2025/07/07 by Joshua A. Schwartz · 1 voice
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Cinema and Media Studies #Innovative Teaching Methodologies in Social Sciences #Political Science Research and Education
paper · doi:10.1080/15512169.2025.2529861
openalex publication_date 2025/07/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
Integrating film into traditional political science courses can provide powerful benefits. Most notably, it can increase student excitement about and thus engagement with a course. This paper offers an in-depth guide for how to construct a rigorous, but engaging, course on American foreign policy through the lens of film. Each week of the course includes one class session on a key American foreign policy event, along with a theory and/or debate associated with it. These sessions are organized chronologically so that students learn about the historical development of American foreign policy over time, in addition to theory. The second class session in any given week pairs the American foreign policy event/debate with a germane film that—either directly or metaphorically—relates to the foreign policy substance and can help students learn about it at a deeper level. I select a wide range of different types of movies—from musicals and satirical comedies to war dramas and science-fiction films—to interest different types of students. Empirical evidence suggests the structure and content of the course was highly effective at better engaging students than a conventional political science class and teaching them about the interlinked relationship between film and foreign policy.