nexus Between Cognitive Beliefs and Decision-making Behavior: The 'Operational Code' Belief System," in Psychological Models in International Politics, edited by L.S. Falkowski (Westview Press, 1979), pp. 95-124
5. RESEARCH QUESTION (February 17)
Each student is to turn in (in no more then 1 double-spaced page), discuss and defend his or her research question that will be the basis of the paper. The reseach question will likely integrate some concept or body of cognitive theory with some practice in foreign policy.
6. Perceptions, Misperceptions, and Cognitive Complexity (February 24)
Jervis, Perceptions and Misperceptions in International Politics, all
Philip E. Tetlock, "Integrative Complexity of American and Soviet Foreign Policy Rhetoric: A Time-Series Analysis," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 49 (1985), pp. 1565-85
THE SECOND GENERATION STUDY OF SOCIAL COGNITION AND SCHEMA THEORY
7. Cognitive Dynamics and Schema Theory (March 3)
John D. Steinbruner, The Cybernetic Theory of Decision (Princeton University Press, 1974), preface, introduction, chapters 2-5 and 10
Jack L. Snyder, "Rationality at the Brink: The Role of Cognitive Processes in Failures of Deterrence," World Politics 30 (April 1978), pp. 344-65
Fiske and Taylor, Social Cognition, chapters 1 ("Introduction"), 4 ("Social Categories and Schema"), 5 ("Conditions of Schema Use"), and 7 ("Processes of Social Cognition")
8. RESEARCH PROPOSAL (March 17)
Each student is to turn in and present a 3-5 page, double-spaced research proposal (with footnotes) that addresses: 1) what you plan to do--what concepts and theory, what foreign policy phenomena; 2) why you plan to do it--what is the (e.g., theoretical? substantive?) contribution; and 3) how do you plan to proceed--what research strategy and sources of evidence will you utilize. Specify the scholarly journal that you plan to emulate in terms of organization and style. The proposal should be accompanied by a 1 page, single-spaced, tentative outline of how the paper will be organized.
9. Sources of Image Formation and Change (March 24)
Fiske and Taylor, Social Cognition, chapters 2 ("Attribution Theory") and 3 ("Attribution Theory: Theoretical Refinements and Empirical Observations")
Larson, Origins of Containment, all
10. LITERATURE REVIEW (March 31)
Each student is to turn in and discuss a 5-8 page, double-spaced review of the most relevant and significant theoretical and empirical literature that will form the basis of the paper.
11. Images and Their Impact on Behavior (April 7)
Richard K. Herrmann, "Perceptions and Foreign Policy Analysis," in Foreign Policy Decision Making: Perception, Cognition, and Artificial Intelligence, edited by Donald A. Sylvan and Steve Chan (Praeger, 1984), pp. 25-52
Fiske and Taylor, Social Cognition, chapters 10 ("Affect and Cognition") and 12 ("Behavior and Cognition")
Rosati, The Carter Administration's Quest for Global Community, all
12. Learning from History (April 14)
Fiske and Taylor, Social Cognition, chapter 9 ("Social Inference")
Khong, Analogies at War, all
13. FINAL OUTLINE (April 21)
Each student is to turn in and discuss a single-spaced (2-3 pages) outline detailing and summarizing the organization and contents of the paper.
14. Summary and Evaluation (April 28)
William F. Stone, "Political Psychology: A Whig History," in The Handbook of Political Behavior (Volume 1, Plenum Press, 1981), pp. 1-67
Fiske and Taylor, Social Cognition, chapter 13 ("Conclusion")
Herbert A. Simon, "Human Nature in Politics: The Dialogue of Psychology with Political Science," American Political Science Review 79 (June 1985), pp. 293-304
Robert Jervis, "Political Psychology--Some Challenges and Opportunities," Political Psychology 10 (1989), pp. 481-493
David O. Sears, "The Ecological Niche of Political Psychology," Political Psychology 10 (1989), pp. 501-506
Hazel Rose Markus and Shinobu Kitayama, "Culture and the Self: Implications for Cognition, Emotion, and Motivation," Psychological Review 98 (1991), pp. 224-53
reread Jerel A. Rosati, "A Cognitive Approach to the Study of Foreign Policy," in Foreign Policy Analysis: Continuity and Change in the Second Generation, edited by Laura Neack, Patrick J. Haney, and Jeanne A.K. Key (Prentice Hall, forthcoming)
15. FINAL PAPER (May 5)
Each student is to turn in (on May 2) and present the final, 20-30 page, double-spaced paper. The final paper should be as polished and professional in appearance and contents as possible. This will probably take the form of a mini-conference involving panels comprised of a chair, paper presenters, discussants, and a question-and-answer period with the audience.