Political Science 134A

Strategy, War and Politics

 

Stanford University                                                           Professor Ben Valentino

Spring Quarter 2002                                                          Office: C242 Encina Hall (CISAC)

Room: Annenberg Auditorium                                          Phone: 650-724-5697

Cummings Art Building                                                     email: benv@stanford.edu     

Time: Tues, Weds, Thurs, 10:00 – 10:50                          Office Hours: Weds/Thurs. 11:00-12:00

Weekly sections (Thursday or Friday)                               (or by appointment)            

Course Website: www.stanford.edu/class/polisci134a

 

TAs: Todd Sechser (tsechser@stanford.edu)

Kimuli Kunihira Kasara (kkasara@stanford.edu)

Eric Anderson (ema@stanford.edu)

Catherine Duggan (cduggan@stanford.edu)

 

 

Description: Political Science 134A examines contemporary problems of war and peace in historical and theoretical perspective. What were the causes of war in the past and what can we learn from them? To what degree have nuclear weapons changed the international system? How do terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction influence U.S. and international security today? The course begins with a review of political, psychological and organizational theories of the causes of war and then uses these theories to examine the origins of the First World War, the Second World War in Europe, and the Pacific War between Japan and the United States. Then the course reviews the political and military confrontation between the U.S. and the USSR during the Cold War and the major emerging international security problems of the post-Cold War era. What were the causes of the Persian Gulf War and why did it end in the manner in which it did? What are the causes and consequences of the proliferation of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction? What are the causes of terrorism and what should be done about it? What kind of foreign and military policies should America adopt to ensure its security and limit the potential for war for the years ahead?

 

Requirements: All students will be required to write two take-home essays: a take-home mid-term exam essay (10-12 pages) which will be handed out on APRIL 30 and due on MAY 7 (there will be no readings assigned for May 1 and 2 to provide additional time to work on the paper); and a take-home final exam essay (10-12 pages) which will be handed out on JUNE 6 and due on JUNE 10.  Students will also take two short quizzes (closed-book) based on the information contained in the reading materials and the lectures (the quizzes will be held during the first 15 minutes of class on APRIL 23 and MAY 30).  All students are also required to participate in weekly discussion sections.

 

The course grade will be determined as follows: 30% quizzes, 30% mid-term essay, 30% final essay, and 10% section and class participation.

 

Course enrollment is limited to undergraduates.

 

Readings: The following readings are available for purchase at the Stanford Bookstore:

 

134A Course Reader:  The reader is available in two parts.  Part I is required.  Part II is optional for purchase, but the readings are required.  If you choose not to purchase Part II, you may access these readings on-line through JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org/) and on the course website.  Free printing is available at Sweet Hall.

 

Scott D. Sagan and Kenneth N. Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate

 

Robert J. Art and Kenneth N. Waltz, eds., The Use of Force: Military Power and International Politics (5th Edition).

 

WEEK 1 – INTRODUCTION: The Study of War and Security

 

1.                   INTRODUCTION/COURSE OVERVIEW (APRIL 2) (Introductory Quotes)

 

2.                   WHAT WAR IS AND WHY IT IS WORTH STUDYING -- WAR AND ITS CONSEQUENCES (APRIL 3) (Outline) (Quotes) (Definition of War)

 

Gwynne Dyer, War (New York: Crown Publishers, 1985), pp. 75-129.

 

3.                   THEORIES, SOCIAL SCIENCE, AND WAR  (APRIL 4) (Outline) (Quotes)

 

Karl von Clausewitz, On War (Princeton University Press, 1976), pp. 69-89.

 

Kenneth N. Waltz, “Laws and Theories,” Theory of International Politics (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979), pp. 1-17.

 

Geoffrey Blainey, “War as an Accident,” The Causes of War (New York: Free Press, 1973), pp. 127-145.

 

APRIL 4/5: NO DISCUSSION SECTIONS (first week)

 

 

WEEK 2 – THEORIES OF WAR

 

4.                   INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC EXPLANATIONS OF WAR (APRIL 9) (Outline) (Quotes)

 

Kenneth N. Waltz, “The Origins of War in Neorealist Theory,” in Robert I. Rotberg and Theodore K. Rabb, eds., The Origin and Prevention of Major Wars (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989), pp. 39-52.

 

Jack S. Levy, “Domestic Politics and War” in Robert I. Rotberg and Theodore K. Rabb, eds., The Origin and Prevention of Major Wars (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989), pp. 79-100.

 

Miriam Fendius Elman, “Paths to Peace: Is Democracy the Answer?” in Art and Waltz, eds., The Use of Force, pp. 441-455.

 

5.                   MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS AND WAR (APRIL 10) (Outline) (Quotes)

 

Barry Posen, “Explaining Military Doctrine,” in Art and Waltz, eds. The Use of Force, (Rowman and Littlefield, 1999, 5th Edition) pp. 23-43.

 

Stephen Van Evera, “Offense, Defense, and the Causes of War,” in Art and Waltz, eds., The Use of Force, pp. 44-69.

 

6.                   PSYCHOLOGY, MISPERCEPTIONS AND WAR (APRIL 11) (Outline) (Quotes)

 

Richard Ned Lebow, “Cognitive Closure and Crisis Politics,” in Lebow, Between Peace and War (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1981), pp. 101-119.

 

Robert Jervis, “War and Misperceptions” in Rotberg and Rabb, Origin and Prevention, pp. 101-126.

 

APRIL 11/12: DISCUSSION SECTION

 

 

 

WEEK 3 – THE FIRST WORLD WAR

 

7.                   THE ORIGINS OF WORLD WAR I (APRIL 16) (Outline) (Quotes) (WWI Chronology) (Preventive War Quotes) (Bethmann’s Preferences)

 

Samuel Williamson, “The Origins of World War I,” in Rotberg and Rabb, Origin and Prevention, pp. 225-279.

 

Imanuel Geiss, “Origins of the First World War,” in H.W. Koch (ed.), The Origins of the First World War (London: Macmillan, 1984), pp. 46-85.

 

8.                   WORLD WAR BY ACCIDENT? (APRIL 17) (Outline) (Quotes) (Offensive War Quotes) (Somme Quote) (Moltke Quote)

 

Marc Trachtenberg, “The Meaning of Mobilization in 1914,” in S. Miller, S. Lynn-Jones, and S. Van Evera, eds., Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2nd ed.), pp. 195-225.

 

Jack Snyder, “The Cult of the Offensive in 1914,” in Art and Waltz, eds., The Use of Force, pp. 113-129.

 

9.                   PSYCHOLOGY AND WORLD WAR I (APRIL 18) (Outline) (Quotes) (Views of British Neutrality)

 

Richard Ned Lebow, “The July Crisis: A Case Study,” in Lebow, Between Peace and War (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1981), pp. 119-147.

 

APRIL 18/19:DISCUSSION SECTION

 

 

WEEK 4 – THE SECOND WORLD WAR

 

10.                THE SECOND WORLD WAR: APPEASEMENT IN EUROPE? (APRIL 23) (Outline) (Quotes) (British Joint Chiefs Quotes)

 

*** FIRST QUIZ AT BEGINNING OF CLASS ***

 

A.J.P. Taylor, “Second Thoughts,” The Origins of the Second World War (New York: Athenaeum, 1985), pp. xi-xxviii.

 

PMH Bell, The Origins of the Second World War in Europe (London: Longman, 1997), pp. 228-302.

 

 

11.                THE SECOND WORLD WAR: FAILURES OF DETERRENCE? (APRIL 24)

 

Scott D. Sagan, “The Origins of the Pacific War,” in Rotberg and Rabb, eds., Origin and Prevention, pp. 323-352.

 

Sir George Sansom, “Japan’s Fatal Blunder,” in Art and Waltz, eds., The Use of Force, pp. 145-156.

 

John J. Mearsheimer, “Hitler and the Blitzkrieg Strategy,” in Art and Waltz, eds., The Use of Force, pp. 130-144.

 

12.                THE ATOMIC BOMB AND THE ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR (APRIL 25)

 

Louis Morton, “The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb” in Art and Waltz, eds., The Use of Force, pp. 145-172.

 

APRIL 25/26: DISCUSSION SECTION

 

 

WEEK 5 – THE NUCLEAR REVOLUTION

 

13.                THE NUCLEAR REVOLUTION AND DETERRENCE THEORY (APRIL 30) (Outline) (Quotes) (Khrushchev Quote)

 

Thomas C. Schelling, “The Diplomacy of Violence,” in Schelling, Arms and Influence (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966), pp. 1-34.

 

Robert Jervis, The Meaning of the Nuclear Revolution (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989), pp. 1-45.

 

Jonathan Schell, “Nuclear Holocaust,” in Charles W. Kegley and Eugene R. Wittkopf, eds., The Nuclear Reader (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985), pp. 258-269.

 

*** MIDTERM ESSAY QUESTION HANDED OUT AT END OF CLASS (due in class -- May 7th)

 

14.                NO READINGS (POSSIBLE IN-CLASS ACTIVITY TBA) – WORK ON PAPERS (MAY 1)

 

15.                NO READINGS (POSSIBLE IN-CLASS ACTIVITY TBA) – WORK ON PAPERS (MAY 2)

 

MAY 2/3: DISCUSSION SECTION

 

 

 

WEEK 6 – THE COLD WAR

 

16.                THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS (MAY 7)

 

*** MIDTERM ESSAY DUE AT BEGINNING OF CLASS ***

 

Earnest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow, eds., “The Excom Meeting, Friday, October 19, 1962,” in The Kennedy Tapes (Cambridge, MA: Harvard U. Press, 1997) pp. 173-188..

 

David A. Welch, James G. Blight, and Bruce J. Allyn, “The Cuban Missile Crisis,” in Art and Waltz, eds., The Use of Force, pp. 189-212.

 

17.                CONTAINMENT, CREDIBILITY AND THE DOMINO THEORY – VIETNAM (MAY 8) (Outline) (Quotes) (Kennan Quote) (NSC-68) (The Munich Analogy)

 

John Lewis Gaddis, “Flexible Response and Vietnam,” in The Use of Force. pp. 213-238.

 

18.                DILEMMAS OF DETERRENCE: THE COLD WAR IN EUROPE AND THE ORIGINS OF OVERKILL (MAY 9) (Outline) (Quotes) (Burke Quote) (Brown Quote) (US/Soviet Nuclear Forces Chart – through 1962) (US/Soviet Forces through 1996) (Eisenhower Quote)

 

Scott Sagan, “The Evolution of U.S. Nuclear Doctrine,” in Moving Targets (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989), pp. 10-57.

 

MAY 9/10: DISCUSSION SECTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WEEK 7 – PROLIFERATION

 

19.                THE CAUSES OF NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION (MAY 14) (Outline) (Quotes) (FDR, Stalin, and the Bomb) (DeGaulle Quote) (Kohl Quote) (Japan Slide)

 

Scott D. Sagan, “Why Do States Build Nuclear Weapons?: Three Models in Search of a Bomb” in International Security (Winter 1996-97), pp. 54-86.

 

20.               THE CONSEQUENCES OF PROLIFERATION (MAY 15) (Outline) (Quotes) (Nuclear Preventive War Quotes) (Eisenhower Quote) (Iraqi Nuclear Weapons Safety)

 

Scott D. Sagan and Kenneth N. Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate (New York: W.W. Norton, 1995), pp. 1-136.

 

21.                RESPONSES TO PROLIFERATION: BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSES PAST AND PRESENT (MAY 16) (Outline) (Quotes) (Rumsfeld Report) (Generals for Nuclear Abolition)

 

Steve Fetter, “What is the Threat?” in Art and Waltz, eds., The Use of Force, pp. 340-356.

 

Steven Weinberg, “Can Missile Defense Work?” The New York Review of Books, vol. XLIX, no. 2 (February 14, 2002), pp. 41-47.

 

MAY 16/17: DISCUSSION SECTION

 

 

 

WEEK 8– POST COLD WAR CONFLICTS (MAY 21-23)

 

22.               THE GULF WAR (MAY 21) (Outline) (Quotes) (Glaspie Quote) (Inevitable War?) (Deterrence Threats) (Deterrence Failure Quotes) (Chemical Deterrence)

 

Janice Gross Stein, “Deterrence and Compellence in the Gulf, 1990-91: A Failed or Impossible Task?” International Security, vol. 17, no. 2 (Fall 1992), pp. 147-179.

 

Lawrence Freedman and Efraim Karsh, “How Kuwait Was Won,” in Art and Waltz, eds., The Use of Force, pp. 258-271.

 

 

23.               CIVIL WARS (MAY 22) (Outline) (Quotes) (Ancient Hatreds)

 

Jack Snyder and Robert Jervis, “Civil War and the Security Dilemma,” in Barbara F. Walter and Jack Snyder, eds., Civil Wars, Insecurity, and Intervention (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), pp. 15-37.

 

Michael Brown, “Introduction” in Michael E. Brown ed., The International Dimensions of Internal Conflict (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996), pp. 1-31.

 

24.               ETHNIC CONFLICT AND GENOCIDE (MAY 23)

 

John Mueller, “The Banality of Ethnic War,” International Security, vol. 25, no. 1 (Summer 2000), pp. 42-70.

 

MAY 23/24: DISCUSSION SECTION

 

 

 

 

 

WEEK 9 – THE FUTURE OF GREAT POWER WAR (MAY 28-30)

 

25.               THE FUTURE OF WAR: PESSIMISTS (MAY 28) (Outline) (Quotes)

 

John Mearsheimer, “Back to the Future: Instability in Europe after the Cold War,” International Security, vol. 15, no. 1 (Summer 1990), pp. 5-56.

 

Samuel P. Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations?” Foreign Affairs (Summer 1993), pp. 22-49.

 

26.               THE FUTURE OF WAR: OPTIMISTS (MAY 29)

 

John Mueller, “The Obsolescence of Major War,” in Art and Waltz, eds., The Use of Force, pp. 427-440.

 

Stephen Van Evera, “Primed for Peace: Europe After the Cold War,” International Security, vol. 15, no. 3 (Winter 1990-1991), pp. 7-57.

 

27.               THE CONDUCT OF FUTURE WARS -- AIR POWER PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE (MAY 30)

 

Daryl Press, “The Myth of Air Power in the Persian Gulf War and the Future of Warfare,” International Security, vol. 26, no. 2 (Fall 2001), pp. 5-44.

 

Fareed Zakaria, “Face the Facts: Bombing Works,” Newsweek, December 3, 2001, p. 53.

 

*** SECOND QUIZ AT BEGINNING OF CLASS ***

 

MAY 30/31: DISCUSSION SECTION

 

 

WEEK 10 – THE FUTURE OF AMERICA’S ROLE THE WORLD (June 4-6)

 

28.               HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION (June 4) (Outline) (Quotes) (Public Opinion and Casualties) (Public Opinion and Intervention)

 

Chaim Kaufman, “Intervention in Ethnic and Ideological Civil Wars,” in The Use of Force. pp. 385-405.

 

James Gow, “Bosnia: Triumph of the Lack of Will” in Art and Waltz, eds. The Use of Force, pp. 272-288.

 

Harvey M. Sapolsky and Jeremy Shapiro, “Casualties, Technology, and America’s Future Wars,” Parameters, vol. 26, no. 2 (Summer 1996), pp. 119-127.

 

29.               TERRORISM AND WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION (June 5) (Outline) (Quotes) (Bin Laden’s Strategy) (Bush Quote) (US Responses) (Keegan Quote)

 

Brian M. Jenkins, “International Terrorism,” in Art and Waltz, eds. The Use of Force, pp. 70-77.

 

Bruce Hoffman, “A Nasty Business,” Atlantic Monthly, vol. 289, no. 1 (January 2002), pp. 49-52.

 

Benjamin Schwarz and Christopher Layne, “A New Grand Strategy,” Atlantic Monthly, vol. 289, no. 1 (January 2002), pp. 36-42.

 

30.               OPTIONAL REVIEW CLASS (JUNE 6)

 

-- FINAL PAPER QUESTION HANDED OUT (ALSO AVAILABLE ON THE WEB)

Due June 10th by 1:00 -- Location to be announced.