Weapons of Mass Destruction and International Security

Catalog description

Although no nuclear weapon has been used in war in 73 years, they are used every day to affect international security decisions. This course will explore how nuclear weapons revolutionized thinking about war and peace among major powers and how they can become a primary focus of international diplomacy. It will examine why WMD programs (perhaps incorrectly) have come to be seen as a potential cause of war in some contexts and as a primary deterrent to war in others. The course will provide students with the technical understanding of the major classes of WMD (nuclear, chemical and biological weapons) and their effects and it will examine the evolution of international security thinking about their role. It will look both at how major powers (the U.S., Russia and China) conceive of the role of WMD and also how other countries and sub-national groups might consider them. The course will look at how nuclear and biological weapons in particular are for the first time in a generation becoming of increasing concern to strategic thinkers. Finally it will look at the means the U.S., other major powers and the broader international community have developed to limit and perhaps someday to eliminate the threat WMD pose to international peace and perhaps to human existence.