Academics

345 Topics in International Relations: Arms Proliferation and Control
This course introduces students to the main arguments and concepts in international relations regarding the proliferation and control of weapons of mass destruction. It studies the theory of arms proliferation and control, focusing on why states want these weapons, why they have sought to regulate them, and how proliferation affects international security. It also surveys recent case studies of arms proliferation and control, including the U.S.-Russian nuclear deterrence regime and new challenges to it, nuclear proliferation in South Asia, Northeast Asia, and the Middle East, and recent developments in the area of biological and chemical weapons.

348 International Organization & Law
(Cross-listed as Politics 348.)

480 Senior Seminar: America and the Twenty-First-Century World
What are America’s core national interests? What are the principal threats to these interests? What role should America play in the world? These questions of grand strategy have taken on new importance in recent years. During the Cold War, the United States pursued a strategy of containment, which sought to limit the power and influence of the Soviet Union. While containment may have hastened the demise of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War also put an end to containment as a viable grand strategy. As a result, since the early 1990s policy makers and policy analysts have sought to reorient grand strategy in ways that reflect the fundamental changes underway in the international system. Particular attention is given to the similarities and differences in the grand strategies of the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, which address issues such as international institutions, the use of force and military spending, democracy promotion, the world economy, and the global environment. (Cross-listed as American Studies 479.)