Emphasis is on post-World War II policies.
To complicate the situation, we have seen in recent years rapid fluctuations in crucial elements of policies which constitute our basic operating premises, illustrating well the axiom that states have permanent interests, not permanent friends or enemies. This semester, we shall attempt to engage in detached examination of policy, looking for guidelines whereby we might ascertain patterns from the past as well as lessons for the future in which we are destined to live. There is appalling ignorance in this country regarding the world about us. This facilitates our ability to devise policies that conform less to reality than to the pictures of reality citizens and, ruefully, some of our leaders, carry in their heads. As educated citizens we must aspire to construct an environment in which ignorance does not so regularly triumph in public policy.