Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL3054: Nuclear Weapons in International Relations

This module descriptor refers to the 2020/1 academic year.

Module Aims

This module will provide you with:

  • A grasp of the history of nuclear weapons over three ‘Ages’ from monopoly to Cold War to the 21st Century;
  • The opportunity to evaluate competing visions of how nuclear weapons should be understood;
  • A critical understanding of debates around what drives proliferation and disarmament;
  • A vital context for judging the validity of competing theoretical approaches to International Relations

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of key issues revolving around nuclear weapons and international security;
2. apply this awareness to contemporary problems of proliferation and counter-proliferation;
Discipline-Specific Skills3. display an understanding of the evolution of strategic theory and international relations theory, and their utility for contemporary decision-making;
4. exercise informed judgement about change and continuity in international relations;
Personal and Key Skills5. conduct independent research, exercise critical judgement and write clearly and persuasively;
6. demonstrate the ability to analyse complex and fast-changing problems and to have the confidence – individually and as part of a group – to design and advocate workable strategic solutions; and
7. demonstrate the ability to work independently, within a limited time frame, and without access to external sources, to complete a specified task.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

The module is structured in three parts. 1) Following an introductory seminar, the module tracks the history of nuclear weapons since World War Two; 2) it examines a range of highly contested analytical and normative problems created in the nuclearized era; and 3) finally, it examines competing arguments for how states should approach and manage nuclear weapons in our time.

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching ActivitiesGuided independent studyPlacement / study abroad
22128

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

CategoryHours of study timeDescription
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities22Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities
Guided Independent Study50Private study – reading and preparing for seminars
Guided Independent Study78Preparation for essay – including researching and collating relevant sources; planning the structure and argument; writing up the essay. Exam revision.

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Basic reading: 

  • Lawrence Freedman, The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy (London: Macmillan, 1982).
  • Lawrence Freedman, “The First Two Generations of Nuclear Strategists,” in Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age, Peter Paret, ed. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986), 735-778.
  • Richard Smoke, National Security and the Nuclear Dilemma, 3rd ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1993), Chapter 13 (pp. 236-263).
  • Albert Wohlstetter, “The Delicate Balance of Terror,” Foreign Affairs 37, no. 2 (January, 1959): 211-234.
  • Paul H. Nitze, “Deterring Our Deterrent,” Foreign Policy 25 (Winter, 1976/1977): 195-210.
  • Robert Jervis, “Why Nuclear Superiority Doesn’t Matter,” Political Science Quarterly 94, no. 4 (Winter, 1979/1980): 617-633.
  • Marc Trachtenberg, “The Influence of Nuclear Weapons in the Cuban Missile Crisis,” International Security 10, no. 1 (Summer, 1985), 136-163.
  • Avery Goldstein, Deterrence and Security in the 21st Century (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002).
  • Scott Sagan and Kenneth Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed 3rd ed. (New York: Norton, 2013).
  • Scott Sagan, “Why Do States Build Nuclear Weapons? Three Models in Search of a Bomb,” International Security 21, no. 3 (Winter, 1996-1997): 54-86.
  • Jacques E.C. Hymans, The Psychology of Nuclear Proliferation: Identity, Emotions, and Foreign Policy (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), Chapters 1, 2 (pp. 1-46).
  • Mueller, John. “The Essential Irrelevance of Nuclear Weapons: Stability in the Postwar World,” International Security Vol. 13, No. 2 (Fall 1988), pp. 55-79.