HIS42710 America in the World

Academic Year 2021/2022

The United States has influenced, at times dominated, international relations and international society since the end of the Second World War. It has shaped international coalitions, intervened via varied military and diplomatic means to change the governments of other states, directly engaged in military conflict, championed and diminished human rights laws, and its cultural, philosophical and economic perspectives permeated globally throughout much of the 20th century. Yet, there are no simple explanations for US power projection and scholars disagree about the nature and motivation for US global engagement. This module examines the revolution that has occurred over the last twenty years in historians’ approach to the study of ‘America in the World.’ Students will consider how the ‘cultural turn’ of the early 1990s built on developments in social and political history and transformed the ways in scholars working in the field of diplomatic history approached their work. By considering how domestic politics, race, religion, emotion, and ideology influenced Americans' ideas about the world, students will gain insights into the multifaceted determinants of United States foreign policies, and clearer understandings of the fierce historiographical debates related to this field.