Course Description and Goals
Full course for one semester. This course investigates the politics of global risks—challenges, some created by humans and others by nature—that
have the potential to drastically alter human civilization, the planet, or life itself. Such “apocalyptic” risks include extreme climate change,
ecological catastrophes, global pandemics, nuclear war, artificial intelligence, and asteroid impacts. The course will analyze these nascent
Armageddons using a variety of theoretical perspectives including the precautionary principle, the social construction of risk, normal accidents
theory, and concepts of high-reliability operations. Prerequisites: junior standing and Political Science 240, or consent of the instructor.
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.
Beginning the third week of class, each student will be assigned to three days during the semester in which they will author a short reaction memo
(300-400 words) expressing an opinion about that day’s readings. These are NOT summaries; rather, they should attempt to agree or disagree with
or compare and contrast the readings. Both should be posted in the forums on the course website by 8 PM the day before the readings are to be
discussed. Students are required to read the memos and be prepared to respond to them the next day in class. Students are encouraged
to respond to the postings online as part of their participation. 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 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.
Readings
Readings for the course are primarily books and E-Readings, which can be downloaded directly from the links on Moodle. These are best used in
conjunction with Endnote or Zotero, both of which are supported by the library. Students are expected to bring a copy of the readings to class every
day for reference. 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.
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 to turn in an initial proposal and outline for your final paper, due October 16 at 11:59 PM.
The second is a lengthy (3750-5000 word) essay analyzing anything related to the course; it is due Monday, December 14 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://www.csub.edu/ssric-trd/howto/plagiarism.htm>. 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.
1-Sep: 01.1. Theories of International Politics and Zombies (166 Pages)
8-Sep: 02.1. Normal Accidents (411 Pages)
-
Charles
Perrow (1999)
Normal
Accidents:
Living
with
High-Risk
Technologies. New
York,
NY:
Basic
Books,
411,
ISBN
046505143X
15-Sep: 03.1. Mission Improbable (171 Pages)
-
Lee
Clarke (1999)
Mission
Improbable:
using
fantasy
documents
to
tame
disaster. Chicago,
IL:
University
of
Chicago
Press,
171,
ISBN
0226109410
15-Sep: 03.2. Worst Cases (185 Pages)
22-Sep: 04.1. Trapped in the Net (218 Pages)
-
Gene I.
Rochlin (1998)
Trapped
in
the
Net. Princeton,
NJ:
Princeton
University
Press,
218,
ISBN
0691002479
22-Sep: 04.2. High-Reliability Operations (171 Pages)
-
Karl E.
Weick (1987)
Organizational
Culture
As
a
Source
of
High-Reliability. California
Management
Review. 29(2)Winter,
112–127
-
Gene I.
Rochlin (1993)
Defining
”High
Reliability”
Organizations
in
Practice:
A
Taxonomic
Prologue. In
Karlene H.
Roberts,
editor
New
Challenges
to
Understanding
Organizations.
New
York,
NY:
Macmillan,
ISBN
0024020524. chapter 2,
11–32
-
Paul R.
Schulman (1993)
The
Negotiated
Order
of
Organizational
Reliability. Administration
and
Society. 25(3)November ,
353–372
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/009539979302500305>
-
Paul E.
Bierly,
III
and
J. C.
Spender (1995)
Culture
and
high
reliability
organizations. Journal
of
Management. 21(4),
639–656
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/014920639502100403>
-
Gene I.
Rochlin et al. (1996)
Berkeley
‘High-Reliability
Organizations’
Special
Issue. Journal
of
Contingencies
and
Crisis
Management. 4(2)June ,
55–112
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5973.1996.tb00077.x>,
ISSN
0966–0879,
1468–5973
-
Nick
Pidgeon (1997)
The
Limits
to
Safety?
Culture,
Politics,
Learning
and
Man-Made
Disasters. Journal
of
Contingencies
and
Crisis
Management. 5(1),
1–14
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.00032>,
ISSN
09660879
-
Paul
Schulman et al. (2004)
High
Reliability
and
the
Management
of
Critical
Infrastructures. Journal
of
Contingencies
and
Crisis
Management. 12(1),
14–28
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0966-0879.2004.01201003.x>,
ISSN
1468–5973
-
Paul R.
Schulman
and
Emery
Roe (2007)
Designing
Infrastructures:
Dilemmas
of
Design
and
the
Reliability
of
Critical
Infrastructures. Journal
of
Contingencies
and
Crisis
Management. 15(1),
42–49
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5973.2007.00503.x>,
ISSN
1468–5973
Further
-
Mathilde
Bourrier (1996)
Organizing
Maintenance
Work
at
Two
American
Nuclear
Power
Plants. Journal
of
Contingencies
and
Crisis
Management. 4(2)June ,
104–112
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5973.1996.tb00082.x>,
ISSN
1468–5973
-
Chris C.
Demchak (1996)
Tailored
Precision
Armies
in
Fully
Networked
Battlespace:
High
Reliability
Organizational
Dilemmas
in
the
‘Information
Age’. Journal
of
Contingencies
and
Crisis
Management. 4(2)June,
93–103
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5973.1996.tb00081.x>,
ISSN
1468–5973
-
Todd R.
La Porte (1996)
High
Reliability
Organizations:
Unlikely,
Demanding
and
at
Risk. Journal
of
Contingencies
&
Crisis
Management. 4(2)June,
60–71
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5973.1996.tb00078.x>,
ISSN
09660879
-
Todd R.
La Porte
and
Paula M.
Consolini (1991)
Working
in
Practice
but
Not
in
Theory:
Theoretical
Challenges
of
”High-Reliability
Organizations”. Journal
of
Public
Administration
Research
and
Theory. 1(1)January,
19–48
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/1181764>
-
Thomas
Mannarelli,
Karlene H.
Roberts,
and
Robert G.
Bea (1996)
Learning
How
Organizations
Mitigate
Risk. Journal
of
Contingencies
and
Crisis
Management. 4(2)June,
83–92
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5973.1996.tb00080.x>,
ISSN
1468–5973
-
Gene I.
Rochlin (1996)
Reliable
Organizations:
Present
Research
and
Future
Directions. Journal
of
Contingencies
and
Crisis
Management. 4(2)June ,
55–59
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5973.1996.tb00077.x>,
ISSN
0966–0879,
1468–5973
-
Gene I.
Rochlin (1999)
Safe
operation
as
a
social
construct. Ergonomics. 42(11)November,
1549–1560
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/001401399184884>
-
Paul R.
Schulman (1996)
Heroes,
Organizations,
and
High
Reliability. Journal
of
Contingencies
and
Crisis
Management. 4(2)June,
72–82
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5973.1996.tb00079.x>
29-Sep: 05.1. Autonomous Weapons (138 Pages)
-
Ronald C.
Arkin (2010)
The
Case
for
Ethical
Autonomy
in
Unmanned
Systems. Journal
of
Military
Ethics. 9(4)December ,
332–341
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15027570.2010.536402>,
ISSN
1502–7570,
1502–7589
-
Ian
Kerr
and
Katie
Szilagyi (2012)
Asleep
at
the
Switch. How
Lethal
Autonomous
Robots
Become
a
Force
Multiplier
of
Military
Necessity.
Miami:
University
of
Miami
School
of
Law. ,
39
-
Kenneth
Anderson
and
Matthew C.
Waxman (2013)
Law
and
Ethics
for
Autonomous
Weapon
Systems:
Why
a
Ban
Won’t
Work
and
How
the
Laws
of
War
Can. Rochester,
NY:
Social
Science
Research
Network
SSRN
Scholarly
Paper
ID
2250126,
33
pages
<http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2250126> –
visited
on
2015-08-24
-
Heather M.
Roff (2014)
The
Strategic
Robot
Problem:
Lethal
Autonomous
Weapons
in
War. Journal
of
Military
Ethics. 13(3),
211–227
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15027570.2014.975010>,
ISSN
1502–7570
-
Michael
Horowitz
and
Paul
Scharre (2015)
An
Introduction
to
Autonomy
in
Weapon
Systems. February 13
<http://www.cnas.org/intro-to-autonomy-in-weapon-systems> –
visited
on
2015-08-24
-
Heather M.
Roff (2015)
Autonomous
or
‘Semi’
Autonomous
Weapons?
A
Distinction
Without
Difference. January
16
Huffington
Post
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/heather-roff/autonomous-or-semi-autono˙b˙6487268.html> –
visited
on
2015-08-25
-
Heather M.
Roff (2015)
The
International-Relations
Argument
Against
Killer
Robots. August
19
Defense
One
<http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2015/08/international-relations-argument-against-killer-robots/119275/> –
visited
on
2015-08-25
-
Heather M.
Roff (2015)
Lethal
Autonomous
Weapons
and
Jus
Ad
Bellum
Proportionality. Case
Western
Reserve
Journal
of
International
Law. 47(1)April ,
37–52
<http://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil/vol47/iss1/7>,
ISSN
0008–7254
29-Sep: 05.2. Cyber War (139 Pages)
-
Dana A.
Shea (2004)
Critical
Infrastructure:
Control
Systems
and
the
Terrorist
Threat. Congressional
Research
Service
CRS
Report
RL31534,
23
pages
-
Kamal T.
Jabbour
and
E. Paul
Ratazzi (2013)
Deterrence
in
Cyberspace. In
Adam
Lowther,
editor
Thinking
about
Deterrence:
Enduring
Questions
in
a
Time
of
Rising
Powers,
Rogue
Regimes,
and
Terrorism.
Maxwell
Air
Force
Base,
AL:
Air
University
Press,
ISBN
9781585662272. chapter 3,
37–47
-
Richard
Danzig (2014)
Surviving
on
a
Diet
of
Poisoned
Fruit:
Reducing
the
National
Security
Risks
of
America’s
Cyber
Dependencies. July
Center
for
a
New
American
Security
<http://www.cnas.org/surviving-diet-poisoned-fruit> –
visited
on
2014-08-11
-
Peter W.
Singer
and
Allan
Friedman (2014)
Cult
of
the
Cyber
Offensive. Foreign
Policy.January
15,
11
<https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/01/15/cult-of-the-cyber-offensive/> –
visited
on
2015-07-24
-
Heather M.
Roff (2015)
It’s
the
Biggest
National
Threat
and
We
Can’t
Help
You. April
27
Duck
of
Minerva
<http://duckofminerva.com/2015/04/its-the-biggest-national-threat-and-we-cant-help-you.html> –
visited
on
2015-08-30
-
Heather M.
Roff (2015)
Deterrence
in
Cyberspace
and
the
OPM
Hack. June
24
Duck
of
Minerva
<http://duckofminerva.com/2015/06/deterrence-in-cyberspace-and-the-opm-hack.html> –
visited
on
2015-08-30
-
U.S.
Department
of
Defense (2015)
The
(DOD)
Cyber
Strategy. April
DoD
Website
<http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2015/0415˙cyber-strategy/> –
visited
on
2015-05-13
-
James A.
Winnefeld Jr.,
Christopher
Kirchhoff,
and
David M.
Upton (2015)
Cybersecurity’s
Human
Factor:
Lessons
from
the
Pentagon. Harvard
Business
Review.August
13,
18
<https://hbr.org/2015/09/cybersecuritys-human-factor-lessons-from-the-pentagon> –
visited
on
2015-08-13
Further
6-Oct: 06.1. Nuclear Weapons (363 Pages)
-
Richard
Pipes (1977)
Why
the
Soviet-Union
Thinks
It
Could
Fight
and
Win
a
Nuclear
War. Commentary. 64,
21–34
-
Lee
Clarke (1993)
Drs.
Pangloss
and
Strangelove
Meet
Organizational
Theory:
High
Reliability
Organizations
and
Nuclear
Weapons
Accidents. Sociological
Forum. 8(4)December,
675–689
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01115218>,
ISSN
08848971
-
Scott D.
Sagan (1993)
The
Limits
of
Safety:
Organizations,
Accidents,
and
Nuclear
Weapons. Princeton,
NJ:
Princeton
University
Press
<http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/27429286>,
279,
ISBN
0691021015
-
Todd R.
La Porte et al. (1994)
Systems,
Organizations
and
the
Limits
of
Safety:
a
Symposium. Journal
of
Contingencies
and
Crisis
Management. 2(4)December,
205–240
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5973.1994.tb00044.x>
-
Alex
Wellerstein (2012)
In
Search
of
a
Bigger
Boom. September
12
Restricted
Data:
The
Nuclear
Secrecy
Blog
<http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2012/09/12/in-search-of-a-bigger-boom/> –
visited
on
2015-08-13
13-Oct: 07.1. Biological Weapons (326 Pages)
Further
-
Jeanne
Guillemin (2005)
Biological
Weapons:
From
the
Invention
of
State-Sponsored
Programs
to
Contemporary
Bioterrorism. New
York:
Columbia
University
Press,
205,
ISBN
0231129424
9780231129428
0231509170
9780231509176
0231129432
9780231129435
13-Oct: 07.2. and Zombies (63 Pages)
-
Commander,
United
States
Central
Command (2009)
Zombie
Attack
Response
Plan. United
States
Central
Command
Headquarters
OPLAN
1210.1-09
Annex
Z,
7
pages
-
Commander,
United
States
Strategic
Command (2011)
Counter-Zombie
Dominance. United
States
Strategic
Command
Headquarters
CONPLAN
8888-11,
31
pages
-
Daniel W.
Drezner (2014)
Metaphor
of
the
Living
Dead:
Or,
the
Effect
of
the
Zombie
Apocalypse
on
Public
Policy
Discourse. Social
Research:
An
International
Quarterly. 81(4)Winter,
825–849
<https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/social˙research/v081/81.4.drezner.html> –
visited
on
2015-02-13,
ISSN
1944–768X
20-Oct: 08.1. Fall break: No Class
27-Oct: 09.1. Collapse (525 Pages)
3-Nov: 10.1. Plan B 4.0 (268 Pages)
10-Nov: 11.1. Next Catastrophe (325 Pages)
-
Charles
Perrow (2007)
The
Next
Catastrophe:
Reducing
Our
Vulnerabilities
to
Natural,
Industrial,
and
Terrorist
Disasters. Princeton,
NJ:
Princeton
University
Press
<http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/76820658>,
325,
ISBN
0691129975
17-Nov: 12.1. Deus Ex Machina (552 Pages)
24-Nov: 13.1. Contagion (60 Pages)
-
Edwin Dennis
Kilbourne (2011)
Plagues
and
Pandemics:
Past,
Present,
and
Future. In
Bostrom
and
Ćirković
Global
Catastrophic
Risks. chapter 14,
287–307
-
Ali
Nouri
and
Christopher F.
Chyba (2011)
Biotechnology
and
Biosecurity. In
Bostrom
and
Ćirković
Global
Catastrophic
Risks. chapter 20,
450–480
-
Martina
Morris
and
Mirjam
Kretzschmar (1997)
Concurrent
Partnerships
and
the
Spread
of
HIV. AIDS. 11(5),
641–648
1-Dec: 14.1. States of Exception (96 Pages)
-
Carl
Schmitt (2005)
Chap. 1-2
in
Political
Theology:
Four
Chapters
on
the
Concept
of
Sovereignty. Chicago:
University
of
Chicago
Press,
1–35,
ISBN
9780226738895
-
Carl
Schmitt (2008)
The
Concept
of
the
Political:
Expanded
Edition. University
of
Chicago
Press,
19–79
12/6/2015, 12–3:00 PM: 15.1. War, Aliens, and Society (286 Pages)
-
Robert A
Heinlein (1987)
Starship
Troopers. New
York:
Ace
Books
<http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/44125626>,
263,
ISBN
9780441783588
-
Charles
Tilly (1999)
War
Making
and
State
Making
as
Organized
Crime. In
Theda
Skocpol,
Peter
Evans
and
Dietrich
Rueschemeyer,
editors
Bringing
the
State
Back
in.
Cambridge. chapter 5,
169–191