Course description
The United States has launched numerous projects of military occupation and nation-building in foreign lands since the late ninteenth century. These have been contradictory enterprises, carrying ideals of freedom and self-determination offered by force or by fiat. This course assesses the meanings and legacies of these projects by examining the ideas, strategies, policies, and outcomes of occupations ranging from the Philippines and Haiti early on to Japan, Germany, and Korea in mid-century to, most recently, Afghanistan and Iraq. The course focuses on American activities and ideas but also examines the responses of the occupied.
