NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND WORLD POLITICS

Prerequisites & course information

Requisites: Sophomore standing and ( POLI SCI 140 or INTL ST 101 ) or graduate standing Course Designation: Core GenEd - Social & Behavioral Science Breadth - Social Science Level - Intermediate L&S Credit - L&S Liberal Arts and Science Grad 50% - Counts toward 50% graduate coursework requirement Repeatable for Credit: No Last Taught: Spring 2026 Learning Outcomes: 1. Understand how nuclear weapons are made and what states have them. Audience: Undergraduate 2. Examine why some states develop nuclear weapons and others do not. Audience: Undergraduate 3. Examine whether nuclear weapons make war more or less likely between states. Audience: Undergraduate 4. Explore what strategies states develop for the potential use of nuclear weapons and why. Audience: Undergraduate 5. Understand the history and debates surrounding efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons, including prominent arms control treaties. Audience: Undergraduate 6. Assess the state of a body of scholarly literature related to course themes, identify gaps in that literature, and formulate an original research question in the context of those gaps. Audience: Graduate Learning Outcomes: 1. Understand how nuclear weapons are made and what states have them. Audience: Undergraduate 2. Examine why some states develop nuclear weapons and others do not. Audience: Undergraduate 3. Examine whether nuclear weapons make war more or less likely between states. Audience: Undergraduate 4. Explore what strategies states develop for the potential use of nuclear weapons and why. Audience: Undergraduate 5. Understand the history and debates surrounding efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons, including prominent arms control treaties. Audience: Undergraduate 6. Assess the state of a body of scholarly literature related to course themes, identify gaps in that literature, and formulate an original research question in the context of those gaps. Audience: Graduate