2017 Great Decisions: Foreign Policy Association

Explore Europe's rise and the European Union's evolution, spillover effects, and the bicycle theory, and discuss future policy from postwar integration to Brexit.

Explore the european union's internal and external challenges, including brexit, the greek debt crisis, austerity, rising nationalism, and tensions at ukraine and turkey borders, and assess implications for us policy.

Assess Europe's future through four EU scenarios—slow bleeding out, rapid unraveling, inching back from the brink, and a third renaissance—highlighting aging population, immigration, and nationalist pressures shaping U.S. policy.

Explore the free trade debate from Bretton Woods to NAFTA and the 2016 election, and compare capitalism and mercantilism as guiding trade ideas.

Compare capitalism and mercantilism, tracing origins, free trade, comparative advantage, and government roles. Evaluate how tariffs and protectionism shape international relations and domestic politics.

Explore U.S. concerns and options in international trade, including NAFTA, the rise of China, tariffs, and the balance between free trade and protectionism as public opinion and policy shift.

Trace the rise of China as a major power, its economic growth and military modernization, and the South China Sea disputes, alongside U.S. policy options toward a multi-polar world.

Examine how nations dispute maritime boundaries and sovereignty, focusing on the South China Sea, territorial seas, 12-mile limits, and 200-mile exclusive economic zones under the Law of the Sea.

Explore the South China Sea dispute, detailing China's island-building and militarization, neighbor claims, and US policy options—containment, show of force, and multilateral approaches—for regional security.

Saudi Arabia is in transition amid shifting oil revenues and a rising younger leadership. The lecture analyzes U.S.-Saudi relations, Iran and Israel dynamics, and Yemen and energy security challenges.

Examine the Saudi–Iran rivalry and Sunni–Shia dynamics shaping regional conflicts from Yemen to Syria. Explore how the United States balances ties with powers amid oil interests and human rights concerns.

Examine Saudi Arabia's uncertain future amid Iran's rise and regional instability tied to oil revenue. Assess U.S. policy options, from business as usual to sanctions, reform pressure, or disengagement.

Explore how oil shapes US national security and foreign policy, from OPEC and oil vulnerability to embargo strategies and energy-driven policy choices.

Explore U.S. foreign policy options amid a surge in oil and gas production, examining energy independence, price thresholds, and the shift in global power and trade, along with environmental challenges.

Explore Latin America's political pendulum and six key countries, including Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela, in decline due to economic and political turmoil, and examine U.S. policy options.

States on the rise in Latin America spotlight Colombia, Cuba, and Mexico, highlighting Colombia’s peace process and resources, Cuba’s proximity and policy shifts, and Mexico’s growing trade and immigration dynamics.

The lecture outlines U.S. foreign policy options toward Latin America, weighing trade focus, democracy-building, civil society engagement, and realpolitik, while accounting for inequality, corruption, and China's rising influence.

Explore nations at war, their underlying and immediate causes, and the Afghanistan–Pakistan conflict from 1979 to 2001, including the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Compare traditional wars with the war on terror.

This lecture traces the U.S.-led NATO war in Afghanistan since 2001, examining the challenges of supply, nation-building, corruption, and costly rebuilding efforts across Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Explore the U.S. foreign policy options toward Pakistan amid its nuclear arsenal, Pashtun dynamics, and the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, weighing withdrawal, escalation, and the status quo within an incremental framework.

Trace the nuclear age from 1945 origins and the doomsday clock to current proliferation risks, examining nuclear security, deterrence, and the policy debates shaping U.S. foreign policy.

Explore the politics of nuclear security by tracing proliferation history, Iran's sophisticated program, IAEA oversight, sanctions, and the Iran nuclear deal as a policy crossroads.

Assess the evolving nuclear threats beyond North Korea, including Asia's arms race, waning arms control, and policy choices from deterrence to disarmament.