POL 422: Nuclear Politics

Draft Syllabus updated 2010-09-06. Total pages 2459

Prof. Alex Montgomery-Amo

ahm@reed.edu

(503) 517-7395




Class

Office



MW 3:10-4:30

TuTh 10:00-10:30 or by appointment
Vollum 118

Vollum 241
https://moodle.reed.edu/course/view.php?id=654

http://www.reed.edu/~ahm/



Course Description and Goals

Full course for one semester. This course investigates the origins and effects of the spread of nuclear weapons at international and domestic levels. It begins with a discussion of the morality of nuclear weapons, the motives different states have for obtaining them, and the problems with intelligence on states’ progress. It continues with asking what nuclear strategies have been and should be used, then moves to social constructivist critiques of conventional understandings of nuclear weapons as well as debates over the safety of such weapons. The latter half of the class concentrates on case studies of a variety of programs, including Iran and North Korea as well as proliferation networks and terrorism. Conference.

Requirements

Readings

Readings for the course will be loaded by the students onto their iPads. All students are expected to have an understanding of all of the readings. The syllabus will be updated frequently.

Course Website

Discussion and collaboration is available to you through the website; supplemental and core readings will be made available there; and assignments will be turned in electronically using the site.

Assignments

There is one assignment for this course, a lengthy (2500-5000 word) essay analyzing anything related to nuclear politics; it is due on Wednesday, December 8 at 11:59 PM.

Citation and Plagiarism

A major goal of this course is to encourage good reading, research, and citation habits. Good research requires good documentation of sources and the ability to put one’s own analysis and thoughts into a paper rather than relying on others. When in doubt as to whether you should cite something, always do it. Citations are required for ideas as well as facts, and are imperative even if you are not directly quoting authors. Make sure that you provide as specific a citation as possible; if an author discusses an idea in one section or one page, cite the specific section or page instead of the full article or book. I usually recommend that students use in-text author-date citation with full Chicago Manual of Style citations; see their Citation Quick Guide: <http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools˙citationguide.html>.

However, style is less important than the cites being present. If you use an idea or a fact without attribution, you are plagiarizing someone else’s work. Plagiarism and cheating are violations of academic integrity and thus violations of Reed’s Honor Principle. As specified by Reed’s academic conduct policy, such violations will result in disciplinary actions, including suspension or permanent dismissal from the College. Plagiarism is submitting a piece of work which in part or in whole is not entirely the student’s own work without attributing those same portions to their correct source. For examples of plagiarism and how to avoid it, see <http://www.csub.edu/ssric-trd/howto/plagiarism.htm> For more information on Reed’s policies see: <http://www.reed.edu/academic/gbook/comm˙pol/acad˙conduct.html>.

Accommodations

If you’d like to request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Learning Resources Director Heather Stout, Dorothy Johansen House, 503-517-7921, stouth@reed.edu. If you have a letter from Student Services, please let me know so we can discuss those accommodations.

1-Sep: 01.2. Technology: How do you make a nuclear weapon? What can they do? (69 Pages)

Further

6-Sep: 02.1. The Bomb, Dread, + Eternity: The Atomic Cafe (film) (21 Pages)

8-Sep: 02.2. Hiroshima: Why did we use the bomb? Should we have? (81 Pages)

Further

13-Sep: 03.1. Motives: Why do states seek the bomb? (137 Pages)

Further

15-Sep: 03.2. Motives: How do we know? (121 Pages)

Further

20-Sep: 04.1. Intel: Can we really know who is seeking the bomb? (93 Pages)

Further

22-Sep: 04.2. Strategy: What should we do with it? (102 Pages)

Further

27-Sep: 05.1. SCOT (Social Construction of Technology): What does the bomb mean? (145 Pages)

Further

29-Sep: 05.2. SCOT 2: How does that meaning affect what we do? (116 Pages)

4-Oct: 06.1. Control: What attempts have been made to keep them from it? (109 Pages)

Further

6-Oct: 06.2. Control: What are we doing to defend ourselves? (71 Pages)

Further

11-Oct: 07.1. Impact: What has the spread of nuclear weapons led to? (145 Pages)

13-Oct: 07.2. Safety: How safe are we or others in making the bomb? (132 Pages)

Further

18-Oct: 08.1. Fall Break - No Class

20-Oct: 08.2. Fall Break - No Class

25-Oct: 09.1. India, Pakistan, and Israel: Renegades or the future of Proliferation? (110 Pages)

Further

27-Oct: 09.2. Iran and Iraq: Determined or Deterrable? (147 Pages)

Further

1-Nov: 10.1. Libya and Egypt: Incompetent or Uninspired? (112 Pages)

Further

3-Nov: 10.2. North Korea: Pariah or Persuadable? (111 Pages)

Further

8-Nov: 11.1. Terrorists: Should we worry about them? (98 Pages)

Further

10-Nov: 11.2. Nuclear Networks: The Wrath of Khan? (114 Pages)

Further

15-Nov: 12.1. Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan: Why didn’t they? (127 Pages)

Further

17-Nov: 12.2. Argentina and Brazil: Did they or didn’t they? (94 Pages)

Further

22-Nov: 13.1. Ukraine, Belarus, and South Africa: Success Stories? (141 Pages)

Further

24-Nov: 13.2. Thanksgiving Break - No Class

29-Nov: 14.1. Conclusions: What should we do about all this? (63 Pages)

Further

1-Dec: 14.2. Presentations

6-Dec: 15.1. Presentations