This week we had a number of interesting lectures on a variety of topics (click here to see the overview). Richard Scher gave as an overview of the different levels of the U.S. federal system and the tension between Art. 1 and the 10 th amendment of the U.S. constitution. Richard Conley lectured on the President and Foreign Poilcy. He also touched upon the question of how a president can actually alter the course of foreign policy, which I found particularly interesting because the U.S. president is very often depicted as a captain-like figure by foreign commentators and students. I think that the metaphor of U.S. foreign policy as a supertanker is matching. Presidents do face many domestic pressures that prevent them from rapid changed to the course of U.S. foreign policy (I guess the Obama administration’s missile defense policy serves as a good example). Overall, the notion of slow change and continuity has been a recurring theme during last week’s lectures and discussions.

On Tuesday, we had three lectures on “The Domestic Sources of U.S. Foreign Policy: The Case of Russia” (Paul D’Anieri), “Religion, Politics and U.S. Foreign Policy” (Kenneth Wald), and “Congress, Interest Groups, and the Foreign Policymaking Process” (Michael Heaney). A lot of interesting input and issues to debate, but that day wore me out…

Herman M. Schwartz introduced us to the U.S. Economy and the causes of the current economic crisis. His lecture helped me to connect some dots. Incredible, really incredible … On Thursday, James Goldgeier gave us a very insightful overview of the dynamics in the U.S. foreign policy process between the end of the East-West Conflict and 9/11. It is really striking that most people have so far paid little attention to this decade, which has had a tremendous impact on current foreign relations of the United States. Goldgeier’s book is a very good read!

On Thursday evening we attended a session of the city council of the city of Gainesville, which proclaimed July 15 “United States Institute on Foreign Policy Day”. A video of the meeting is available here. Watch it, its worth it (re: What country are you from again?)

The acadmic part of the week was concluded by Michael D. Martinez and his lecture on public opinion and foreign policy.

Last evening we went to see a musical at the Hippodrome theater. It was definitely a cultural experience for many of us

Click here to watch the trailer.

New pictures are availble in the Picasa album.

Finally, three interesting web-pages I was shown this week:

The Living Room Candidate: an archive of presidential campaign commercial from 1952 through 2008.

American National Election Studies: data on voting, public opinion, and political participation in the United States

Center for Responsive Politics: project on the influence of money on U.S. elections and politics.