Modern American Cultural Diplomacy: "A Diplomacy of Peoples"

This seminar explores the power and global influence of modern American cultural diplomacy. Students will study the diplomacy of private citizens and cross-cultural encounters to understand public perception and opinion as well as U.S. governmental projection of cultural power abroad. We will study the rise of U.S. nationalism/ internationalism, the growth of U.S. power in continental expansion and the Spanish-American War, interwar citizen activism, public opinion and World War II, post-war occupations and reconstructions, the rising influence of internationalism, the UN, and human rights, as well as the impact of the Cold War, developmentalism, third world revolutions, and rapid globalization.