"The Fifth Future" Foreign Policy Project

BACKGROUND: For this assignment, you will be researching what some experts call "The Four Futures" of United States Foreign Policy and coming to some personal conclusions regarding the futures that YOU feel are important.

SOURCE FOR RESEARCH:  Students will do their basic research by reviewing the information outlined in "The United States Role in the World- The Four Futures".

Students are ENCOURAGED to do additional research, as needed, to make their own personal conclusions regarding the FIFTH FUTURE: their own personal description of what they feel should be the goals of the United States foreign policy going into the future.

THE ASSIGNMENT:   You MUST address all of the following questions adapted from the reading above, our lectures and your opinions regarding the United States foreign policy:

  1. What are the FOUR FUTURES, as outlined in the article above? Give a short description of each, while listing some of the PROS and CONS of each of the four desired outcomes. (This part of the project will be worth 50 points, all by itself, so be thorough!)
  2. What do you think the long-term goals of the United States should be? This should be a paragraph or two outlining which of the futures above you belive we should be pursuing and why.
  3. What should we do about the following Foreign Policy issues within the context of your long-term goals? Please give at least a 2-3 sentence answer, based upon your beliefs and the topics that we have covered in this class this year.
    1. Terrorism and other threats to our national security.
    2. Aggressive actions/Human rights issues in other countries around the world (such as Ukraine, Russia, etc.)
    3. Energy Policy.
    4. Aid to Foreign countries.
    5. The Environment (possibly including Global Warming).
    6. Economics and Trade with other countries.
    7. Immigration.
    8. Pandemic issues.
  4. How will you address the problem of debt and deficit in the United States that we discussed during the fall semester while still participating in world affairs?
  5. How do you feel other countries in the world view us at this time and how would you like other countries to view us in the future?
  6. What are the strengths of the Foreign Policy Future that you are proposing?
  7. What are the arguments against your Future and how would you counter them?

YOUR PRODUCT: This assignment is one that is designed to make you THINK about your country and how it acts in the world today and in the future. I am asking each student to answer the questions above and present their FIFTH FUTURE to me in a way that conveys all of the answers to the questions above and demonstrates thought, logic and a sense of concern about the future of the country. How the student proceeds with this mini-project is completely up to the student. I will accept ANYTHING in any format that conveys your ideas and your feelings.

GRADING:  This assignment will be worth a total of 100 points. The first 50 points will be based upon your thorough answer to QUESTION ONE above, in which you outline the FOUR FUTURES from the article. The other 50 points will be given SOLELY on the thought and logic behind the final product and the remaining questions.