The course examines changes in American life brought about by depression, reform and war. Current economical, political, social and foreign policy problems are also considered in a historical context. A study of the principal systems of ideas about God, human nature and society that have been at work in American history from colonial times to the present. Emphasis is placed on the expression of these ideas in the primary documents of American thought. Topics include isolationism and expansion, America's rise to power, the nature of American imperialism, the causes of participation in wars and the development of the Cold War.
Attention is given to the domestic forces that help shape foreign policy.
A study of the history of California through the Indian, Spanish, Mexican and American periods to the present, and through an examination of its basic political, social, economic, educational and cultural traditions and institutions. Special emphasis is placed on the ways gender, ethnicity and class influence the role of women in the community with respect to legal rights, sexuality, attitudes and perceptions. Primary attention is paid to China, which traditionally had a strong influence on the pattern of political development in the region and today seeks to renew its influence. The politics and economics of oil, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the revival of Islam, and the problems of modernization and development are studied in detail. The impact of these legacies on the problems of state-building, economic development, social change and foreign policy in contemporary India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal is approached from a comparative and regional perspective.