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Decision-Making in Foreign Policy
Study Course Description
Course Description Statuss:Approved
Course Description Version:1.00
Study Course Accepted:19.03.2024 11:56:31
| Study Course Information | |||||||||
| Course Code: | SZF_031 | LQF level: | Level 6 | ||||||
| Credit Points: | 2.67 | ECTS: | 4.00 | ||||||
| Branch of Science: | Politics | Target Audience: | Political Science | ||||||
| Study Course Supervisor | |||||||||
| Course Supervisor: | Andris Sprūds | ||||||||
| Study Course Implementer | |||||||||
| Structural Unit: | Faculty of Social Sciences | ||||||||
| The Head of Structural Unit: | |||||||||
| Contacts: | Dzirciema street 16, Rīga, szf rsu[pnkts]lv | ||||||||
| Study Course Planning | |||||||||
| Full-Time - Semester No.1 | |||||||||
| Lectures (count) | 12 | Lecture Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Lectures | 24 | ||||
| Classes (count) | 8 | Class Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Classes | 16 | ||||
| Total Contact Hours | 40 | ||||||||
| Study course description | |||||||||
| Preliminary Knowledge: | Advanced understanding of foreign policy processes. | ||||||||
| Objective: | The objective of the course “Decision-Making in Foreign Policy” is to systematically familiarise students with the decision-making in foreign policy, the factors influencing it, and the importance of this analytical approach in the theory of international relations. The course covers theoretical aspects of the process of making foreign policy decisions and assesses the decision-making process for individual events (case studies). | ||||||||
| Topic Layout (Full-Time) | |||||||||
| No. | Topic | Type of Implementation | Number | Venue | |||||
| 1 | Introduction. Factors influencing foreign policy decisions. Alison’s decision-making models | Lectures | 1.00 | other | |||||
| 2 | Making rational decisions | Lectures | 2.00 | other | |||||
| 3 | Cuban crisis from the point of view of the rational model | Classes | 1.00 | other | |||||
| 4 | Organisational model of decision-making | Lectures | 1.00 | other | |||||
| 5 | Political model of decision-making | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 6 | Analysis of Cuban crisis within Model II and Model III | Classes | 2.00 | other | |||||
| 7 | "World War Three: Inside The War Room”: assessment | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 8 | Psychology, perception and risk factor in the decision-making process | Lectures | 2.00 | other | |||||
| 9 | Factor of personalities and diplomats in the decision-making process | Lectures | 2.00 | other | |||||
| 10 | Simulation: mock decision-making | Classes | 1.00 | other | |||||
| 11 | Personalities, perceptions and risks in the implementation of the military intervention in Vietnam | Classes | 2.00 | other | |||||
| 12 | Decision-making in post-Communist countries. Process of making foreign policy decisions in Russia and Latvia | Lectures | 2.00 | other | |||||
| 13 | Model of a dramatic actor. Decision-making in other countries | Lectures | 1.00 | other | |||||
| 14 | Structure of Latvian foreign policy decision-making mechanism and preparedness for crisis situations | Classes | 1.00 | other | |||||
| Assessment | |||||||||
| Unaided Work: | Independent work includes preparation for seminars and drafting of opinion pieces and reports. In order to evaluate the quality of the study course as a whole, the student must fill out the study course evaluation questionnaire on the Student Portal. | ||||||||
| Assessment Criteria: | Quality and analyticity, link between theory and empiricism, critical thinking and expressing an opinion. Independent work - 50%; exam - 50%. | ||||||||
| Final Examination (Full-Time): | Exam (Written) | ||||||||
| Final Examination (Part-Time): | |||||||||
| Learning Outcomes | |||||||||
| Knowledge: | Students will be familiar with foreign policy decision-making models. | ||||||||
| Skills: | Students strengthen their skills in opinion formulation, expression and reasoning, and promote their digital skills. | ||||||||
| Competencies: | Students master interdisciplinary theoretical research, evaluation and empirical application competences. | ||||||||
| Bibliography | |||||||||
| No. | Reference | ||||||||
| Required Reading | |||||||||
| 1 | Visa literatūra ir angļu valodā un piemērota gan latviešu, gan angļu plūsmas studentiem | ||||||||
| 2 | Graham Allison, Philip Zelikow. Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (New York, 1999) | ||||||||
| 3 | Yaacov Vertzberger. Risk Taking and Decisionmaking. Foreign Military Intervention Decisions (Stanford, 1998) | ||||||||
| 4 | Eric K. Stern, Dan Hansen. Crisis Management in a Transitional Society: The Latvian Experience (Stockholm, 2000) | ||||||||
| 5 | Kimberly Marten. “Putin’s Choices: Explaining Russian Foreign Policy and Intervention in Ukraine” (The Washington Quarterly, Summer 2015) | ||||||||
| 6 | RAND Corporation Report, Reinforcing Deterrence on NATO’s Eastern Flank: Wargaming the Defense of the Baltics, 2016 | ||||||||
