Nuclear History, Strategy and Statecraft
Mondays 2-5 p.m.
Francis J. Gavin
Phone: 471-5249
Faculty Assistant: Kristyn Olin
Office:
SRH 3:370
Office Hours: by appointment
______________________________
What role do nuclear weapons play in contemporary world politics, and what
policies should the U.S. adopt to meet the dangers posed by these weapons? On
April 5th, 2009, President Barak Obama laid out a bold vision that appeared to be a
sharp break with America’s past nuclear policies. “So today, I state clearly and with
conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without
nuclear weapons.” This was not mere rhetoric; the administration has moved
vigorously with a number of policies, including a START agreement with Russia, a
revised nuclear posture de-emphasizing nuclear weapons, and a range of
nonproliferation initiatives oriented towards some day achieving what has been
called “global zero.” This shift is all the more remarkable given than only a few years
ago, complete nuclear disarmament was not part of the mainstream dialogue and
was instead a fringe position.
The renewed interest in nuclear policy is mirrored by a renaissance in the study of
nuclear weapons and international relations within scholarly circles. Numerous
studies have appeared on important nuclear topics, including the sources and
possible limits to nuclear proliferation, nuclear terrorism, and tipping points; the
role of nuclear weapons in enhancing or reducing the prospects for international
stability; and the role arms control and disarmament play. to name just a few
During this course, we will read some of the best new historical, theoretical, and
policy work on these questions, as well as analyze several of the classics in the field,
all with an eye towards assessing the important contemporary and future policy
questions surrounding nuclear weapons and international relations.
This course will also explore how the past can be used to inform the present and the
future. The issues of nuclear strategy and statecraft are not new, of course: these
questions have been with us since the United States dropped atomic weapons on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What, if anything, can we learn from how the United
States wrestled with the dilemmas presented by these fearsome weapons in the
past, particularly during the Cold War? Or have the dynamics of nuclear politics and
policies been transformed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorists attacks against the
United States and the emergence of rogue states? Has globalization rendered past
policies, such as “deterrence” and “containment”, obsolete? This course will blend
the best of historical analysis, theoretical insight, and understanding policy to
explore the pressing challenges that nuclear weapons present both the United States
and the international community.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
-
ATTENDANCE, PARTICIPATION and SUMMARY PAPERS – 50%
A key part of your grade is classroom participation and demonstrated
knowledge of the material. You are required to attend and participate in
every class. In addition, for each reading a student will prepare a brief (2
page) summary of the reading and generate questions for discussion. The
student will be responsible for distributing the summary and questions at
least 24 hours before the class meeting.
-
RESEARCH PROJECT – 50%
5-7 Page Proposal (due October 3rd)
First Draft Research Paper, distributed to class (each student is required to
produce comments for each other) (due November 21st)
Final Draft (30-35 pages) due December 12th
The research paper will require using primary documents to explain some aspect of
nuclear statecraft and/or strategy during the Presidency of Richard Nixon. This
presidency witnessed extraordinary events in nuclear strategy, nonproliferation,
and arms control. Fortunately, we now have access to many previously classified
primary documents to help us understand how these policies were developed. Do
the documents confirm or undermine our understanding – both theoretical and
historical – of nuclear statecraft?
Details will be provided later in the semester, but the basic idea is that each student
will identify an important area of nuclear statecraft and strategy during the Nixon
period and, using the documents from a volume of the Foreign Relations of United
States series hyperlinked below, assess how the documentary record holds up
against the received wisdom of nuclear scholarship.
Foreign Relations Of The United States, 1969–1976, Volume Xxxii, Salt I,
1969–1972 Http://History.State.Gov/Historicaldocuments/Frus1969-76v32
Foreign Relations Of The United States, 1969–1976, Volume E–2, Documents
On Arms Control And Nonproliferation, 1969–1972
http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76ve02
1969–1976, Volume XXXIV, National Security Policy, 1969–1972
http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/status-of-the-series
Foreign Relations Of The United States, 1969–1976, Volume Xl, Germany And
Berlin, 1969–1972
http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v40
SCHEDULE AND ASSIGNED READINGS
August 29th
Introduction
Joseph Cirincione, Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons
Video, Hans Blix, Chairman, Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission
http://globalstrategy.columbia.edu/2010-lecture-series/
Suggested
Stephen M. Younger, The Bomb: A New History
September 12th
The Origins of the Atomic Age
McGeorge Bundy, Danger and Survival: Choices about the Bomb in the First Fifty
Years, pp. 3-129
Shane J. Maddock, Nuclear Apartheid: The Quest for American Atomic Supremacy
from World War II to the Present, pp. ix-46
Video, Philip Zelikow, White Burkett Miller Professor of History, University of
Virginia http://globalstrategy.columbia.edu/2010-lecture-series/
Suggested
Andrew Rotter, Hiroshima: The World’s Bomb
September 19th
Early Efforts at International Control and Disarmament
Bundy, pp. 130-196
Maddock, pp. 47-80
Susanna Schrafstetter and Stephen Twigge, Avoiding Armageddon: Europe, the
United States, and the Struggle for Nuclear Nonproliferation, 1945-1970, pp. 17-46
September 26th
Research Paper Proposal Discussion
Making Sense of the Nuclear Age,” Marc Trachtenberg, from History and
Strategy
Writing for International Security: A Contributor’s Guide
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/BSCIA/Library.nsf/wwwdocsname/ISWriteForIS
http://www.polisci.ucla.edu/faculty/trachtenberg/guide/carley.html
Marc Trachtenberg website, Doing Cold War History: A Practical Guide
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/trachtenberg/guide/guidehome.html
Francis J. Gavin, “Nuclear Nixon: Ironies, Puzzles, and the Triumph of
Realpolitik,”pp. 126-145 in The Foreign Policy of the Nixon Administration,
eds., Fred Logevall and Andrew Preston, Oxford University Press, 2008
Peruse the following online volumes
Foreign Relations Of The United States, 1969–1976, Volume Xxxii, Salt I,
1969–1972, http://History.State.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v32
Foreign Relations Of The United States, 1969–1976, Volume E–2, Documents
On Arms Control And Nonproliferation, 1969–1972
http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76ve02
1969–1976, Volume XXXIV, National Security Policy, 1969–1972
http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/status-of-the-series
Foreign Relations Of The United States, 1969–1976, Volume Xl, Germany And
Berlin, 1969–1972
http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v40
October 3rd
Nuclear Weapons in Asia and Europe During the Cold War
Matthew Jones, After Hiroshima: The United States, Race, and Nuclear Weapons in
Asia, 1945-1965, introduction, pp. 289-464
Susanna Schrafstetter and Stephen Twigge, introduction, pp. 133-220
Maddock, pp. 115-300
October 10th
The Intellectual History of Nuclear Strategy, Part 1
Thomas Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, pp. 1-80, 187-254
Marc Trachenberg, preface and “Strategic Thought in America, 1952-1966,” in
History and Strategy, pp. vii-46
Marc Trachtenberg, "The Past and Future of Arms Control," Daedalus (Winter 1991),
reprinted in Emanuel Adler, ed., The International Practice of Arms Control
http://www.history.upenn.edu/trachtenberg/DAEDALUS.CV.rtf
Suggested Readings
Fred Kaplan, The Wizards of Armageddon
Richard Rhodes, Arsenals of Folly: The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race
October 17th
The Intellectual History of Nuclear Strategy, Part 2
Bruce Kukclick, Blind Oracles: Intellectuals and War from Kennan to Kissinger, pp. 116, 37-71, 95-151
Campbell Craig, Total War in the Realism of Niebuhr, Morgenthau, and Waltz,
preface, pp. 1-31, 117-174
Commentary by Robert Jervis, Columbia University
http://www.h-net.org/~diplo/roundtables/PDF/Jervis-KuklickRoundtable.pdf
Suggested Reading
Paul Boyer, By the Bomb’s Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of
the Atomic Age
October 24th
The Influence of Nuclear Weapons on World Politics
Robert Jervis, The Meaning of the Nuclear Revolution: Statecraft and the Prospect of
Armageddon, preface, pp. 1-106, 226-258
Nina Tannenwald
”Stigmatizing the Bomb: Origins of the Nuclear
Taboo,”
International Security - Volume 29, Number 4, Spring 2005, pp. 5-49
October 31st
Deterrence and Strategy
Lawrence Freedman, Deterrence, pp. 1-59, 75-115
T.V. Paul, Patrick M. Morgan, and James J. Wirtz, Complex Deterrence: Strategy in the
Global Age, pp. 1-57, 133-182, 204-221, 259-303, 321-333
Francis J. Gavin, “The Myth of Flexible Response: America’s Strategy in Europe
during the 1960s,” The International History Review, Vol. 23, No. 4, Dec., 2001
Suggested Reading
Scott Sagan, Nuclear Strategy and National Security
November 7th
Nuclear Crises and Brinkmanship
Richard Betts, Nuclear Blackmail and Nuclear Balance, pp. 1-21, 82-122, 132-235.
Marc Trachtenberg, “The Berlin Crisis,” and “The Influence of Nuclear Weapons in
the Cuban Missile Crisis,” in History and Strategy, pp. 169-260
Suggested Readings
Michael Dobbs, One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the
Brink of Nuclear War
Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali, Khrushchev’s Cold War The Inside Story of
an American Adversary
November 14th
Nuclear Strategy Today
Keir Lieber and Daryl Press, “The End of MAD? The Nuclear Dimension of U.S.
Primacy
International Security - Volume 30, Number 4, Spring 2006, pp. 7-44
Taylor Fravel and Evan S. Medeiros, “China's Search for Assured Retaliation:
Explaining the Evolution of China's Nuclear Strategy," International Security, Vol. 35,
No. 2 (Fall 2010)
Vipin Narang, “Posturing for Peace?: Pakistan's Nuclear Postures and South Asian
Stability,” International Security, Volume 34, Number 3, Winter 2009/10, pp. 38-78
November 21st
Nuclear Proliferation and Nonproliferation, part I
Scott D. Sagan and Kenneth N. Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate
Renewed
Marc Trachtenberg, Scott Sagan and Kenneth Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons:
A Debate Renewed, in The National Interest, Fall 2002 --(Word version--as originally
submitted except for some minor corrections, and with footnotes),
http://www.polisci.ucla.edu/faculty/trachtenberg/cv/cv.html
Scott D. Sagan and Kenneth N. Waltz The Great Debate: Is Nuclear Zero the Best
Option? Sagan Says Yes, Waltz says No
http://nationalinterest.org/greatdebate/yes-3950
http://nationalinterest.org/greatdebate/no-3951
http://nationalinterest.org/greatdebate/sagan-responds-3952
http://nationalinterest.org/greatdebate/waltz-responds-3953
Preface, Michael E. Brown, Owen R. Coté Jr., Sean M. Lynn-Jones and Steven E. Miller,
Nuclear Proliferation and International Security in the 21st Century,
http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/chapters/026252466Xpref2.pdf
Suggested Readings
Nathan E. Busch, No End in Sight: The Continuing Menace of Nuclear Proliferation
Zachary Davis, The Proliferation Puzzle: Why Nuclear Weapons Spread and What
Results
November 28th
Nuclear Proliferation and Nonproliferation, part II
John Mueller, Atomic Obsession: Nuclear Alarmism from Hiroshima to Al Qaeda,
preface, pp. 29-54, 73-234
Mathew Kroenig, Exporting the Bomb: Technology Transfer and the Spread of Nuclear
Weapons, pp. 1-49, 111-190
Robert Gallucci, President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
http://globalstrategy.columbia.edu/2010-lecture-series/
Suggested Readings
Victor Utgoff, The Coming Crisis: Nuclear Proliferation, U.S. Interests, and World Order
December 12th
RESEARCH PAPER DUE!