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Unit of study_
USSC6903: US Foreign and National Security Policy
2025 unit information
This unit focuses on the institutions and individuals that make American foreign and national security policy. It begins by examining the power of the president and Defense Department, as well as the State Department, CIA and NSC. It then provides a historical overview, examining WWII, Vietnam, the Cold War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The third module examines the impact of nationalism and liberalism on US foreign policy. Then several regional and bi-lateral relationships are studied, including US-China relations, US-NATO relations and US policy in the Middle East. Lastly, America’s responses to global warming and the international refugee crisis will be explored.
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
DVC (Research)
| Study level | Postgraduate |
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| Academic unit | United States Studies Centre |
| Credit points | 6 |
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Prerequisites:
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None |
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Corequisites:
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None |
| Prohibitions:
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None |
| Assumed knowledge:
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None |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the multiple disciplinary contexts for understanding the United States, such as those of political science and international relations; cultural and media studies; and business and economics
- LO2. demonstrate a deep knowledge of the history, culture, media, politics and economy of the United States
- LO3. demonstrate a capacity to work across disciplinary boundaries to solve specific and advanced analytic problems in the study of the United States
- LO4. demonstrate an ability to decipher complicated written, oral, visual, material and digital texts, and contribute to secondary literature about them
- LO5. construct an evidence-based argument in written, oral, visual, or digital form
- LO6. to relate the interdisciplinary methods of US Studies to issues encountered in professional contexts
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
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Semester 1 2025
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Normal day | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
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Modes of attendance (MoA)
This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.
