Examines the problems and issues confronting American national security policy since 1945, with special attention to the politics of policymaking. The nature of the international system (post-World War II), the theoretical requirements for deterrence and defense, and alternative strategies for implementing American national security policy are discussed. The roles of the President, National Security Council, Department of Defense and armed services, the Congress, and public opinion in formulating national security policy are examined. Subject fulfills undergraduate public policy requirement in the major and minor. Description from Course page: This course examines the problems and issues confronting American national security policymakers and the many factors that influence the policies that emerge. But this is not a course about "threats," military strategies, or the exercise of military power. What threatens those interests? How should the U.S. defend those interests? What kind of military should we build? Should the U.S. enter into alliances with other countries? Do we need a larger Navy? How much should we spend on weapons procurement? The course is organized along an historical time line. Beginning with the final days of World War II we follow American national security policy from the first stirrings of confrontation with the Soviet Union and China, into two hot wars in Asia that cost over 100,000 American lives and spawned social upheavals, through a close encounter with nuclear war, stumbling into the era of arms control, and conclude with the collapse of the communism. Selective case studies, memoirs, and original documents act as windows into each period. What were US national security decision makers thinking? What were they worried about? How did they see their options.

Can law change human behavior to be less environmentally damaging? Law will be examined through case histories including: environmental effects of national security, pesticides, air pollution, consumer products, plastics, parks and protected area management, land use, urban growth and sprawl, public/private transit, drinking water standards, food safety, and hazardous site restoration. In each case we will review the structure of law and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses.

The interaction between law, policy, and technology as they relate to the evolving controversies over control of the Internet. Topics include: intellectual property and copyright control, privacy and government surveillance, and freedom of expression and content control.

This course will provide the student with an overview of the role that ethical, cultural, religious, and moral principles play in public policy. The course will introduce the student to common themes found in the foundational theories of ethics and morality in politics such as justice, equality, fairness, individual liberty, free enterprise, charity, fundamental human rights, and minimizing harm to others. These themes are integrated into various decision-making models that you will learn about. Students will examine five types of decision frameworks used to make and implement public policy, as well as rationales used to justify inequitable impact and outcomes of policies. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: explain how personal morality and ethics impact the policymaking process; discuss various ethical frameworks used to resolve policy dilemmas; identify statutes, ethical codes, and legal opinions that define the normative parameters of key domestic and international policy issues; assess the impact that public interest groups have on policymaking and execution of policies. (Political Science 401)

This course considers the interaction between law, policy, and technology as they relate to the evolving controversies over control of the Internet. In addition, there will be an in-depth treatment of privacy and the notion of "transparency" -- regulations and technologies that govern the use of information, as well as access to information. Topics explored will include: Legal Background for Regulation of the Internet Fourth Amendment Law and Electronic Surveillance Profiling, Data Mining, and the U.S. PATRIOT Act Technologies for Anonymity and Transparency, The Policy-Aware Web

This course will explore the organization and functions of the U.S. Intelligence Community, its interaction with national security policymakers, key issues about its workings, and the challenges it faces in defining its future role. The events of 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq have focused new attention on national intelligence, including the most significant reorganization of the community since the National Security Act of 1947. The course will highlight some of the major debates about the role, practices, and problems of national intelligence.

The study of intelligence and national security operations is an analysis of how the various branches of government work together to protect and promote American interests at home and abroad. The purpose of this course is to provide the student with an overview of national security policy analysis and the United States intelligence community. As the student progress through this course, the student will learn about strategic thought and strategy formulation, develop the ability to assess national security issues and threats, and cultivate an understanding of the institutions involved in the formulation and execution of national security policy through diplomacy, intelligence operations, and military force. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: demonstrate a working knowledge of the various definitions of national security interests that have been applied during various periods of US history; identify vital interests and threats to international and domestic security in order to make recommendations to policymakers and leaders; identify key agencies within the US Intelligence community and their respective missions; demonstrate awareness of the roles and powers of various actors and organizations in the policymaking and implementation process within the field of U.S. national security; demonstrate skills in the collection and analysis the various political, social, economic, military, legal, and ethical goals and values that form the basis of policymaking decisions; demonstrate application of various decision frameworks used by policymakers and leaders in developing and executing national security policies; demonstrate an understanding of the context, evolution, risks, and linkages of national security issues, alternatives, and solutions. (Political Science 313)

The course provides the students a basic understanding of modern Israeli history, politics, culture and identity through lectures, discussions and projects. Among the topics to be explored are: ideational, institutional and material foundations of the state of Israel; Israeli national identity, Israeli society, economy, and foreign and security policies.

Ambassador Ryukichi Imai-journalist, nuclear engineer, and general manager at Japan Atomic Power Company-was Japanese ambassador to the United Nations Disarmament Conference from 1982 to 1987. In this video segment, Imai explains why he believes that Japan will never embark on a nuclear-weapons program. He also predicts that, while Japan stands alone in its reliance on nuclear energy, rising energy prices-even post-Chernobyl-will revive worldwide interest in nuclear power. In the interview he conducted for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age: 'Have and Have-nots,' Imai describes a career in which he became an expert on nuclear energy and non-proliferation in ways that paralleled Japan's stages of harnessing and expanding its reliance on atomic energy. Employed by Japan Atomic Power Company at the first commercial nuclear-power station in the country, Imai worked with the International Atomic Energy Agency to develop safeguards for nuclear technologies. He recalls that in the 1950s, few talked about the link between nuclear energy and weapons. He describes testifying on behalf of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which Japan debated for six years before ratifying. Debate centered on whether Japan should have the right to arm itself and on the high costs of safeguards that would handicap industry in the global market. Imai argued in support of the NPT, and he did not want to jeopardize the 1951 mutual-security treaty with the United States that he regarded as paramount to Japan's safety. When U.S. president Jimmy Carter opposed Japan's first reprocessing plant at Tokai, it was Imai whom the Japanese government sent to the United States. There he successfully negotiated a solution with former colleague Joseph Nye, then deputy to the undersecretary of state for security assistance, science, and technology.

The study of public policy offers every citizen an understanding of the various roles played by the different branches of the U.S. federal government as well as by state, county, and local governments in various areas of contemporary American life. It focuses on the priorities of American society as portrayed in the public policy choices that representatives make and the size of different interest groups that advocate on behalf of particular policy goals. This course will introduce this various actors involved in the making of American public policy, explore public policy formulation by examining a variety of case studies, and examine the implementation of public policies, the allocation of funding to pay for these projects, and the evaluation of these projects to determine their effectiveness. The rest of the course will examine specific case studies and areas of public policy. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: demonstrate a working knowledge of various key concepts in the process of American public policymaking and the major steps from start to finish in the public policy process; identify vital issues and specific areas of concern for contemporary American policymakers within the broad fields of economic, national security, public health, environmental, education, rural, and social policy; identify key actors and agencies involved in the making of public policy within the United States and their respective roles in the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of policy; demonstrate skills in the analysis of the various political, social, economic, military, legal, and ethical goals and cultural values that form the basis of policymaking decisions; identify key debates in contemporary American public policy as well as the issues at stake and the arguments advanced by each side of the debate; demonstrate an understanding of various decision frameworks used by policymakers in creating, developing, and executing various public policies; demonstrate an understanding of the context, evolution, and linkages of specific policies and between certain polices within the broader context of American political history. (Political Science 431)

This course will examine the origins, structure and functions of the U.S. Intelligence Community and its relationship to national security policy. It will look in some detail at the key intelligence agencies and the functions they perform, including collection, analysis, counterintelligence and covert action. It will also look at some of the key intelligence missions, such as strategic warning, counterterrorism, counterproliferation, and counterinsurgency. Finally, it will examine some of the major controversies concerning intelligence, including its successes and failures, relationship to policymakers, congressional oversight, and the need for reform.

Dr. Randall Forsberg is executive director of the think tank she founded in 1980, the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies. In this video segment, she recalls the moment during arms negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union when she determined that the arms race is not driven by basic deterrence but by the imperative to gain superiority in threatening to win-without actually waging-nuclear war.In her wide-ranging interview for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age: 'Visions of War and Peace,' Forsberg explores war-and-peace issues, military doctrine, the history and economics of nuclear-weapons development and policy, war-fighting capability and force structure, scenarios and resistance to arms reduction, the history of relations between the superpowers, and their interactions with developing nations. Seven countries, she asserts, account for 99 percent of nuclear weapons. The dispersal of weapons-in the form of the Rapid Deployment Force, tactical weapons, and missiles fitted with multiple warheads-heightens the risk of war in a world moving toward becoming what she calls 'a global nuclear porcupine.' Forsberg asserts that 'threatening to commit genocide as a way of conducting politics' is one of the most 'deeply immoral and subversive acts of government in the modern world.' Moreover, she maintains, a conventional military crisis could easily cross that nuclear threshold. Forsberg advocates the three Rs: 'reduce, restructure, and restrain' conventional forces-the other side of the military coin-that consume 75 percent of the U.S. military budget. She compares disarmament with abolitionism: most people understood that slavery was evil and didn't know when it would end, but they realized that they had to work until it was eliminated. Forsberg's analysis of the country's 'defense dependency' and of the shortcomings of the nuclear-freeze movement she spearheaded is laced with her optimism about Soviet Union general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms. She has never abandoned her vision of an educated public that will prevail in 'demilitarizing international relations" to achieve a "secure, stable permanent peace.'

"Terrorism: A War Without Borders" is an instructional package produced in collaboration with a special committee of social studies educators. The video print materials, and other resources in this package are intended for use with middle school and high school courses.