PS 1581: Origins and Consequences of Nuclear Proliferation Capstone
William Spaniel
Spring 2018
Lecture: Thursdays, 11:00-1:30, Posvar 4625
Office Hours: Thursdays, 9:00-11:00, Posvar 4446
Email: williamspaniel@gmail.com
For more than 70 years, nuclear weapons have had a central role in international relations, beginning with Cold War diplomacy between the United States and Soviet Union to ongoing negotiations with Iran and North Korea today. This class investigates why states develop nuclear weapons and how nuclear weapons affect international politics following proliferation. We will use a seminar method, with students presenting existing research papers and others commenting and criticizing the work. The class culminates in students developing their own papers.
November 15: Bargaining
Debs and Monteiro/Spaniel, Coe/Spaniel
November 1: Preventive War
Fearon/Fuhrmann and Kreps, Bas and Coe/Chadefaux
October 25: Short Presentations
Slides
October 18: Nuclear Latency
Slides: Fuhrmann and Tkach/Smith and Spaniel, Spaniel/Mehta and Whitlark
October 11: Who Proliferates? Capacity
Slides: Fuhrmann/Kroenig, Spaniel, Miller
October 4: Who Proliferates? Economics and Regimes
Slides: Singh and Way/Way and Weeks, Jo and Gartzke/Miller
Here is an updated list of exploration, pursuit, and possession
September 27: Who Proliferates? Security and Alliances
Slides: Sagan/Debs and Monteiro, Bleek and Lorber/Fuhrmann and Sechser
September 20: Nuclear Skepticism
Slides: Sechser and Fuhrmann/Sagan, Bell and Miller/Mueller
September 13: Nuclear Coercion
Slides: Beardsley and Asal/Kroenig, Gartzke and Jo, Sagan
September 6: Introduction
Reading: Atomic Audit, Chapter 1
We will divide the semester’s readings in class as well.
August 30: No Class
We will not be meeting on August 30 due to the American Political Science Association’s annual conference. Our first class will be on September 6, when I will discuss some of the basics of nuclear weapons, go over class expectations, and assign reading presentations. You should spend the first week looking through the syllabus and deciding which weeks you would most want to present.
William Spaniel 