Alternate Fridays • 1:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. • Room 21
Coordinator: Hal Henry
The Great Decisions class will continue using the Foreign Policy Association (FPA) booklet, Great Decisions 2008. Authoritative authors from the government or from academia discuss each year, eight topics of general interest in foreign affairs that are faced by the United States. We will view a video from FPA as available to introduce the topic to be discussed. These normally run approximately one half hour, leaving us the remainder of the session for discussion. We have found that scheduling a second session per topic allows the class members an opportunity to do more reading and allows a fuller discussion. A set of references is provided at the end of each topic so the student can expand on the presentation of the expert.
We will have finished three topics from the 2008 book: Iraq Exit, European Integration, and Blacklisting the Enemy in the spring semester. Our planned topics for the summer session are: Russia and 'Putinism', June 13 and 27; U.S. Defense Policy, July 11 and 25. Latin America begins August 8 and carries over into the fall semester.
In addition this year we will attempt to conduct a semi-formal debate on each topic with small voluntary teams defending a pro or con position and rebutting the opposite side’s arguments. If you have an interest in foreign affairs, you're cordially invited to join in our like-minded group.
June 13 June 27 July 11 July 25 August 8