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1 Syllabus (as of 01/10/19) Mondays and Wednesdays 10:40 to 12:10, location TBD WWS 548 Weapons of Mass Destruction and International Security Spring Semester, 2019 Christopher Chyba Professor of Astrophysics and International Affairs Director, Program on Science & Global Security Email: cchyba [at] Princeton.edu Office Hours: TBD Peyton 122 And by appointment! Adm. Assistant: Geralyn McDermott Email: geralyn [at] exchange.princeton.edu Phone: 609 258-4677 Office: 221 Nassau St., 2nd floor Course Description Examines the roles of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons in international security historically, at present, and in possible futures. The technical basis for these weapons will be presented at a level suitable for the non-scientist, and the challenges of state and non-state acquisition or development will be assessed. Topics to be examined include deterrence, defense, preventive war, arms control, nonproliferation, and terrorism. New technologies and their potential impacts will be highlighted. Grading and Course Requirements § Final paper (6,000 words for MPA/MPP students, 8,000 words for PhD students) = 50% of the grade. Due on the Dean’s date, May 14. § In-class oral presentation (topics to be suggested) = 20% of the grade § Class participation = 30% of the grade By April 5, please send me by email one or two paragraphs describing your proposal for your final paper. The proposal should identify the “puzzle” you are addressing and why2 this question is interesting. These proposals will not be graded, but they will guarantee that we iterate on the topic in a timely way. I welcome conversations and/or written proposals before this deadline if you are ready earlier to begin the conversation. PhD students taking the seminar have somewhat greater reading requirements: in addition to the standard syllabus, you should also read those additional readings marked by two asterisks: **. These readings usually emphasize theoretical or methodological issues beyond the primary readings, and are typically listed first among the “additional references” for any given week. Schedule of classes and topics § Week 1 (February 4 and February 6): Introduction and Nuclear Primer o Edward R. Tufte, The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint (Graphics Press LLC, Cheshire, Connecticut, 2003). [You must purchase this.] o W. Seth Carus, “Defining Weapons of Mass Destruction,” Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction, National Defense University, Occasional Paper 8, January 2012, pp. 3-36 & p. 50. Available at http://ndupress.ndu.edu/Portals/68/Documents/occasional/cswmd/CSWMD_OccationalPaper-8.pdf o Nuclear Proliferation Tutorial 2nd ed. (1992): Up through chapter 5. [These are unpublished notes that I will post under “course materials” on blackboard.] o Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb (Simon & Schuster, New York, 1986), pp. 575-580. o Steven E. Miller, “The Rise and Decline of Global Nuclear Order?” In Meeting the Challenges of the New Nuclear Age (American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2018). [This paper is not yet out, but should be published in January 2019, when it will be available via a link at https://www.amacad.org/project/meeting-challenges-new-nuclear-age . Once it is out, I will circulate the exact url.] Additional References: o **George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language,” in A Collection of Essays (Harvest: New York, 1981), pp. 156-171. o Kosta Tsipis, Arsenal: Understanding Weapons in the Nuclear Age (Simon & Schuster, 1983), pp. 13-28. o Dietrich Schroeer, Science, Technology, and the Nuclear Arms Race (Wiley, New York, 1984), pp. 7-49. [Note statement made on p. 9 that the 1943 Schweinfurt raid would be “now generally referred to as tactical bombing” does not correspond to standard usage for the terms “tactical” and “strategic.” On p. 31, line 12, there is a typo: “238U” should read “235U”.] o Harold A. Feiveson, Alexander Glaser, Zia Mian, and Frank N. von Hippel, Unmaking the Bomb (MIT Press, 2014), pp. 21-42; 185-188.3 o Robert Serber, The Los Alamos Primer (U. California Press, Berkeley, 1992). o John Coster-Mullen, Atom Bombs: The Top Secret Inside Story of Little Boy and Fat Man (2018), 435 pp. [This is a self-published book. I will make a copy available to whoever would like to peruse it.] o Bruce Cameron Reed, The History and Science of the Manhattan Project (Springer, Berlin, 2014), pp. 257-269; 281-285; 289-292; 299-319. o Christopher Chyba and Caroline Milne, “Simple Calculation of the Critical Mass for Highly Enriched Uranium and Plutonium-239,” American Journal of Physics, vol. 82, no. 10 (2014), pp. 977-979. o International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), “Global Fissile Material Report 2015,” http://fissilematerials.org/library/gfmr15.pdf Week 2 (February 11 and February 13): Nuclear weapons effects and nuclear proliferation o Office of the Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Matters, Nuclear Matters: A Practical Guide, Appendix B: The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, pp. 135-158. o Alan Robock and Owen Brian Toon, "Self-assured destruction: The climate impacts of nuclear war," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, September/October 2012; vol. 68, 5: pp. 66-74. o Nuclear Proliferation Tutorial 2nd ed. (1992), chapters 6-8. o Harold A. Feiveson, Alexander Glaser, Zia Mian, and Frank von Hippel, Unmaking the Bomb: A Fissile Material Approach to Nuclear Disarmament and Nonproliferation (MIT Press, 2014), pp. 87-105. o George Bunn, “The Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime and its History,” in George Bunn & Christopher Chyba, U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy (Brookings, Washington DC, 2006), pp. 75-94 o Office of the Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Matters, Nuclear Matters: A Practical Guide, Appendix D: Underground Nuclear Testing, pp. 175-181 o The text of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, available at http://www.un.org/disarmament/WMD/Nuclear/NPT.shtml o “The Additional Protocol” by Trevor Findlay, Arms Control Today, November 2007, http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2007_11/Lookingback.asp o One of the following two pieces: Scott Sagan, “Why Do States Build Nuclear Weapons? Three Models in Search of a Bomb,” International Security 21 (Winter 1996/97), pp. 54-86, or, if you have previously read this piece by Sagan, read instead: **Sagan, Scott D., The Causes of Nuclear


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