Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

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IPOL8558A-F11

Israel and the Bomb

This course is a comprehensive introduction to the study of Israel’s nuclear history and policy within the broader context of understanding the nuclear dimension of Middle East politics. The course focuses on the uniqueness and the exceptionality that constitutes Israel’s nuclear history and policy. By that uniqueness we mean the original policy which Israel devised to acquire and possess nuclear weapons that ultimately made Israel an exceptional case both vis-à-vis the United States non-proliferation policies and vis-a-vis the non-proliferation regime. That policy is known as Israel’s policy of “nuclear opacity” or “nuclear ambiguity,” under which Israel has never officially acknowledged to acquire or possess nuclear weapons, even though since 1970s Israel is universally presumed as a nuclear weapons state. The course ends with reflections about challenge that Israel’s nuclear uniqueness poses both to the United States nonproliferation policy and the non-proliferation regime as a whole.
Course Reference Number (CRN):
90443
Subject Code:
IPOL
Course Number:
8558
Section Identifier:
A

Course

IPOL 8558

All Sections in Fall 2011 - MIIS, MIIS Second Half of Term

Fall 2011 - MIIS, MIIS Second Half of Term

IPOL8558A-F11 Lecture (Cohen)