6300 - Diplomacy and Statecraft

This course analyzes the tools of statecraft available to a nation in order to achieve its national security objectives short of war. Specifically, the course analyzes the nature, purposes, capabilities and limitations of the instruments of statecraft (the military instrument is examined for purposes short of war), and investigates and critiques a variety of ways that diplomacy orchestrates these instruments. The course explores how instruments of power differ from, but is dependent upon, underlying national power, particularly in the areas of economics and information. Discussions reference peace, crisis and war to provide a comprehensive review of the instruments' role in national security strategy. The course has a particular emphasis on the economic and financial instruments, which are probably the least understood but most important national instruments of power. The course provides detailed information on the other tools available to national security strategists, the various uses of those tools; both singly and in conjunction with one another, and helps set the stage for the end-of-year applications in national security strategy course.