Syllabus
COURSE SCHEDULE
Week 1 (Feb 19): Introduction: The Problem of Nuclear Proliferation in World Politics
Week 2 (Feb 26): Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Birth of Nuclear Order
Week 3 (Mar 4): Banning the Bomb: Politics of Nuclear Disarmament
Week 4 (Mar 11): The War in Ukraine and Global Nuclear Order /guest lecture by Dr. Stephen Herzog/
Week 5 (Mar 18): Why Do States Build Nuclear Weapons? Causes of Nuclear Proliferation
Week 6 (Mar 25): Nuclear Taboo or the Tradition of Non-Use?
Week 7 (Apr 1): No class (Easter Monday)
Week 8 (Apr 8): Curbing the Arms Race: The Practice of Nuclear Arms Control
Week 9 (Apr 15): Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Advocacy /guest lecture by Alyn Ware/
Week 10 (Apr 22): Technology of Nuclear (Non-)Proliferation /special field trip – a visit to a nuclear reactor; approx. 08:30–13:00/
Week 11 (Apr 29): Monitoring and Verifying Nuclear Non-Proliferation /guest lecture by Tariq Rauf/
Week 12 (May 6): Simulation Exercise I
Week 13 (May 13): Simulation Exercise II
Week 14 (May 20): Simulation Exercise III
Simulation assignments 1
No assignment till next session when delegations are assigned 2
Write a memo (400 words)) to your foreign minister explaining how the latest NPT PrepCom meeting (2023) handled the issue of “nuclear risk reduction,” and indicate whether the outcomes from the meeting your country’s national security 3
Write a memo to your foreign minister providing an honest critique (400 words) of your country’s position during the TPNW negotiations 4
Write a memo to your foreign minister (400 words) providing your analysis on how the war in Ukraine is impacting the nuclear nonproliferation regime. For instance, does it reduce or increase the risk of nuclear war? Does it have any impact on international norms or safeguards applications? 5
Write a memo (400 words) to your foreign minister explaining whether “nuclear risk reduction” would help reduce the likelihood of more countries acquiring nuclear weapons according to the existing expert literature on the topic. You can choose one theoretical work to base your analysis (such as Scott Sagan’s) 6
Write brief remarks (400 words) for your ambassador to deliver at an academic/NGO workshop on the nuclear taboo 7
Write a memo (400 words) to your foreign minister explaining the relationship between arms control and “nuclear risk reduction” 8
Write a memo (400 words) to your foreign minister identifying the most alarming emerging technology that would negatively affect your countries national security from a (non)-proliferation angle (provide explanation) 9
Choose one civil society organization that could be your ally during “nuclear risk reduction” negotiations. Provide reasons on why they would make a good ally and how you plan to operationalize a potential partnership (400 words). 10
Submit your country’s position for the negotiations (400 words). In this memo, you should explain your 1) Priorities 2) Secondary objectives 3) Redlines, and 4) Diplomatic strategy (negotiation tactics) 11
Opening statements and negotiations commence 12
Negotiations on text 13
Negotiations conclusion and closing statements
Annotation
• B.A. course about the role of nuclear weapons in international politics
• provides you with a basic introduction to the scholarship investigating the impact of nuclear weapons on international affairs
• is recommended for active students who enjoy interactive teaching methods, lively debates, and scholarly puzzles
• the course is quite challenging and requires intensive weekly work on assignments
• an integral part of the course is a simulation game taking place during the last three sessions of the semester
As you are becoming experts in the field of international studies, you simply cannot avoid the issue of nuclear weapons in the world politics of the 20th and 21st centuries. Whether you think that nuclear weapons represent the ultimate evil or they are the guardians of a long great-power peace, the spread of nuclear weapons is frequently placed among the top international security threats humanity is facing today. In this course, we will discuss the contemporary discords in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty regime; unpack new disarmament initiatives; elaborate on the current problems with nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea; assess the risk of nuclear weapon use in the Russo-Ukrainian war; and try to solve the big puzzles that keep nuclear scholars awake at nights – such as why countries develop nuclear weapons in the first place, what are the consequences of nuclear weapons spread, and why they have not been used in a military conflict since the Second World War.