| Unit name | Nuclear (In)security |
|---|---|
| Unit code | SPAIM0026 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Benoit Pelopidas |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
What did the invention of nuclear weapons change in international politics and what we can know about it? This course will introduce the main debates about nuclear weapons and their effects on international security and theory. Every session will be devoted to a crucial problem of the ‘nuclear age’ which is still relevant today. Is there a “nuclear revolution” and if so, what does it mean? How do nuclear weapons affect military strategy? How to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons? How can we explain the nuclear arms race that led to building almost 70 000 nuclear warheads by the mid-1980s? What is at stake in the debate about nuclear disarmament? Why have nuclear weapons not been used since 1945? What are the political implications of referring to “Weapons of Mass Destruction” (WMD)? These questions will be introduced through the study of specific historical events. For example, the Cuban Missile Crisis will be used to show the limits of safety of nuclear weapons due to misperceptions and organizational biases, the risk of accidental nuclear war and the limits and adverse effects of nuclear deterrence.
1. Understand the destructive power of nuclear weapons in a comparative perspective 2. Understand the historiographical debates about crucial events in the nuclear age, like the bombing of Hiroshima and the Cuban Missile Crisis. 3. Develop a critical understanding of the origins and political implications of the categories used to frame contemporary nuclear issues (proliferation, arms control, deterrence, disarmament, obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty) 4. Grasp the epistemological challenges and ethical dilemmas of the analyst who deals with highly secretive policy areas and develop strategy to confront them 5. Improve their methodological, speaking and writing skills
10x 1 hour lecture (to everybody on the unit) + 10x 1 hour seminar
Every session will start with a summary of the previous lecture and seminar by one student in 5 minutes (outcome learning 5) During the seminar section, students’ presentations will be designed as a debate. One or two students will present the readings for the week and assess their merits and limits in 15 minutes. 10 minutes will then be given to another student to add on to the presentation and challenge it. (outcome learning 4 and 5) plan and draft a 3,500 - 4,000-word assessed essay (100% summative assessment) (outcomes learning 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5).
Core readings are likely to include the following: William Walker, A Perpetual Menace. Nuclear Weapons and International Order, London: Routledge, 2011; Scott D. Sagan and Kenneth N. Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons. An Enduring Debate, New York: W.W. Norton, 2012; David Mutimer, The Weapon State. Proliferation and the Framing of Security, Lynne Rienner, 2000; Lawrence Wittner, Confronting the Bomb. A Short History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2009; Lynn Eden, The Whole World on Fire. Organizations, Knowledge and Nuclear Weapons Devastation. Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 2004; Carol Cohn, “Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals”, Signs 12:4, Summer 1987; Anne Harrington de Santana, “Nuclear Weapons as the Currency of Power: Deconstructing the Fetishism of Force,” Nonproliferation Review 16:3, November 2009; Benoît Pelopidas, “The Oracles of Proliferation. How Experts Maintain a Biased Historical Reading that Limits Policy Innovation”, Nonproliferation Review 18:1, 2011; Bruno Tertrais, “In Defense of Deterrence. The Relevance, Morality and Cost-Effectiveness of Nuclear Weapons”, Proliferation Papers n°39, Paris: Institut Français des Relations Internationales, Fall 2011; Ward Wilson, “The Winning Weapon? Rethinking Nuclear Weapons in Light of Hiroshima”, International Security 31:4, Spring 2007.
