Abstract
This activity, “Intervening in Bhutan,” simulates the foreign policy-making process, highlighting the sometimes extensive and sometimes limited powers of the US presidency. You will assume the role of the National Security Advisor to the US president as she responds to a major crisis where civilians and Americans are being killed indiscriminately in Bhutan. In this capacity, you will
- gather the National Security Council to advise President Harding as she develops a response to the immediate crisis
- help the president work with Congress to fund a longer-term intervention to push back the RMH,
- use this policy opportunity window to push for one of the president’s pet projects: ratification of Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions.
Learning Goals
After reading your text and completing this exercise, you will be able to:
- differentiate among expressed, delegated, and inherent powers of the presidency;
- understand and describe the relationship between Congress and the president on foreign policy questions; and
- describe the War Powers Act, and explain the effects of this law on presidential power to make war.
© Oxford University Press. All Rights Reserved.
