Security Studies Program Course Offerings
MIT SSP courses are offered through the Department of Political Science
at MIT (Course 17).
These courses include the following:
Course descriptions from the MIT Bulletin are reproduced
below. For information on when each course will next
be offered, or for the times and locations of the current semester's
courses, please see the online
political science course listings. (Click on "Grad
Subjects"
or "Undergrad Subjects" for current and previous listings.)
17.40
American Foreign Policy: Past, Present, and Future
Subject's mission is to explain and evaluate America's past and
present foreign policies. What accounts for America's past wars
and interventions? What were the consequences of American policies?
Overall, were these consequences positive or negative for the US?
For the world? Using today's 20/20 hindsight, can we now identify
policies that would have produced better results? History covered
includes World Wars I and II, the Korean and Indochina wars, and
the Cuban Missile Crisis. Recent and contemporary crises and issues
also covered.
S. Van Evera
- 17.408 Chinese Foreign Policy
- Examines the sources of China's foreign and security policy, past and present. Seminar places particular emphasis on the role of strategy and warfare in China?s interactions with other states. Readings include primary sources such as Sun Zi's Art of War, as well as key secondary works on China's diplomatic and military history covering the periods before and after 1949. Graduate students are expected to explore material in greater depth. Exposure to international relations of Chinese politics required.
M. Taylor Fravel
17.418 Field Seminar in International Relations Theory
Provides an overview of the field of international relations for graduate students. Each week a different approach to explaining international relations is examined. Survey major concepts and theories in the field and assist in the preparation for further study in the department's more specialized graduate offerings in international relations.
M. Taylor Fravel
- 17.42
Causes and Prevention of War
- Examines the causes of war, with a focus on practical measures
to prevent and control war. Topics covered include: causes and
consequences of national misperception; military strategy and
policy as cause of war; US foreign policy as a cause of war and
peace; and the likelihood and possible nature of another world
war. Historical cases are examined, including World War I, World
War II, Korea, and Indochina.
- S. Van Evera
- 17.428 American Foreign Policy: Theory
and Method
- Examines the causes and consequences of American foreign policy
since 1898. Readings cover theories of American foreign policy,
historiography of American foreign policy, central historical
episodes including the two World Wars and the Cold War, case study
methodology, and historical investigative methods.
- S. Van Evera
- 17.432 Causes of War: Theory and Method
- Examines the causes of war. Major theories of war are examined;
case-study and large-n methods of testing theories of war are
discussed; and the case-study method is applied to several historical
cases. Cases covered include World Wars I and II.
- S. Van Evera
-
- 17.433 International Relations of East
Asia
- Examines the sources of conflict and cooperation in the international relations of East Asia since 1945. Topics covered include the origins of the Cold War in the region, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the China-Soviet split, the strategic triangle, the sources of regional order and Chinas rise in the 1990s. Contemporary issues including US-China relations, the Taiwan conflict, North Koreas nuclear weapons program and terrorism will also be explored. Graduate students are expected to complete additional assignments
.
T. Fravel
- 17.436 Territorial Conflict
- While scholars have recognized that territory has been one of the most frequent issues over which states go to war, territorial conflicts have only recently become the subject of systematic study. This course will examine why territorial conflicts arise in the first place, why some of these conflicts escalate to high levels of violence and why other territorial disputes reach settlement, thereby reducing a likely source of violence between states. Readings in the course draw upon political geography and history as well as qualitative and quantitative approaches to political science.
T. Fravel
-
-
- 17.462 Innovation in Military Organizations
- Explores the origins, rate, and impact of innovations in military
organizations, doctrine, and weapons. Emphasis on organization
theory approaches. Comparisons with non-military and non-US experience
included.
- B. Posen
- 17.468 Foundations of Security Studies
- Aims to develop a working knowledge of the theories and conceptual
frameworks that form the intellectual basis of security studies
as an academic discipline. Particular emphasis on balance of power
theory, organization theory, civil-military relations, and the
relationship between war and politics. The reading list includes
Jervis, Schelling, Waltz, Blainey, von Clausewitz, and Huntington.
Students write a seminar paper in which theoretical insights are
systematically applied to a current security issue.
B. Posen
- 17.478 Great Power Military Intervention: Causes, Conduct and Consequences of Military Intervention in Internal Conflicts-Cases from the Post Cold War World
- The purpose of this seminar is to examine systematically, and comparatively, great and middle power military interventions into civil wars during the 1990's. The interventions to be examined are the 1991 effort to protect the Kurds in N. Iraq; the 1993 effort to ameliorate famine in Somalia; the 1994 effort to restore the Aristide government in Haiti, the 1995 effort to end the conflict in Bosnia Herzegovina, and the 1999 NATO war to end Serbia's control of Kosovo. By way of comparison the weak efforts made to slow or stop the 1994 genocide in Rwanda will also be examined.
- B. Posen
-
- 17.482 US Military
Power
- Examines the evolving roles and missions of US General Purpose
Forces within the context of modern technological capabilities
and Grand Strategy, which is a conceptual system of interconnected
political and military means and ends. Topics include US Grand
Strategies; the organization of the US Military; the defense budget;
and the capabilities and limitations of naval, air, and ground
forces. Also examines the utility of these forces for power projections
and the problems of escalation. Analyzes military history and
simple models of warfare to explore how variations in technology
and battlefield conditions can drastically alter effectiveness
of conventional forces.
- B. Posen
17.484 Comparative Grand Strategy and
Military Doctrine- A comparative study of the grand strategies and military doctrines
of the great powers in Europe (Britain, France, Germany, and Russia)
from the late nineteenth tot he mid-twentieth century. Examines
strategic developments in the years preceding and during World
Wars I and II. What factors have exerted the greatest influence
on national strategies? How may the quality of a grand strategy
be judged? Exploration of comparative case study methodology also
plays a central role. What consequences seem to follow from grand
strategies of different types?
- B. Posen
- 17.486 Japan and East Asian Security
- Explores Japan's role in world orders, past, present, and future.
Focuses on Japanese conceptions of security; rearmament debates;
the relationship of domestic politics to foreign policy; the impact
of Japanese technological and economic transformation at home
and abroad; alternative trade and security regimes; and relations
with Asian neighbors, Russia, and the alliance with the United
States. Seminar culminates in a two-day Japanese-centered crisis
simulation, based upon scenarios developed by students.
R. J. Samuels
- 17.537 Politics and Policy in Contemporary
Japan
- Analyzes contemporary Japanese politics, focusing primarily
upon the post-World War II period. Includes examination of the
dominant approaches to Japanese politics and society, the structure
of the party system, the role of political opposition, the policy
process, foreign affairs, and interest groups. Attention to defense,
foreign, industrial, social, energy, technology policy processes.
Graduate students are expected to pursue the subject in greater
depth through reading and class presentations. Assignments differ.
- R.J. Samuels
17.582 Civil War
Surveys the social science literature on civil war. Studies the origins of civil war, discusses variables affecting duration, and examines termination of conflict. Highly interdisciplinary and covers a wide variety of cases. Open to advanced undergraduates with permission of instructor.
R. Petersen, F. Christia
17.584 Civil-Military Relations
Subject consists of five sections. After a general survey of the field, students consider cases of stable civilian control, military rule, and transitions from military to civilian rule. Cases are selected from around the world.
R. Petersen
17.950 Understanding Military Operations
This seminar will break apart current and possible future sea,
air, space, and land battlefields into their constituent parts
and look at the interaction in each of those warfare areas between
existing military doctrine and current and projected technological
trends in weapons, sensors, communications, and information processing.
It will specifically seek to explore how technological development,
innovation and/or stagnation are influenced in each warfare area
by military doctrine.
O. Cote
17.953 US Military Budget and Force Planning
This course is for students who want to know how the dollars
we spend on national security relate to military forces, systems,
and policy choices, and who wish to develop a personal tool kit
for framing and assessing defense policy alternatives. The course
aims to familiarize students with budgetary concepts and processes;
to examine relationships among strategy, forces, and budgets;
to explore tradeoffs among the main categories of defense spending;
and to develop frameworks for identifying the costs of new military
policies.
C. Williams
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