ICPS 302 - Special Topics in International Comparative Policy Studies

This course is an advanced seminar for students with sufficient introductory work in social science. It investigates substantive contemporary interdisciplinary topics that relate to policy in an international or comparative context.

Nuclearity
This course investigates the origins and effects of the spread of nuclear weapons and related weapons of mass destruction at international and domestic levels through interdisciplinary and multi-method approaches. It begins with a discussion of reflexivity and interdisciplinarity and science and technology studies. It then looks at the past and future of nuclear weapons crises through the lenses of process tracing and counterfactuals. It then looks at the failure of two modern bomb projects in comparison with the first successful project through the lenses of case study methods and feminism. The course continues with network analysis of proliferation, unpacking individual leaders’ psychological propensities through content analysis, and exploring how international discourses about nuclear weapons have structured international order. It ends with ethnographic approaches to nuclear weapons labs and open-source intelligence approaches to uncovering nuclear programs.

Unit(s): 0.5
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing and one of POL 240, ANTH 211, HIST 370, or SOC 211
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Repeatable for Credit: May be taken up to 2 times for credit if different topics.
Cross-listing(s): POL 352
Not offered: 2024-25
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Evaluate data and/or sources.
Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.