POLI 4595 Current Issues in U.S. Foreign Policy

This course is class-restricted to juniors, seniors, and graduate students. This seminar will look at current issues in U.S. national security policy. The class is structured in three parts: The first section will consider America's general role in world politics in 2024. The second section will focus on the foreign policy of the Biden administration and how the 2024 presidential election might impact U.S. foreign policy going forward. The remainder of the class will focus on a new international hot spot and discuss recent academic and policy pieces related to that topic. The course has three main objectives: 1) to gain a better understanding of current U.S. foreign policy debates, 2) to better understand ongoing international disputes, and 3) to apply theoretical insights derived from the international relations literature to the policy debates surrounding those disputes.

Course overview

Department
Political Science
School
MCAS
Credits
3
Level
Both
Offered
Periodically

Requirements fulfilled

No source-backed degree requirement is attached to this course yet.

Official evaluation summary

4.75 / 5

Based on 32 aggregate responses from BC Avalanche/Blue evaluations.

Data freshness

Course and evaluation data last updated 2026-08-02. Source details and limitations are documented in Data Sources and Methodology.

Instructors

  • Lindsey O'rourke
    Fall 2026, Fall 2025, Fall 2024, Fall 2021 · Official rating 4.68/5

Sections

  • Section 01
    Fall 2026 · Lindsey O'rourke · Mcguinn Hall 223 W 02:00PM-04:30PM · Offered