The American political system was created as an experiment in democracy; deeply influenced by Eighteenth Century Enlightenment philosophy. The experiment survived the rapid expansion of the United States and the demands of its role as the world’s first superpower. The Presidential elections of 2016 and 2020 created their own challenges, revealing a political system under intense strain. What is likely to happen in the 2024 election and how will the American political system respond? Is American democracy in peril?

DELIVERY MODE

• Face-to-Face

COURSE OUTLINE

• The philosophical basis of the American system of government, the rapid expansion of the United States in the 19th century and the influence this had on how Americans saw themselves, their destiny and their role in the world
• The main principles of American national identity which were developed in the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries
• The challenges of the Cold War and America’s role as the world’s first superpower
• Reagan, the neo-cons and the end of the USSR; the post-Cold War period and America’s struggle to define its new role in the Twenty-First Century
• The Trump Era and its parallels with Nineteenth Century Jacksonian democracy; the 2016 and 2020 Presidential elections and their aftermath; and, the progress of the 2024 election.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Describe the system of government established under the US Constitution
2. Name the main principles of American national identity
3. Discuss US foreign policy from the Monroe Doctrine to the post-Cold War period
4. Place President Donald Trump in an historical context