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This seminar examines the U.S. presidency as an institution in world affairs and national security. From the Founders’ design to the rise of the “imperial presidency” and the modern national security state, the office has been both the most powerful and the most contested in American statecraft. We focus not on the policy preferences of particular presidents, but on how constitutional design, institutional evolution, and decision-making processes have shaped America’s role in the world—and how that role has, in turn, reshaped the office. The course engages the rich, interdisciplinary scholarship on the presidency developed over many decades. Topics include diplomacy, war and peace, treaties and executive agreements, the global economy, secrecy and intelligence, and transnational challenges. We also consider how leadership and style affect the exercise of power, concluding with the Trump era as a stress test for the modern presidency. This is not a law school class; it is an advanced international studies seminar concerned with how institutions, ideas, and individual choices together define the presidency – and how the presidency has and can define the course of world affairs.