Us foreign policy lesson plan

Learning objectives
Students will understand how relations between countries change over time in response to both domestic and international pressures. Students will be able to identify and discuss the factors that contribute to U.S. foreign policy toward the country they have chosen for their case study.

Grade level
Grades 11-12

• Part 1: Form groups, choose cases, and answer preliminary questions
• Part 2: Library and Internet research
• Part 3: Presentation of cases based on questions in Parts 1 and 2

• Access to the Internet and/or library resources
• Map -- 2002: Middle East Political Borders
• Poster board, flip chart, PowerPoint, or other presentation resources

Emphasis is placed on the post-1945 period in order to help students understand that U.S. policy is based on many different factors. At some times and in some places it has been shaped by particular events, such as the Islamic Revolution in 1979. In other instances, it is based on philosophical principles such as tolerance, freedom, or equal rights.

You may want to introduce related terminology and concepts before beginning this activity, including the following:

Realism or realpolitik -- a view that, when applied to world politics, assumes that nations preserve their vital interests (such as their security) by whatever means they have (often juxtaposed with idealism).

Have students begin the activity by brainstorming preliminary answers to the following questions:

Where in the Middle East is the country you chose? What countries are its immediate neighbors?

Have each group do library and Internet research to further explore the country they have chosen and the U.S. relations with that country since 1945. Some resources with which they may begin are listed in the Resources section.

Between 1945 and today, what have U.S. relations been like with this country? Has the United States changed its position towards this country since 1945?

Students will find they have a lot of interesting information to share with fellow classmates. Each group should prepare a five-minute presentation that addresses the questions they researched (perhaps using maps, charts, PowerPoint slides, or another presentational style). Be sure the students also verify through research the information from their preliminary brainstorm list and include it in the report.

How well did the student present key ideas and concepts related to U.S. relations with country?

Global Connections Essays:

Politics: From Royalty to Democracy
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/themes/politics/index.html
Politics in the Middle East, far from being solely an issue of Islamic resurgence as is often presented by Western media, actually reflects a complex mixture of issues that include nationalism, religion, social and economic concerns, anti-colonialist sentiments, tribal loyalties, and ethnic identities.

Islamic Revolution
http://www.pbs.org/visavis/islam_rev_mstr.html
Vis à Vis explores why the '79 Revolution took place and what has happened since then.

Terror and Tehran
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/tehran/
Frontline asks, does America's war on terror hold democracy hostage in Iran?

Gerges, Fawaz A. America and Political Islam: Clash of Cultures or Clash of Interests?
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Global Connections. How 9/11 Shaped U.S. Foreign Policy
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/educators/uspolicy/lesson1.html
President Bush's post-9/11 speech to the U.N. describes a new foreign policy.

Have students trace U.S. foreign policy beginning with the time of the hostage crisis in Iran. Note changes and shifts in U.S. policy. Students should discuss some of the possible reasons for the shifts (e.g., changing circumstances, ineffective policies, changes in leadership, etc.).

• Interpret patterns of behavior reflecting values and attitudes that contribute to or pose obstacles to cross-cultural understanding.

Time, continuity, and change

Apply key concepts such as time, chronology, causality, change, conflict, and complexity to explain, analyze, and show connections among patterns of historical change and continuity.

Production, distribution, and consumption

• Distinguish between the domestic and global economic systems, and explain how the two interact.

Power, authority, and governance

Analyze and explain ideas and mechanisms to meet needs and wants of citizens, regulate territory, manage conflict, establish order and security, and balance competing conceptions of a just society.

• Explain conditions and motivations that contribute to conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among groups, societies, and nations.