Staunton VA 24401
this page last updated April 10, 2012
to contact Prof. Gordon Bowen, email to : gbowen@mbc.edu
Materials about the ongoing War against Terrorism are linked here.
Separate Sections below provide materials that directly support these courses:
PolS 111: Comparative Politics: concepts unit; Britain unit;
PolS 128: United States Foreign Policy PolS 249: Latin American Politics
Online materials supporting the course
Unit One: ConceptsConcepts of Political ScienceUnit Two: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandTypes of Governments: a circular model depicting the "clock of freedom"
Aristotle: Father of Comparative Politics
- biography,
- classification matrix adapted from Aristotle's The Politics
Political Coalitions and Alliances
reading: Amartya Sen, "Democracy and its Global Roots," New Republic (Oct. 6, 2003): 28-35.
News Sources about Britain and British PoliticsUnit Three: GermanyThree British Leaders' Profiles: Thatcher, Major, Blair
British Parties' Nomination Processes
The Impact of the Single Member District, "first-past-the-post" electoral system
The Jews in Britain: a timeline
Stopping the British Fascists in the 1930s
Executive-Legislative Leadership Compared: Britain, Germany, and Russia
British Government statement of Nov. 2001 on the attacks on the U.S.A. of Sept. 11, 2001
Britain votes for War with Iraq, 2003
British General Election of May 2005
Chart: British voters' self-placement on an ideological spectrum
reading: Jane Kramer, "Blood Sport," New Yorker (January 24 and 31, 2005): 70-77.
Chart: British Muslims' attitudes; Link to full study of British Muslims' attitudes toward terrorism and other topics
Essay by Prof. Bowen "Great Britain in Ireland"
Maps of Germany throughout historyBundesarchiv of official documents and pictures from the German Government, covering all eras 1918-2000
Contemporary Germany: Information from the German Government about Germany (searchable archive)
Authoritarianism and Totalitarianism
German Elections: The Rise of the Nazis
The "Big Lie" Theory of Adolf Hitler
Photos of the Anne Frank house, Amsterdam
Chart: Changing Sources of German National Pride, 1959-88
Executive-Legislative Leadership in Britain, Germany, and Russia
German Election Results: 2002 election compared to 2005 election
German voters' self-identification on an ideological spectrum
Essay by Prof. Bowen: "German Government: Dictatorship and Democracy"
Unit Four: Russia
Online materials supporting the course
- Extensive official documents on U.S. foreign policy from throughout U.S. history are found within the materials at the Avalon Project, Yale University School of Law: prior to 18th century; 18th century; 19th century; 20th century; 21st century.
- Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad: A 2004 study by the Congressional Research Service, and a related file extracted from this study concerning more than 60 events since passage of the 1973 War Powers Resolution.
- Materials assembled by Prof Bowen:
Concept definitions, models and other basic materials:
elements of state power in international relations
Models of how any state may make decisions in its international relations
Concentric Circles Model of U.S. Foreign Policy Decision Making
Models of global power distributions
Graphic Depictions of contemporary and historic models of global distribution of power
- unipolar model (post 1991)
- bipolar model (1945-91)
- multipolar model (19th century)
- stratification in the global system
Materials concerning U.S. Policy prior to the Cold War:
Timeline: Uses of U.S. Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-1990 (official U.S. Navy study)Versailles Treaty of 1919 (rejected by the U.S. Senate); Prof. Bowen's analysis of the impact of this treaty on Germany
Map of Russian Civil War and Allied Interventions
Latin America: Monroe Doctrine, Rio Treaty, and Caracas Resolution
Essay on U.S. - Cuba Relations
Soviet-US relations prior to World War II
The Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939
Materials assembled by Prof. Bowen concerning U.S. Policy during the Cold War:Essay on U.S. - Soviet Relations
Origins of the Cold War (brief timeline or extensive analysis)
Roots of the State of Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
U.S. Commitment to Saudi Arabia (1947)
Major U.S. Commitments of the early Cold War
Berlin Blockade and Airlift, 1948-49
Korean War:
Vietnam War
Essay on U.S. - Vietnam RelationsAfter the Vietnam War:Theory of Counterinsurgency War
L. B. Johnson (portrait)
Public Opinion polls on Vietnam War
Published essays on "U.S. Foreign Policy in the 1970's" and "U.S. Foreign Policy in the 1980's"Essay on U.S. - Chile Relations
The Jackson-Vanik Amendments to the Trade Act
Concept: nuclear deterrence
Essay on U.S. - El Salvador Relations
Timeline of U.S. Policy in the Middle East (authored 2002 by U.S. Department of State)
Achille Lauro Incident (1985):
- Description of the incident
- 2002 Interview with perpetrator: Abu al-Abbas
- News item on death of Abu Abbas in U.S. custody (2004)
Comparison of Original Cold War to Cold War II of the 1980s
Contras Policy toward Nicaragua (1980s)
Map: Iran and the Strait of Hormuz
Materials assembled by Prof. Bowen concerning U.S. Policy after the Cold War:
Overview essay: Foreign Policy of the U.S. in the 1990'sEssay: Israel and the U.S. in the 1990's
January 1993 Regional Defense Strategy of the United States (authored by Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz)
Comparative indicators of U.S. national power
U.S. public opinion on foreign policy, 1999
Iraq:
Bowen overview essay on U.S. - Iraq Relations
Letter: George H. W. Bush to Saddam Hussein, Jan. 5, 1991
Charts: Presidential Popularity Rally during Gulf War of 1991
Bowen Editorials on Iraq: 2003-07, 2002, 1991
Congressional votes on War with Iraq compared: 1991 versus 2002
Iraq's relationship with Al Qaeda: a timeline
Britain authorizes war against Iraq (graphic, 2003)
"Rally 'round the Flag": Presidential Popularity and the war with Iraq (2003)
MBC Graduate and War Veteran Captain Sherri Sharpe Returns to MBC (2004)
Charts (2007): Measuring the impact of the Iraq War on foreign publics' attitudes toward the U.S.
Redrawing Iraq's borders: An alternative map of the Middle East?
U.S. military deaths in Iraq, 2003-2008: a series of charts illustrating who has borne the sacrifices
Yugoslavia / Serbia:
Maps of the states of the Former Yugoslavia
Essay on U.S. relations with the Former Yugoslavia (extensive background and analysis)
Timeline on the 1990s conflict in Bosnia (brief overview)
Timeline on the 1990s conflict in Croatia (brief overview)
Timeline of the 1990s conflict in Kosovo (brief overview)
1999 Bowen public speech regarding Kosovo Conflict
Synopsis: steps of "ethnic cleansing" (adapted from David Rieff, Slaughterhouse)
1999 Bowen editorials regarding Kosovo/Yugoslavia: March, June, November
Globalization
Peter Beinart, "An Illusion for our time: the false promise of globalization," The New Republic (October 20, 1997): 20-24.
The War in Afghanistan, 2001-2012
- Rob de Wijk, "The Limits to Military Power" (2002)
- Ajai Sahni, "The Stupidity in Afghanistan," South Asia Intelligence Review 5, 15 (October 23, 2006).
- For an official enumeration of who was seen to be the enemy in Afghanistan in 2009, check out this March 2009 Department of the Army study: "HB9 Paramilitary Terrorist Insurgent Groups Afghanistan 1 Mar 09." The study originally was made available at http://wikileaks.org/leak/us-afghan-insurgents-2009.pdf, but no longer is accessible there.
- C.I.A. official Paul Pillar, "Who's Afraid of a Terrorist Haven?" Washington Post (Sept. 16, 2009).
- The "McCrystal Assessment" of August 30, 2009, in which the U.S. commander lays out the options, including a substantial increase in U.S. troops.
- Opposing the McCrystal Assessment here is another view, offered by Mathew Hoh, a U.S. official who resigned September 10, 2009 in protest over current U.S. policy there.
- Analysis: Al Qaeda is the tip of the jihadist spear," Long War Journal (Oct. 8, 2009).
- 2009 Department of Defense study of insurgent groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan
- ISAF, "State of the Taliban, 2012," a secret, but leaked study based on interviews with hundreds of detained Taliban members
War on Terrorism, 2001-2012:
Prof. Bowen's Warlinks Website: various resources concerning the War on Terrorism
Prof. Bowen's Annotated Bibliography about books and articles on this topic
Photos of the impact of the attack on the Pentagon, Sept. 11, 2001
"Rally 'round the Flag": Presidential Popularity after Sept. 11, 2001
Bush speeches to U.N., Nov. 2001, 2004. Other Bush war statements linked here. Other policymakers:
Prof. Bowen's Primer on Al Qaeda
Al Qaeda plan for 911 began in 1996
Bowen Commentary: Editorials published on the War on Terrorism
Bowen Commentary: Weblog on events of the war, Fall 2002 to May 2007
Al Qaeda Training Manual, found in a safe house in the U.K. in 2001
Contemporary U.S. policy on assassination of terrorists, and related background timeline on on U.S. Congressional oversight of U.S. intelligence agencies
Osama bin Laden's Declaration of War analyzed by Bernard Lewis
Columbia Shuttle Disaster (2003): reaction in the Middle East
Video: Natan Sharansky on torture (CBS video, 2003)
Abu Zarqawi letter, Jan. 2004: which urged jihadists to mount a civil war against Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq
George W. Bush letter to Ariel Sharon, April 4, 2004
Charts:
- Israel's counter-terrorism strategy has reduced suicide bombings, and casualties
- Financing of major terrorist operations, 2001-2005
Map of Pakistan, showing ethnic distribution in national census and in national geography
2009 Department of Defense study of insurgent groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan
ISAF, "State of the Taliban, 2012," a secret, but leaked study based on interviews with hundreds of Taliban members
Recommended articles:
Ruth Wisse: Modern Anti-Semitism
Gabriel Schoenfeld: The Danger Ahead
Richard Miniter, “Baggage Claim: The Myth of ‘Suitcase Nukes,’ ”
Ajai Sahni, “The Stupidity of Afghanistan”
John Leo essay on Internment in times of war
David Samuels, "Grand Illusions," Atlantic Monthly (July 2007)
Reuel Marc Gerecht, "Mirror-Imaging the Mullahs" (Jan. 1, 2008)
Massimo Calabresi, "Hillary Clinton and the Rise of Smart Power" Time (Nov. 7, 2011)
Charlie Savage, "Prisoner in Iraq Tied to Hezbollah faces U.S. Military Charges," New York Times online (Feb. 23, 2012)
U.S. Relations with North Korea:
U.S. - Korea Relations during the Cold War
U.S. - North Korean 1994 "Agreed Framework" (text)
U.S. - North Korean Agreement of 2005 (text)
U.S. -North Korea relations since the 1994 Agreed Framework: timeline
Map of North Korean Nuclear Facilities
North Korea Nuclear Weapons Program: bibliography
Other important contemporary issues in foreign policy
Reuel Marc Gerecht, "Mirror-Imaging the Mullahs" (Jan. 1, 2008)
"Roadmap" Plan for Middle East Peace (April 30, 2003)
Joint Russian-Chinese statement, Dec. 2003 (quite anti-U.S.)
Presidential letter to Israel, April 14, 2004
Aaron David Miller, "The False Religion of Mideast Peace," Foreign Policy (May/June 2010) (alternate link)
Longer Essays by Prof. Bowen supporting the U.S. Foreign Policy Course:
Essay on U.S. - Soviet RelationsEssay on U.S. - Cuba Relations
Essay on U.S. - Chile Relations
Essay on U.S. - Vietnam Relations
Essay on "U.S. Foreign Policy in the 1970's"
Essay on "U.S. Foreign Policy in the 1980's"
Essay on U.S. - El Salvador Relations
Essay on Czechoslovakia and the Democratic Idea
Essay on U.S. - Iraq Relations
Essay on the International Criminal Court for War Crimes
"Freedom Matters": a 2002 essay exploring appropriate policy responses to 9/11
Online materials supporting the course:
Social Portrait of selected Latin American states: statistical indicatorsMonroe Doctrine, Rio Treaty, and Caracas Resolution
U.S. Human Rights Law (502b) and Policy in 1970s and 1980s
U.S. Contras Policy toward Nicaragua in 1980s
General maps of physical geography and political divisions of South America region, Central America and the Caribbean
Chronological log of American history in the 20th century
U.S. treaties concerning Latin America:
Panama Canal Treaty (1903)
U.S. - Cuba Treaty (1934)
Act of Chapultepec (March 1945)
Pact of Bogota (1948)
Charter of the Organization of American States (1948)
Rio Treaty (1949)
Specific materials concerning Guatemala:
Presidents of Guatemala listed
Rigoberta Menchu (1992 Nobel Prize for Peace winner) Biography
Materials concerning Argentina:
Long essay on Argentine politics
Peron eras:
- Biography of Juan Peron
- Overview of Peron's policies in 1940s / 1950s
- Peron in the 1970s
"Dirty War" era in Argentina, 1976-1983:
- Overview of the "dirty war"
- one hour lecture on "dirty war"
- extensive analysis within longer Argentina essay
Raul Alfonsin Government, 1983-89; detailed discussion of Alfonsin era
Carlos Menem Presidency, 1989-99: first term, second term
de la Rua Government, 1999-2001
Materials on El Salvador:
Longer essay on El Salvador
Outline of 20th century El Salvador, war, peace processes
Materials on Mexico:
Outline of the Porfiriato
Outline of Revolution of 1910 and Revolutionaries
Key features of Mexico's political system during the boom and bust years, 1940-1982
Outline of Mexico under the Technocrats, 1982-2000
Article: Gonzalez, Mexico's Drug Wars Get Brutal (2009)
Article: Gonzalez, Drug Violence Isn't Mexico's Only Problem (2011)
Materials on Chile:
Essay on Chile
Materials on Cuba:
Essay on U.S. - Cuba Relations
Declassified documents on the 1962 Cuban Missiles Crisis
