Assignment 2: Current Events and U.S. Diplomacy

Due Week 9 and worth 135 points

Draw from the information gained in your first research paper and expand your research to follow up in a new paper. Write three to four (3-4) new pages that address the following:

1. Define presidential doctrine and summarize the regional or global events during the Cold War leading up to the formation of the presidential doctrine you wrote about in Assignment 1.
2. Select one country you wrote about in Assignment 1 and describe the Cold War relationship that existed between the country you selected and the U.S. before the presidential doctrine was announced.
3. Describe the relationship that currently exists between the U.S. and the country you selected in section (2) above.
4. Describe the effect that the presidential doctrine has had on regional or global affairs since it was announced during the Cold War.
5. Assess whether the presidential doctrine you wrote about in Assignment 1 had had the intended effect of altering the behavior of the country you selected in section (2) above in the time since the doctrine was first announced.
6. Cite at least four (4) reputable sources in addition to the textbook, not including Wikipedia, encyclopedias, or dictionaries.

To help you understand this assignment further, the following description and examples may be useful.

Step 1: Define a doctrine and identify why a president would want to announce one. A doctrine is an ideological platform that a president uses to advance a policy towards a country or region in order to accomplish foreign policy goals for the United States, so you will need to expand on this theme.

Refer back to Assignment 1 and build on whatever doctrine you wrote about then. Say, for example, you selected the Truman Doctrine. Therefore, this is the only thing you will write about in Assignment 2 step 1.

Step 2: Select one country you wrote about in Assignment 1 and describe the Cold War relationship that existed between it and the U.S. before the presidential doctrine was announced.

In the case of Truman, you would pick either the Soviet Union, Greece, or Iran, because all three were affected by his doctrine. If you are writing about the Eisenhower Doctrine, you would choose Lebanon or Egypt; if you wrote about the Kennedy Doctrine, you would have write about Cuba or Vietnam; if your wrote about the Nixon Doctrine, you would choose either Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, or Iran; if you chose Carter, you would select either Iran or Afghanistan; and if you wrote about the Reagan Doctrine, you would select Nicaragua, Angola, Russia, or Afghanistan (although there were several others).

Step 3: Describe what effect the presidential doctrine you chose has had on regional or global affairs since it was announced during the Cold War.

That is, how did the doctrine change the status quo regionally or globally after it was announced by the U.S.? What happened in Western Europe after the Truman Doctrine was announced? What happened in the Middle East after the Eisenhower Doctrine was announced? What happened with Cuba or Vietnam after Kennedy offered up his doctrine of flexible response? What happened in Southeast Asia or the Persian Gulf after the Nixon Doctrine went in effect? What happened in the Middle East after the Carter Doctrine was announced? What happened in Central America or Africa or the Middle East after Reagan announced his doctrine?

Step 4: Refer back to the country you selected in step two and describe the relationship that currently exists between the U.S. and that country.

How has the relationship changed between the U.S. and that country since the doctrine was announced?

Step 5: Evaluate whether the presidential doctrine had had the intended effect of altering the behavior of the one country you selected in section (2) above since the doctrine was first announced.

Your assignment must:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Identify the cultural, economic, and political context of information resources, and interpret information in light of that context.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in international problems.
• Write clearly and concisely about international problems using proper writing mechanics.