Home › Classroom › Bulletin Board › Arms Control and International Security: Professor Dan Caldwell

Arms Control and International Security: Professor Dan Caldwell

September 2, 2006
Login or Register to leave a comment.

PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY

Political Science 548 Professor Caldwell
Arms Control and International Security Fall Semester 2006
Course Description:

This course is an upper-division (junior and senior) seminar designed to introduce students to the major issues of contemporary arms control and international security. A basic understanding of international relations and American foreign policy is required prior to enrolling in this course; therefore, students in this course should have completed POSC 344 (Introduction to International Relations) and/or POSC 542 (American Foreign Policy).

The class will be conducted as a seminar and discussion of the assigned readings will be emphasized. Therefore, students must come to class having completed the assigned readings.

We will review the development of international security since the end of World War II. We will then consider both traditional and newer ways of thinking about contemporary international security. We will examine the threat of nuclear and conventional weapons proliferation, the threat of terrorism and homeland security.

The attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, radically changed the way in which Americans perceive their security; no longer is the United States viewed as isolated from direct threats. The U.S. is, in fact, in great danger. We will examine the effects of 9/11 and the on-going issues related to both the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq. In addition, we will consider the threats emanating from Iran, North Korea and the Middle East.

In the last part of the course, students will present the results of their individual research on a topic related to the course.

Course Instructor and Office Hours:

The course instructor is Professor Dan Caldwell. His office is located in Appleby Center 221 and his office hours are: Tuesday, Friday 10:30-11:30, Wednesday 1:00-2:00 and by appointment (call 310/506-4573 or email at dan.caldwell@pepperdine.edu).

You are encouraged to stop by during office hours to talk about any questions you have about the course, internships, graduate school or about careers related to political science or international affairs. In this regard, several publications that might be helpful to you are: Careers and the Study of Political Science: A Guide for Undergraduates (American Political Science Association) and "Careers, Internships and Graduate Education in International Studies" by Roy Licklider and Dan Caldwell.

Required Books:
  • Lisa A. Baglione, Writing a Research Paper in Political Science, Thomson Wadsworth, 2007.
  • Michael A. Levi and Michael O'Hanlon, The Future of Arms Control, Brookings Institution Press, 2005.
  • Patrick M. Morgan, International Security: Problems and Solutions, Congressional Quarterly Press, 2006.
  • George Packer, Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.
Course Requirements:

To successfully complete this course, each student will be required to:

  1. Attend class on a regular basis; to arrive on time promptly at 2 pm for class; to participate in class discussions; and to complete all assigned reading prior to coming to class.
  2. Write three brief book reviews from six to seven pages long.
  3. Write a twenty-page research paper on a topic of interest to you, concerning arms control and international security and approved by Professor Caldwell.
  4. Present the results of your research to the class.
  5. Final course grades will be based on the following criteria:
Review of Morgan 20
Review of Levi and O'Hanlon 15
Review of Packer 15
Research Paper 40
Graded paper outline 5
Class participation and paper presentation 5
Students with Disabilities:

Any student with a documented disability (physical, learning, or psychological) needing academic accommodations should contact the Disability Services Office (Main Campus, Tyler Campus Center 264, extension 6500) as early in the semester as possible. All discussions will remain confidential. For additional information, please visit: http://www.pepperdine.edu/disabilityservices/.

My Approach to this Class

A college education should help students to learn to read, write and think carefully, clearly and critically. I have designed this course to help you achieve those objectives; however, you will only achieve them--and therefore maximize the value of this course to you--if you complete the assigned work prior to each class meeting.

This is an upper-division-level seminar. Students will read and discuss the material rather than simply listening to lectures and being tested on the content of the course. Therefore, it is vital that you not only read the material prior to class, but also think about it.

The fundamental purpose of those in colleges and universities, as it has been for centuries, is to seek truth. This semester, we are trying to figure out what factors contribute to greater national and international security; this is an important task at any time and particularly so in our own time.

Anyone who plagiarizes is violating the search for truth and has in my view committed the academic equivalent of a felony. I will seek to punish any violations of the Seaver College Honor Code to the maximum extent possible. If there is any question about what constitutes plagiarism, please check with me.

Daily Topics and Reading Assignments

Aug. 30: Introduction to the Course and the Problem of Security

The greatest threats today: Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and the Middle East

What are national security, international security and human security?

The use of force in international relations

Recommended readings:
  • Dan Caldwell and Robert E. Williams, Jr., Seeking Security in an Insecure World, 2006.
  • Gary Hart, The Shield and the Cloak: The Security of the Commons, 2006.
  • Edward Kolodziej, Security and International Relations, 2005.

Sept. 6: The Meaning of Security

Required readings:
  • Patrick Morgan, International Security, pp. 1-108
  • Lisa Baglione, Writing a Research Paper, pp. 1-58

Topics: Definitions of security, the security dilemma, strategy, deterrence, arms control; Metaphors for writing a paper, models, hypotheses, posing a research question, the literature review.

Recommended readings:
  • Bernard Brodie, The Absolute Weapon, 1946.
  • McGeorge Bundy, Danger and Survival, 1988.
  • Lawrence Freedman, The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, 3rd ed., 2004.
  • John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of American National Security Policy during the Cold War, rev. ed., 2005.
  • Alexander L. George and Richard Smoke, Deterrence in American Foreign Policy, 1974.
  • Robert Jervis, "Cooperation under the Security Dilemma," World Politics (January 1978).
  • George Kennan ("X"), "The Sources of Soviet Conduct," Foreign Affairs 25 (1947): 566-582.
  • Patrick Morgan, Deterrence Now, 2003.
  • Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, 1995.
  • Thomas Schelling and Morton Halperin, Strategy and Arms Control, 1961.

Sept. 13: Concerts, Collective Security and Mediation

Required readings:
  • Morgan, International Security, pp. 109-208;
  • Baglione, Writing a Research Paper, 59-117.

Topics: The Concert of Europe, attempts to achieve collective security, collective self-defense, negotiation and mediation; The thesis, model, hypothesis; writing an introduction; developing a title; the research design.

Recommended readings:
  • Dan Caldwell, American-Soviet Relations from 1947 to the Nixon-Kissinger Grand Design, 1981.
  • Inis Claude, Power in International Relations, 1962.
  • Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Without Giving In.
  • International Negotiation: A Journal of Theory and Practice.
  • Robert Jervis, "From Balance to Concert: A Study of International Security Cooperation," World Politics 18, no. 1 (1985): 58-79.
  • Henry A. Kissinger, A World Restored: The Politics of Conservatism in a Revolutionary Age, 1957.
  • Charles Kupchan and Clifford A. Kupchan, "Concerts, Collective Security, and the Future of Europe," International Security 16, no. 1 (1991): 114-161.
  • William Zartman, The Negotiation Process: Theories and Application, 1978.

Sept. 20: Peacekeeping, Peace Enforcement and Peacebuilding

All reviews of Morgan are due at 2 pm.

Required readings:
  • Morgan, International Security, pp. 209-294
Recommended readings:
  • Boutros Boutros-Gali, An Agenda for Peace
  • Donald C. F. Daniel and Bradd C. Hayes, Coercive Inducement and the Containment of International Crises
  • Paul F. Diehl, International Peacekeeping, 1999.
  • David Hamburg, Nor More Killing Fields: Preventing Deadly Conflicts, 2002.
  • Bruce Jentleson, ed., Opportunities Missed, Opportunities Seized: Preventive Diplomacy in the Post Cold-War World, 2000.
  • Dennis Jett, Why Peacekeeping Fails, 1999.
  • Michael Lund, Preventing Violent Conflicts: A Strategy for Preventive Diplomacy, 1996.

Sept. 27: Strategic Nuclear Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

Required readings:
  • Michael A. Levi and Michael E. O'Hanlon, The Future of Arms Control, 1-73;
  • Baglione, Writing a Research Paper, 118-148

Topics: SALT, START, NPT, Iran, North Korea; Qualitative and quantitative analysis, the research design and presenting your argument

Recommended readings:
  • Coit Blacker and Gloria Duffy, International Arms Control: Issues and Agreements, 2nd ed., 1984.
  • Richard Dean Burns, ed. Encyclopedia of Arms Control and Disarmament, 1993.
  • Dan Caldwell, The Dynamics of Domestic Politics and Arms Control: The SALT II Treaty Ratification Debate, 1991.
  • Joel S. Wit, Daniel B. Poneman, and Robert Gallucci, Going Critical: The First North Korean Nuclear Crisis, 2004.
  • Jeffrey Larson ed., Arms Control: Cooperative Security in a Changing Environment, 2002.
  • John Newhouse, War and Peace in the Nuclear Age, 1989.
  • Scott D. Sagan, "How to Keep the Bomb From Iran," Foreign Affairs 85 (September/October 2006): 45-60.
  • Scott D. Sagan and Kenneth N. Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed, 2003.
  • Leon Sigal, Disarming Strangers: Nuclear Diplomacy with North Korea, 1998.

Oct. 4: New Technologies, Conventional Arms Control, Compliance and the Future of Arms Control

Reviews of Levi and O'Hanlon are due at 2 pm.

Required readings:
  • Levi and O'Hanlon, pp. 74-164

Topics: Biological weapons, cyberthreats, information warfare, arms transfers and trade

Recommended readings:
  • John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt, eds., In Athena's Camp, RAND, 1997.
  • Jeffrey Boutwell and Michael T. Klare, eds., Light Weapons and Civil Conflict: Controlling the Tools of Violence, 1999.
  • Dan Caldwell, Power, Information and War, The Emirates Occasional Papers, no. 15, 1998.
  • Eliot Cohen, "A Revolution in Warfare?" Foreign Affairs (March/April 1996).
  • Dorothy Denning, Information Warfare and Security, 1999
  • Lawrence Freedman, The Revolution in Strategic Affairs, Adelphi Paper 318, IISS, 1998.
  • Laurie Garrett, "The Nightmare of Bioterrorism," Foreign Affairs 80 (January/February 2001): 76-89.
  • Graduate Institute of International Studies (Geneva), Small Arms Survey, annual publication.
  • Kevin Soo Hoo, et al., "Information Technology and the Terrorist Threat," Survival (Autumn 1997): 135-154.
  • Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye, "States and the Information Revolution," Foreign Affairs (September/October 1998): 81-94.
  • Edward J. Laurance, The International Arms Trade, 1992.
  • Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg and William Broad, Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War, 2001.
  • Joseph Nye and William Owens, "America's Information Edge," Foreign Affairs (March/April 1996).
  • Gregory J. Rattray, Strategic Warfare in Cyberspace, 2001.

Oct. 11: The War in Iraq

Required readings:
  • George Packer, The Assassins' Gate, pp. 1-250
Recommended readings:
  • President Bush, "The National Security Strategy of the United States," available at: www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.pdf
  • James Dobbins, et al., America's Role in Nation-Building: From Germany to Iraq, RAND, 2003.
  • Bruce Jentleson, With Friends Like These: Reagan, Bush, and Saddam, 1982-1990, 1994.
  • Phoebe Marr, The Modern History of Iraq, 2nd ed. 2004.
  • Williamson Murray and Major General Robert H. Scales, Jr., The Iraq War: A Military History, 2003.
  • Kenneth Pollack, Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq, 2002.
  • Edward Rhodes, "The Imperial Logic of Bush's Liberal Agenda," Survival, vol. 45, no. 1 (Spring 2003), pp. 131-154.
  • Bob Woodward, Bush at War (2002) and Plan of Attack (2004).

Oct. 18: The War in Iraq Unravels

Reviews of Packer are due at 2 pm.

Required readings:
  • George Packer, The Assassins' Gate, pp. 251-452

Topics: Assumptions of U.S. planners; What went wrong? Is there an exit strategy? Long-term implications of the war

Recommended readings:
  • Jon Lee Anderson, The Fall of Baghdad, 2004.
  • Stephen Biddle, "Seeing Baghdad, Thinking Saigon," Foreign Affairs 85, no. 2 (March/April 2006): 2-14.
  • L. Paul Bremer III with Malcolm McConnell, My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope, 2006.
  • Colby Buzzell, My War: Killing Time in Iraq, 2005.
  • Larry Diamond, Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq, 2005.
  • Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainer, Cobra III, 2006.
  • John Keegan, The Iraq War, 2004.
  • David L. Phillips, Losing Iraq: Inside the Postwar Reconstruction Fiasco, 2005.
  • Paul R. Pillar, "Intelligence, Policy, and the War in Iraq," Foreign Affairs 85, no. 2 (March/April 2006): 15-28.
  • Thomas E. Ricks, Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006.
  • General Tony Zinni and Tony Koltz, The Battle for Peace: A Frontline Vision of America's Power and Purpose, 2006.

Oct. 25: Formal outlines (4-5 typed pages) of prospective research paper topics and major sources are due; these will be graded and will determine five percent of your course grade.

Recommended readings:
  • Bert Chapman, Researching National Security and Intelligence Policy, 2004. An excellent source on institutions and sources in the security field.

Topic: Discussion of paper topics

Nov. 1: Terrorism and Homeland Security

DVD: Nuclear Threat Institute, Last Best Chance

Required readings:
  • David Thunder, "Back to Basics: Twelve Rules for Writing a Publishable Article," PSOnline, American Political Science Association; to be distributed in class.
  • Lisa Baglione, pp. 149-168.
Recommended readings:
  • Graham Allison, Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe, 2004.
  • Articles by Ashton B. Carter, Philip B. Heymann, Barry R. Posen and Stephen M. Walt, "The Threat of Terrorism: U.S. Policy after September 11," International Security 26, no. 3 (Winter 2001/02):3-78.
  • Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, The Age of Sacred Terror, 2002.
  • Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, The Next Attack: The Failure of the War on Terror and a Strategy for Getting It Right, 2005.
  • Stephen Flynn, America the Vulnerable: How Our Government Is Failing to Protect Us from Terrorism, 2004.
  • Bruce Hoffman, Inside Terrorism, rev. ed., 2006.
  • James F. Hoge, Jr. and Gideon Rose, Understanding the War on Terror, 2005.
  • Donald F. Kettl, System under Stress: Homeland Security and American Politics, 2004.
  • National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States, The 9/11 Commission Report, 2004.

Nov. 8: The Lessons and Future of International Security

First drafts of all papers are due at 2 pm.

DVD: Fog of War

Recommended readings:
  • James G. Blight and janet M. Lang, eds. The Fog of War: Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara, 2005.
  • Michael E. Brown, ed. Grave New World: Security Challenges in the 21st Century, 2003.
  • Barry Buzan, People, States and Fear: An Agenda for International Security Studies in the Post-Cold War Era, 1992.
  • Richard Haass, The Opportunity: America's Moment to Alter History's Course, 2005.
  • Princeton Project on National Security, Final Report; available at: www.wws.princeton.edu/ppns
  • The Stanley Foundation, Capturing the 21st Century Security Agenda: Prospects for Collective Responses, 2004.
  • John D. Steinbruner, Principles of Global Security, 2000.
  • United Nations, A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility, Report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, 2004.
  • U.S. National Intelligence Council, Mapping the Global Future, Report on the 2020 Project, 2004.

Nov. 15: Class will not meet; students will meet with Professor Caldwell sometime this week on an individual basis to go over his comments on the first drafts of their papers.

Nov. 22: Work on papers; class will not meet.

Nov. 29: Final drafts of papers, irrespective of when they are presented, are due at 2 pm sharp; Class presentations begin

Dec. 6: Class presentations

Dec. 12: 4:30-7 pm: Final evaluative activity: class presentations of papers

Selected Journals in the field of Arms Control and International Security
  • Arms Control Today
  • Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
  • Contemporary Security Policy
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Foreign Policy
  • International Security
  • Journal of Strategic Studies
  • Military Review
  • Orbis
  • Parameters: U.S. Army War College Quarterly
  • Policy Review
  • Security Studies
  • Survival (International Institute for Strategic Studies)
  • U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings
  • U.S. Naval War College Review
  • World Politics
Selected Websites:

 

Cover image

In the Magazine

November/December 2009 / 6, 88
Essay
In the Quicksands of Somalia
Bronwyn Bruton

Washington's repeated attempts to bring peace to Somalia with state-building initiatives have failed, even backfired. It should renounce political intervention and encourage local development without trying to improve governance.
Read