April 8, 2010

This is a course description, but it is not the course website for
Political Science 552. The URL for the course website is on the reading list handed out in class.

Political Science 552, Spring 2010       (25743)
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

Security Policy During and After the Cold War

Monday, Wednesday 9:30-11:18   Scott Lab E004

John Mueller
Derby 2112 and Mershon Center (8th and Neil) 220D
Department of Political Science
614-247-6007
614-292-2407 (fax)
bbbb@osu.edu
http://polisci.osu.edu/faculty/jmueller

Office hours: by appointment at bbbb@osu.edu
Derby 2112 or
Mershon Center 220D (8th and Neil)

The course will deal with national security and military policy issues as they have emerged and changed during and after the Cold War. Of central concern will be considerations about how external threats are identified and the reactions (or overreactions) they inspire. The material will be presented roughly in chronological order beginning with the framing of the containment and deterrence policies at the end of World War II and concluding with an examination of national security policy issues confronting the United States and the world at the present time. Included will be discussions of such concerns as the Korean War, the Berlin and Cuban crises, Vietnam, the Iran hostage crisis, the demise of the Cold War and of the Soviet Union, the unification of Europe, ethnic conflict, economic sanctions, and the rise of democracy and capitalism on a global basis. There will be extensive consideration of terrorism and of the efforts to counter it, of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and of the potential for the proliferation of "weapons of mass destruction." Of particular interest, as well, will be an assessment of broad historical trends as they have played out since 1945.

The course will be in lecture format, with opportunity for questions and discussion. There will be considerable use of Powerpoint slides as well as documentary material on videotape. The slides will be made available for viewing on the course website.

Grading. There will be a midterm and a final examination (Tuesday, June 8). The exams will be about half objective (short answer, identification, etc.) and half essay. The final exam will concentrate on the second half of the course, but may also include questions dealing with issues, events, and concerns discussed in the first half. The mid-term will count one-third of the grade, the final two-thirds. Copies of previous exams will be available on the course website.

Books.

Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11  (either the hard cover or paperback edition is OK)

Robert C. DiPrizio, Armed Humanitarians

John Mueller, Overblown

Robert H. Johnson, Improbable Dangers  This book is available
1) on the web at no charge in PDF form through http://polisci.osu.edu/faculty/jmueller/books.htm
2) on reserve as a book at the library, or
3) in a new reprint edition at http://www.edupublisher.com/EPBookstore/JohnsonImprobableDangers.html  This version may also be available at the same price ($24.95 plus tax) at SBX but without mailing costs.