Princeton University

The Office of the Registrar's Course Offerings website lists information on all current courses.

FRS 145
Zia Mian
Sponsored by the University Center for Human Values

The nuclear age has been more than just growing arsenals, crises, proliferation, and an ever present threat of nuclear war. The American novelist E. L. Doctorow has written of "the secret story of American life under the bomb," observing that, "We have had the bomb on our minds since 1945. It was first our weaponry and then our diplomacy, and now it's our economy. How can we suppose that something so monstrously powerful would not, after years, compose our identity?" This course will try to unpack some of these meanings of the nuclear age, using scholarly and popular writings as well as movies and documentary films about the bomb. It introduces some of the basic science and technology of nuclear weapons, and the consequences of the atomic bombing of Japan. It examines the decision to build and field the even more destructive hydrogen bomb, and the use of nuclear weapons for deterrence and as an instrument of power in international affairs. The design, development, production, and maintenance of a nuclear arsenal carries many economic, political, and environmental costs and the course explores the consequences of America's nuclear arsenal during the Cold War. The bomb has been the focus of some of the most important public protests in modern U.S. history, especially in the 1950s and 1980s, and the course revisits the struggles of the anti-nuclear movement in its efforts to restrain decision-makers, end arms races, and to ban the bomb. The course ends by asking whether the bomb is here to stay or whether it may be possible to imagine an end to the nuclear age.
 

The Program of Freshman Seminars in the Residential Colleges lists full descriptions on this and all current Freshman Seminars.

WWS 454
Christopher F. Chyba

Examines the roles of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons in international security historically, at present, and in possible futures. The technical basis for these weapons will be presented at a level suitable for the non-scientist, and the challenges of state and non-state acquisition or development will be assessed. Topics to be examined include dissuasion, deterrence, defense, preventive war, preemption, arms control, nonproliferation, counterproliferation, and terrorism.

WWS 591F
Frank von Hippel

World is devoting much attention to attempting to contain & roll back the DPRK & Iranian nuclear programs. Greatest concern has focused on Japan & S. Korea. A number of Iran¿s neighbors have recently expressed an interest in developing nuclear energy programs. These statements are widely seen as a warning to the U.S. that, if Iran is allowed to develop nuclear weapons, some of its neighbors may also. Workshop will try to understand the major factors that would have a bearing on possible internal debates over acquiring nuclear weapons in the following three countries: Egypt, Japan and South Korea.

WWS 402
Harold Feiveson

In policy task forces, students work in groups of 8 or 9, first formulating the general problem, then engaging in individual research on subtopics, and finally presenting their inferences for discussion and debate and producing a collective policy report.

WWS 556d
Frank von Hippel

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the only significant security threats to the U.S. and its allies have been from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Historically, the US focus has oscillated between protection via nonproliferation and disarmament agreements, and via civil and missile defense. The course assesses the threats, both approaches to protection, and linkages made between policies on WMD and perceptions of "conventional" military threats.