Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL3054: Nuclear Weapons in International Relations

This module descriptor refers to the 2022/3 academic year.

Module Aims

This module will provide you with:

  • A grasp of the history of nuclear weapons from their initial invention to the 21st Century, via the Cold War;
  • 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 in 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;
7. demonstrate the ability to work independently – within a limited time frame, and without access to external sources – to complete a specified task.

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.

(This reading list is indicative – 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.)

  • 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, ed. Peter Paret (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986), pp. 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 1976-77): 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 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), Chapters 1-2 (pp. 1-46).
  • John Mueller, “The Essential Irrelevance of Nuclear Weapons: Stability in the Postwar World,” International Security 13, No. 2 (Fall 1988): 55-79.