4.0

Average Course Rating

The course is structured around the background, theory, and application of nuclear politics and history in East Asia. In the first portion of the course students learn about the development of nuclear weapons programs during the Second World War and the Cold War and the differences in proliferation and non-proliferation strategies among early proliferators (e.g. the United States and the Soviet Union). During this portion of the course, students will examine important incidents and policy decisions that shaped nuclear proliferation in world politics. In the second portion of the course, students will learn broader theoretical concepts in International Relations scholarship such as brinkmanship diplomacy, deterrence theory, and alliance security dilemma, and apply them to the study of cases of proliferation, attempted proliferation, and nuclear latency in East Asian countries, including China, South Korea, North Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia in order to understand the variance in nuclear exploration, pursuit, and acquisition. The course draws upon canonical texts in the nuclear politics and history literature, and also incorporates recent policy analysis. This course relies on declassified archival documents to illustrate the history and theories addressed in the class, thus fostering a breadth of knowledge on different nuclear weapons cases. While we analyze these cases, I encourage students to engage with primary source documents as well as to think critically and evaluate the arguments put forward by historians and political scientists on nuclear proliferation and non-proliferation.