POL 422: Nuclear Politics

Syllabus updated 2016-09-06. Total pages 2731

Prof. Alex Montgomery

ahm@reed.edu

(503) 517-7395

Class

Office
W 6:10-9:00

M 1:30-3:30 or by appointment
Vollum 228

Vollum 317
https://moodle.reed.edu/course/view.php?id=1096

http://alexmontgomery.com

Course Description and Goals

Full course for one semester. This course investigates the origins and effects of the spread of all things nuclear. It discusses the metaphysics and physics of nuclear technologies as well as the benefits and risks of nuclear power and weapons; investigates into why and how states seek, obtain, and use nuclear technologies; examines the role of external influences (particularly networks) in helping or hindering nuclear acquisition; and deliberates the risks of states and violent extremist organizations obtaining nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. Conference.

Requirements

Class Participation

Students are required to actively participate in the class; they will have the opportunity to do so both during and outside of classroom hours. Good participation involves—among other things—listening carefully to others, referring or responding to the previous speaker’s comments, and asking questions in addition to or instead of making statements. There is such a thing as bad participation.This includes—but is not limited to—interrupting others, dominating conversations, and conducting ad hominem attacks.

Starting Wednesday, every student should have a question or observation about at least one of the authors assigned for a given day. I may call on you at any time during class to start a conversation with your question/observation. You may want to print it out or write it down if you frequently can’t remember the brilliant observation you had. Students are encouraged, but not required, to turn in their questions/observations to Moodle prior to the class; this is a very good way of demonstrating participation in the event that you tend to listen more than speak in class. You may also participate by discussing the material online before or after the class.

Class will typically start with an interruptible mini-lecture on my part; only after we’ve covered the basics of the articles and how they relate to each other will we move to discussion. I do this to ensure that you understood the basic assumptions, mechanisms, and implications of each theory, and will consequently often contain a Socratic component. This is also a good time to ask one of your questions! Sometimes this will take up almost the entire class period. This is another reason to post your question/observation to Moodle in advance so I can get a sense of where you are stuck or what you are interested in and incorporate that into the mini lecture part. As the class progresses and as we move from theory to practice, we will dedicate more time to the discussion portion of class. Sometimes we will not get to all of the readings or very far in the discussion. This is deliberate; you will still benefit from the context provided by those pieces even if we don’t discuss them. If we miss something in class, you are most welcome to post (or re-post) your question/observation to Moodle after the class.

If you miss a day of class for any reason whatsoever, you may make it up by posting a summary of each of the readings for that day to Moodle. In order to make up missed days from the first half of the semester, these must be posted before the first day of classes after the break; from the second half, by the end of reading period. If you are sick, do NOT come to class and spread it to the rest of us. Instead, stay home, write your summaries up (which all of you should be doing every day in any case), and get better.

Readings

Readings for the course are drawn from four books and E-Readings, which can be downloaded directly from the links on Moodle. These are best used in conjunction with Zotero, which is supported by the library. Students are expected to bring a copy of the readings to class every day for reference. Laptops are not permitted in class; tablet devices may be used. Readings marked “Further” on the syllabus are other relevant articles or books; they are not required for class. Students who have a particular interest in the topics in question are encouraged to read these pieces and to incorporate them into their assignments. Four books are available online; two of them are available as e-books at the library.

Required Books

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 are two assignments for this course. The first is a short (1250-2500) word piece due Friday, October 14 at 5 PM, for which you will have three options: write a dossier on one of the POL 240 simulation states; write an essay on why a state did or did not go nuclear; or turn in an initial proposal and outline for your final paper. The second is a lengthy (3750-5000 words, or 2500-3750 if you picked one of the first two options) essay analyzing anything related to nuclear politics; it is due on Wednesday, December 7 at 5 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://tinyurl.com/jdlrbd3>. If nothing else, you should avoid “sinister buttocks” syndrome. For more information on Reed’s policies see: <http://www.reed.edu/academic/gbook/comm˙pol/acad˙conduct.html>.

Plagiarism often comes as the result of a student being up against a deadline without being able to meet it. If you are having trouble meeting a deadline for whatever reason, please contact me. Because every assignment is a paper that will be handed out well in advance, I have no problem giving extensions. It is always better to ask for more time than to plagiarize. When you ask for an extension, you should a)explain what events are causing you to miss the deadline and b)request an amount of time proportional to the interfering events. You may ask for an extension up to, but not exceeding, the amount of time remaining for the assignment, except for cases of emergencies.

Accommodations

If you’d like to request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disability Support Services. If you have a letter from Student Services, please let me know so we can discuss those accommodations.

31-Aug: 01.2. The Bomb, Dread, + Eternity: The Atomic Cafe (film) (39 Pages)

Further

7-Sep: 02.1. Technology: How do you make a nuclear weapon? What can they do? (144 Pages)

Further

7-Sep: 02.2. Hiroshima: Why did we use the bomb? Should we have? Will we? (67 Pages)

Further

Review

14-Sep: 03.1. Nuclear Power: What are the Benefits? (56 Pages)

14-Sep: 03.2. Nuclear Power: What are the Risks? (198 Pages)

Further

21-Sep: 04.1. Motives: Why do states seek the bomb? (109 Pages)

Further

21-Sep: 04.2. Motives: How do we know? (97 Pages)

Further

28-Sep: 05.1. Intel: Can we really know who is seeking the bomb? (104 Pages)

Further

28-Sep: 05.2. Strategy: What should we do with it? (95 Pages)

Further

Review

5-Oct: 06.1. Impact: What has the spread of nuclear weapons led to? (103 Pages)

Further

5-Oct: 06.2. Impact: Are we sure about that? (130 Pages)

Further

12-Oct: 07.1. Sociology of Science: What social configurations aid or prevent weapons? (191 Pages)

Further

12-Oct: 07.2. Sociology of Science: How did China succeed and Iraq fail? (78 Pages)

Fall Break: No Class

26-Oct: 09.1. Sensitive Nuclear Cooperation: Does it work? (116 Pages)

Further

26-Oct: 09.2. Civilian Nuclear Cooperation: Does it cause nuclear programs? (175 Pages)

Further

2-Nov: 10.1. Control: What attempts have been made to keep them from it? (125 Pages)

Further

2-Nov: 10.2. Control: What are we doing to stop others? Is that really a good idea? (119 Pages)

Further

9-Nov: 11.1. Weapons of Mass Destruction (194 Pages)

Further

14-Nov: 12.1. Safety: How safe are we or others in making the bomb? NOTE MONDAY CLASS (313 Pages)

Further

23-Nov: 13.1. No Class

30-Nov: 14.1. Terrorists: Should we worry about them? (193 Pages)

Further

7-Dec: 15.1. Conclusions: The Future of Nuclear Weapons (75 Pages)

7-Dec: 15.2. Conclusions: The Future of Nuclear Power (10 Pages)