TRN409H1F/GLA 2050H (Lec 0101)

Selected Topics in International Studies

Nuclear weapons and world politics

Instructor: Prof. Jack Cunningham
Duration: Fall 2025 term | Wednesday, 1-3 PM

Nuclear weapons are symbols of modernity and technological prowess and acquiring them is seen as a shortcut to major power status. Since their invention, they have shaped the conduct of war and diplomacy and the workings of the international system. The question of who has them, and who doesn’t, has become central to global stability, and has never been more relevant than it is now.

This course addresses the nature and degree to which the international system has been changed by nuclear weapons, and the role their possession has in world politics. It begins with the breakthroughs in nuclear physics of the early 20th Century, and the emergence of the power of the atom as a symbol of the future. We will proceed to cover the development and use of the first atomic weapons during the Second World War, and the failure of early efforts to place nuclear weapons under international control.

Subsequent sessions will cover the evolution of the weapons themselves and of nuclear strategy, the superpower arms race and the emergence of a relatively stable “balance of terror.” We will look at the major international crises involving nuclear weapons, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis. There will be some attention to the emergence of nuclear arms control and disarmament, antinuclear movements and the domestic politics of nuclear weapons, and the treatment of nuclear weapons and war in popular culture. Canada will be considered as a state that did not become a nuclear power, Britain and France as two that did.