I. ASCRC General Education Form Group VIII Ethics and Human Values / and IX American and European Dept/Program History Course # 460 Course Title Problems of Peace and Security Prerequisite none Credits 3 II. Endorsement/Approvals Complete the form and obtain signatures before submitting to Faculty Senate Office Please type / print name Signature Date Instructor Paul Lauren Phone / Email 243-4086 paul.lauren@mso.umt.edu Program Chair Richard Drake Dean Jerry Fetz III. Description and purpose of the course: General Education courses must be introductory and foundational. They must emphasize breadth, context, and connectedness; and relate course content to students future lives: See Preamble: http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/gened/gepreamble_final.htm Perhaps no question is more fundamental to life on this earth than that of survival. This course explores some of the most challenging issues of survival in our world today by focusing on problems of peace and security. It introduces students to this complex subject by means of a topical and thematic approach that focuses on such topics as ethics and statecraft, the relationship between human rights and peace and security, intelligence activities within a democratic society, deterrence and pacifism, and military conscription. In doing so, the course clearly addresses the power and influence of America and Europe on the rest of the world. IV. Criteria: Briefly explain how this course meets the criteria for the group. See: http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/ascrcx/adocuments/ge_criteria5-1-08.htm Group VIII Ethics and Human Values This course rigorously explores the basic concepts and form of reasoning that define and distinguish several different traditions of ethical thought emerging from both religious and philosophical sources as they relate to issues of peace and security in the world. Group IX American and European This course approaches the subject of peace Perspectives and security from a Western perspective due to the fact that it is the antecedents, principles, institutions, cultures, traditions, legacies, and power of America and Europe that largely determines the course of peace and security in the world today. V. Student Learning Goals: Briefly explain how this course will meet the applicable learning goals. See: http://www.umt.edu/facultysenate/ascrcx/adocuments/ge_criteria5-1-08.htm
Group VIII Ethics and Human Values Group IX American and European Perspectives Students will be able to analyze, critically evaluate, and apply basic ethical concepts about the relationship between ends and means, consequentialism, technology, terrorism, conscription, deterrence and pacifism, intelligence activities within democratic societies, and the relationship of human rights to peace and security. Students will be able to demonstrate an informed and reasoned understanding of American and European historical and contemporary behavior, ideas, institutions, culture, and power on the contemporary world; and to analyze and evaluate what is distinctive and significant about this experience and legacy. VII. Syllabus: Paste syllabus below or attach and send digital copy with form. The syllabus should clearly describe how the above criteria are satisfied. For assistance on syllabus preparation see: http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/syllabus.html Fall Semester 2008 Wednesdays 2-5 LA 203 Professor Lauren History 460E PROBLEMS OF PEACE AND SECURITY: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE No question is more fundamental or more universal to the world than that of survival. We long have known this fact, but the attacks of 11 September, the subsequent War on Terrorism, and recent Russian military action against Georgia readily remind us of its immediacy. Security does not come easily or cheaply, and those who work for peace must be aware of the complex dimensions of the problems if they are to be effective. This course proposes to deal with a number of the critical and controversial issues in this area of peace and security, and thereby address some of the most important concerns of the global community and of leaders and citizens in a democracy. Any understanding of peace and national security requires an interdisciplinary approach that explores the dimensions of time, geography, and scope. It must be able to deal with the historical past of Thucydides as well as the present of George W. Bush, and to anticipate the
future with a new U.S. president on the basis of previous experience. It must be able to analyze American foreign policy within the larger context of the fallout from the collapse of the Soviet Union, the revolutionary changes in Eastern Europe and the former Yugoslavia, the repression of students in Tiananmen Square, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It must be able to range from problems like security and military technology on a global scale to individual needs on a very personal level like human rights or conscientious objection to conscription. Moreover, it must be able to appreciate not only the practical dilemmas of making actual policy within a democracy as in intelligence matters, but also the ethical dimensions of those same policies. In order to combine some of the best features of a lecture class with those of a seminar, this course will meet once a week on Wednesdays for a three-hour session which will provide concentrated time for discussion and debate over highly controversial issues. Such controversies are not only unavoidable in the area of peace and national security questions, but will be actively encouraged in order to understand the various problems that must be faced. Toward this end, class sessions will include time after the major lecture for two student presentations taking very distinct -- and different -- points of view. The class schedule, required readings, and specific assignments for the course are all indicated on the following pages. History 460 - Problems of Peace and Security Page 2 Class Schedule & Required Reading 27 August INTRODUCTION: PROBLEMS OF PEACE AND SECURITY An introduction to the course, its assignments and requirements, and the substantive issues to be addressed. Richard Clarke, Against All Enemies, pp. ix-xiii. Gordon Graham, Ethics and International Relations (2 nd ed.), pp. x- 24. 3 September DIFFERING PERSPECTIVES ON PEACE AND SECURITY: PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL SECURITY AND INTERNATIONAL PEACE Solutions to problems of history, the present, and anticipated problems of the future often have been determined by whether or not one focuses upon the
perspective of the nation state or the perspective of the world as a whole. Recent historical experiences of our own century offer several fascinating suggestions. Paul Gordon Lauren, The Diplomats and Diplomacy of the United Nations, in Gordon A. Craig and Francis Lowenheim (eds.), The Diplomats, 459-488 (on Reserve in the Mansfield Library). National Security Strategy of the United States, 2002, at www. whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.html 10 September PEACE AND SECURITY IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: PROBLEMS OF "LESSONS" FROM HISTORY The many historical experiences of the past need to be interpreted in order to provide meaning for the present and the future. In this endeavor, the past indicates many different interpretations and, hence, problems of clearly defining the "national interest," of choosing between competing approaches to peace and security, and of learning "lessons" of history. History 460 - Problems of Peace and Security Page 3 Richard Clarke, Against All Enemies, pp. 1-131. Paul Gordon Lauren, Gordon A. Craig, and Alexander L. George, Lessons of History and Knowledge for Statecraft, in Force and Statecraft (4 th ed.), pp. 137-150 (on Reserve in the Mansfield Library). Gordon Graham, Ethics and International Relations, pp. 25-49. 17 September POLITICAL VIOLENCE AND INNOCENT VICTIMS: PROBLEMS OF CONTEMPORARY TERRORISM Organized violence can take a variety of forms in the contemporary world and is not restricted to massed armies. Increasingly, terrorism is a form of political violence influencing the world and opening up serious ethical debate about ends and means, for one person's terrorist might be another persons' freedom fighter. Richard Clarke, Against All Enemies, pp. 133-287.
Gordon Graham, Ethics and International Relations, pp. 123-155. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 24 September INTELLIGENCE, PEACE, AND SECURITY: PROBLEMS OF INTELLIGENCE OPERATIONS Peace and national security frequently require the collection, assessment, and transmission of intelligence information to decision makers. Certain features of espionage and covert operations, however, create serious political, legal, and moral problems, particularly in open societies with democratic values. Mark Lowenthal, Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy (3 rd ed.), pp. 1-189 and 290-304. invest one hour exploring the Web site for the Central Intelligence Agency at www.cia.gov History 460 - Problems of Peace and Security Page 4 1 October POWER AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE: PROBLEMS OF TECHNOLOGY AND THE "FATE OF NEMESIS" In Greek mythology, Nemesis, the goddess of fate, sometimes punished man by fulfilling his wishes too completely. It has remained for our own nuclear age to experience the full irony of this penalty with the problems created for peace and security by modern communication and weapons technology. Gordon Graham, Ethics and International Relations, pp. 77-96. Richard Rhodes, Living with the Bomb, in National Geographic (August 2005), pp. 99-113 (on Reserve in the Mansfield Library). invest one hour exploring the Web site www.yahoo. com/goverment/military/weapons_and_equipment 8 October FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND NATIONAL SECURITY: PROBLEMS WITH THE "RIGHT" AND THE "NEED" TO KNOW Open, democratic societies deplore secrecy and depend upon freedom of speech for their continued existence. That very existence may be threatened by such liberty, however, for what people tell themselves they also tell their
adversaries. Mark Lowenthal, Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy, pp. 191-218. USA PATRIOT Act, at www.aclu.org/safeandfree/ Mike Mansfield, "Select Committee to Study Government Intelligence," Mansfield Papers, Series XXI (on Reserve). 15 October MID-TERM EXAMINATION 2:10-3:40 History 460 - Problems of Peace and Security Page 5 22 October CIVILIAN POLICY AND MILITARY STRATEGY: PROBLEMS OF CIVILIAN CONTROL OVER MILITARY INSTITUTIONS One of the most critical issues that any society must face is that of determining whether military institutions are the makers or the instruments of policy. The problems associated with this struggle between civilian and military authorities for control of the ends and the means of policy are enormous. Richard Hooker, Jr., Soldiers of the State: Reconsidering American Civilian-Military Relations, Parameters (Winter 2003-2004): 4-18 (on Reserve in the Mansfield Library). 29 October DETERRENCE, PACIFISM, AND ARMS CONTROL: PROBLEMS OF DIFFERENT PATHS TOWARD PEACE The traditional approaches to peace will continue to generate great debate as they compete with each other for the best way to achieve peace and security in the post-cold War world. Gordon Graham, Ethics and International Relations, pp. 51-76.
John Deutch, A Nuclear Posture for Today, Foreign Affairs (January/ February 2005): 49-60 (on Reserve in the Library). * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 5 November WEAPONS, POLITICS, AND ECONOMICS: PROBLEMS OF ARMS RACES, ARMS SALES, AND PROLIFERATION While the "fate of Nemesis" makes weapons increasingly destructive, the political and/or economic desire to provide these weapons to other nations or groups, including terrorists, often contributes to even greater global violence. Gordon Graham, Ethics and International Relations, pp. 157-184. invest one hour exploring the Web site of the Arms Sales Monitoring Project of the American Federation of Scientists at www.fas.org/asmp History 460 - Problems of Peace and Security Page 6 12 November SECURITY NEEDS AND NATIONAL VALUES: PROBLEMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND SECURITY Peace and security relate not only to physical survival but also to the protection and promotion of cherished values. Problems of serious and complex dimensions are created, however, when values and security needs appear to conflict, as frequently occurs with reference to the promotion of human rights around the world. Gordon Graham, Ethics and International Relations, pp. 97-122. invest one hour in exploring the Web site of Amnesty International at www.amnesty.org 19 November RESPONSIBILITIES OF STATESMANSHIP & ETHICAL VALUES: PROBLEM OF NATIONAL SECURITY AND ETHICS The requirements of security and protection of the "national interest" often appear to be in sharp contrast to peace and ethics. Conscientious statesmen and citizens, therefore, are constantly plagued with problems created by the tension between making decisions in the world as it is and a desire to make the world in the way it might be.
26 November HOLIDAY Gordon Graham, Ethics and International Relations, pp. 185-207. Mark Lowenthal, Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy, pp. 255-273. Paul Gordon Lauren, From Impunity to Accountability, in R. Thakur and P. Malcontent (eds.), From Sovereign Impunity to International Accountability, pp. 15-41 (on Reserve in the Mansfield Library). 3 December TOWARD THE FUTURE & DISCUSSION History 460 - Problems of Peace and Security Page 7 Our examination of problems of peace and security in the past and how thoughtful men and women have tried to solve them may allow us to anticipate problems likely to arise in the future. Richard Clarke, Against All Enemies, pp. 289-291. Mark Lowenthal, Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy, pp. 220-253 and 274-288. Condoleezza Rice, Rethinking the National Interest, Foreign Affairs (July/August 2008): 2-26 (on Reserve in the Mansfield Library). 10 December FINAL EXAMINATION 1:10-3:10 p.m. (The Final Examination is designed as a comprehensive, two-hour essay exam, but an additional hour will be provided for those students who desire extra time, beginning at 12:10). In addition to the other required reading assignments, all students will be required to become very familiar with at least one document from the Digital National Security Archive, a data base of previously classified security documents. This assignment will be explained in more
detail during class. History 460E is an advanced course designed to emphasize the following educational objectives: knowledge (acquiring information and terminology), comprehension (distinguishing meaning and significance), application (understanding relevance to other situations), analysis (reasoning and clarification of relationships), synthesis (combining and rearranging knowledge), and evaluation (weighing arguments against each other and making judgments based upon evidence). Students will be given several opportunities to demonstrate their skills in these areas as they earn their grade for the course by means of the following: Oral Presentation and Written Report (15%), Mid-Term Examination (30%), Final Comprehensive Examination (50%), and Quality of Classroom Participation (5%). All University of Montana regulations concerning deadlines for drop-ads, grading options, plagiarism, and other related matters apply. Students with questions about any of these should consult the University Catalog or Professor Lauren. All students should visit with Professor Lauren about their specific assignments and reports. Office hours this semester are 11-12 on M, W, F, and by appointment in LA 251. *Please note: As an instructor of a general education course, you will be expected to provide sample assessment items and corresponding responses to the Assessment Advisory Committee.