Undergraduate Course: Confrontation, Proliferation, Representation: The Nuclear Cold War in Policy and in Public, 1945-1989 (HIST10376)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course begins with a consideration of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and their place within an emerging Cold War. These events provide the basis for a study that encompasses the role, significance, and imagery of nuclear weapons across the span of the Cold War. The result of the Cold War was, in Europe at least, an equilibrium that proved durable for forty years and then dissolved without bloodshed. How far did nuclear weapons contribute to this ¿long peace¿? In what ways did nuclear weapons alter (or not alter) the terrain of superpower and wider international relations? This course will not simply concentrate on the nuclear rivalry between the USA and USSR, but will also examine the place of global nuclear proliferation and the deployment of images of nuclear conflict. Thus, the course will equip students with the knowledge to offer a critical understanding of issues that still affect the world around us. |
| Course description |
Seminar 1: Do nuclear weapons matter?: John Mueller vs. the World
Seminar 2: Atomic Diplomacy?: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Origins of the Cold War
Seminar 3: A Peculiar Monster: The Nuclear 1950s
Seminar 4: A Bloody Union Jack on Top of It!: The Anglo-American Nuclear Relationship
Seminar 5: The Brink of Armageddon?: The Berlin and Cuban Crises
Seminar 6: The Metaphor That Ate New York: Nuclear Weapons and Popular Culture, 1950-1969
Seminar 7: Nuclear Apartheid?: The Limited Test Ban and the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty
Seminar 8: That 70's Show: Superpower Arms Control from Nixon to Carter
Seminar 9: A Dream of Nightmare Proportions: The 'Islamic Bomb'
Seminar 10: Bleak and Entirely Plausible: A Cold War Nuclear Culture?
Seminar 11: ABLE ARCHER to Reykjavik: Nuclear Arms and the End of the Cold War
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. Applicants should note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission.
** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course ** |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2014/15, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: 48 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
40 %,
Coursework
40 %,
Practical Exam
20 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed as follows:
2 hour exam: 40%
3000 word essay: 40%
Non-written skills: 10%
Presentation: 10%
Visiting students will be assessed on the same basis with the following exemptions: those in
attendance for the first semester only will be given a take-home examination paper. Those in
attendance for a whole year or for the second semester only will sit the degree examinations at the
end of the academic year.
This gives a balanced range of assessment avenues, thus not unfairly advantaging or disadvantaging students with particular aptitudes or lack thereof.
NWS will be assessed through observation of each student in the weekly seminars. Notes will be taken and (at the end of the semester) compiled into a report on the student's performance. These notes will be available for the external examiner to refer to.
The presentation will be assessed using the same format for every student. A standardised note sheet assessing various components of the presentation (content, reading, use of audio-visual aids, etc) will be completed for each student. Students will also peer-assess the presentations and this will comprise 50% of the final presentation marks. All notes sheets and peer assessments will be available for the external examiner to review.
The course handbook notes that, in the case of students being unable to give a presentation:
'You must endeavour to attend the seminar that you will be presenting in. However, if through unavoidable circumstances you are unable to attend, I will mark your text and PowerPoint in lieu of the spoken element. If it is the case that you cannot attend, you must still send me your materials at least 24 hours in advance. Write-ups submitted after the agreed hand-in date will be subject to the same penalties as late essays. In addition an Oral Assessment Report will be used in order to allow a degree of transparency for the oral grade (and will be made available to the external examiner) and will be made available to the students in order to facilitate constructive feedback.'
|
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
|
| Academic year 2014/15, Part-year visiting students only (VV1)
|
Quota: 6 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
40 %,
Coursework
40 %,
Practical Exam
20 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed as follows:
2 hour exam: 40%
3000 word essay: 40%
Non-written skills: 10%
Presentation: 10%
Visiting students will be assessed on the same basis with the following exemptions: those in
attendance for the first semester only will be given a take-home examination paper. Those in
attendance for a whole year or for the second semester only will sit the degree examinations at the
end of the academic year.
This gives a balanced range of assessment avenues, thus not unfairly advantaging or disadvantaging students with particular aptitudes or lack thereof.
NWS will be assessed through observation of each student in the weekly seminars. Notes will be taken and (at the end of the semester) compiled into a report on the student's performance. These notes will be available for the external examiner to refer to.
The presentation will be assessed using the same format for every student. A standardised note sheet assessing various components of the presentation (content, reading, use of audio-visual aids, etc) will be completed for each student. Students will also peer-assess the presentations and this will comprise 50% of the final presentation marks. All notes sheets and peer assessments will be available for the external examiner to review.
The course handbook notes that, in the case of students being unable to give a presentation:
'You must endeavour to attend the seminar that you will be presenting in. However, if through unavoidable circumstances you are unable to attend, I will mark your text and PowerPoint in lieu of the spoken element. If it is the case that you cannot attend, you must still send me your materials at least 24 hours in advance. Write-ups submitted after the agreed hand-in date will be subject to the same penalties as late essays. In addition an Oral Assessment Report will be used in order to allow a degree of transparency for the oral grade (and will be made available to the external examiner) and will be made available to the students in order to facilitate constructive feedback.'
|
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Students who successfully complete this course should be able to demonstrate by examination, the completion of an essay, the completion of a ten-minute presentation, and participation in class discussion an ability to:
- Demonstrate a detailed understanding of the issues surrounding nuclear weapons during the Cold War; - - Engage in historical arguments both orally and in writing;
- - Set their own historical research agenda in relation to the study of Cold War nuclear issues by:
Formulating seminar and essay questions;
Identifying the significance of key changes and continuities in policy and perception;
Understanding key theoretical concepts surrounding the position of nuclear weapons in international relations
- - Understand the utility of different types of primary materials, written and non-written, in evaluating historical processes;
- - Actively participate in group discussion;
- To access library and IT resources efficiently.
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Reading List
Gaddis, John Lewis, Philip H. Gordon, Ernest R. May, and Jonathan Rosenberg (eds.), Cold War Statesmen Confront the Bomb (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).
Gavin, Francis J., Nuclear Statecraft: History and Strategy in America's Atomic Age (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2012)
Hennessy, Peter, The Secret State: Preparing For The Worst, 1945-2010 (London: Penguin, 2010)
Hershberg, James G. and Christian F. Ostermann, 'The Global Cuban Missile Crisis at 50: New Evidence From Behind the Iron, Bamboo, and Sugarcane Curtains, and Beyond' Cold War International History Project Bulletin 17/18 (Fall, 2012), http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/CWIHP_Cuban_Missile_Crisis_Bulletin_17-18.pdf
Jones, Matthew, After Hiroshima: The United States, Race, and Nuclear Weapons in Asia, 1945-1965 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010)
Maddock, Shane J., Nuclear Apartheid: The Quest for American Atomic Supremacy from World War II to the Present (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010)
Tannenwald, Nina, The Nuclear Taboo: The United States and the Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons Since 1945, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007) available through CBOL
Trachtenberg, Marc, A Constructed Peace: The Making of the European Settlement, 1945-1963 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999)
Weart, Spencer R., Nuclear Fear: A History of Images (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988)
Zubok, Vladislav, Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War From Stalin to Gorbachev (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009)
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
The transferable skills for this course will consist of the following skills:
- Developing the students' ability to organize and lead meetings through taking control of seminar discussions on selected weeks
- Developing the ability to express complex arguments through giving oral presentations on selected weeks
- Developing student competency with IT resources and developing the necessary skills to conduct thoughtful and effective independent research |
| Keywords | Nuclear Cold War |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Malcolm Craig
Tel:
Email: mcraig@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Marie-Therese Rafferty
Tel: (0131 6)50 3780
Email: M.T.Rafferty@ed.ac.uk |
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