Defense
Statecraft (DIP 750)
Spring 2008
Tuesday
3:30pm-6:00pm
Dr. Robert M. Farley
Office: Patterson 467
Office Hours: Tuesday, 1-3pm
Office Telephone: 859-257-4668
E-mail: farls0@gmail.com
Introduction
Military organizations are
complex tools of statecraft. This course examines the role that military force
plays in
Format
Student discussion will take up
the bulk of class time. I expect
everyone to attend, have studied the readings, and have a familiarity with
current events. Any major reputable newspaper
will suffice for the latter, although I prefer the New York Times.
Grading
Grading will be based on class
participation (20%), class blog participation (10%), and three 4-6 page memos
(15% each) and one final examination (25%).
Each student is required to post
at least once to the class blog, defensestatecraft.blogspot.com, in each of
five weeks during the course of the semester.
The idea of the blog is to promote serious discussions of the readings
and of current events tied to military statecraft. I will monitor blog postings
and assign a grade based on quantity and quality of participation. Postings
should specifically integrate the material from class readings and extend class
debates.
Each of the three 4-6 page memos
must be typed and double-spaced. Please
do not exceed the page limit. The point
of the assignment is to present information in a cogent and concise manner. The topic is up to you, but ideally will
concern the convergence of a current event or situation with assigned reading
from the class day in question. Memos
are due at the beginning of class on the day of the relevant reading. You will be expected to turn in one memo during
each third of the course. Thus, the last
day for turning in your first memo is February 12, and the first day for turning
in your last memo is March 24.
You will be required to make an
oral presentation and defense of one memo during class. You must indicate to me a preference for
which week to present by the second week of the course, such that I can stagger
presentations. The presentation should last about fifteen minutes, and will be
followed by a fifteen minute question and answer period. The presentation
will make up 50% of your participation grade, or 10% of the total grade.
The memos will be evaluated on
both content and presentation.
Information must be accurate, arguments must be well thought out, and
style must be compelling.
Class Materials
Purchase of the following books
is recommended, but not required.
The rest of the class readings
are either available online or can be found in Patterson 469.
Week 1 (1/15): Introduction
Week 2 (1/22): Politics and Military Force
Samuel Huntington, Soldier and the State.
Carl Von Clausewitz, On War: Indexed Edition.
Princeton:
Week 3 (1/29): Politics and
Military Force (II)
P.W. Singer,
Corporate Warriors. (
Dana Priest, The
Michael
Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars 1-50, 127-207, 251-262,
304-328
Week 4 (2/5): Conventional
Ground Combat and Force Quality
Stephen Biddle, Military Power: Explaining
Victory and Defeat in Modern
Kenneth Pollack, Arabs at War:
Military Effectiveness, 1948-1991 (
Week 5 (2/12): Low Intensity
Warfare
Final week to turn in first
memo assignment.
John Nagl,
Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and
Andrew
F. Krepinevich, The Army and
Stephen Biddle, Afghanistan and
the Future of Warfare: Implications for Army
George Packer, “Knowing the Enemy,” The New
Yorker, December 18, 2006
Week 6 (2/19): Low Intensity
Warfare (II)
FM 3-24: Counterinsurgency, December 2006;
Chapters 1-8 (186 pages)
Week 7 (2/26): Naval Warfare /
Power Projection
Wayne Hughes, Fleet Tactics and Coastal
Combat, 2nd edition (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1999), pp. 1-44,
145-168, 266-309
US Naval Strategy in the 1990s, Chapter 3
“From the Sea”, Chapter 5 “Forward… From the Sea”.
Hoffman, Frank, The
Fleet We Need, Armed Forces Journal, August 2006
Week 8 (3/4): Air Power
Robert Pape,
Bombing to Win: Air Power and Coercion in War.
Charles Dunlap, America’s Asymmetric Advantage, Armed Forces
Journal, September 2006
Week 9 (3/18): Nuclear Theory
Lawrence Freedman, “The First Two
Generations of Nuclear Strategists,” in Peter Paret
ed. Makers of Modern Strategy. Princeton:
Lynn Eden, Whole World on Fire.
Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2004; 15-62.
Chris Quillen, “Posse Comitatus and
Nuclear Terrorism,” Parameters, v.32 no. 1 (Spring 2002), 60-74.
Week 10 (3/24): The Military
Services (this is a Monday 6:30pm meeting)
Final week to turn in second
memo assignment.
Carl H. Builder, The Masks of War (
1989)
Allan R. Millett, "Why the
Army and the Marine Corps Should Be Friends,"
Parameters (Winter 1994-95), pp.
30-40.
Week 11 (4/1): Inter-service
Rivalry / Jointness
Frank Hoffman, "Goldwater-Nichols After a Decade," in Willamson
Murray, ed., The Emerging Strategic Environment (Praeger,
1999), pp. 156-182.
Sharon Weiner, "The Politics of Resource
Allocation in the Post-Cold War
Pentagon," Security Studies, Vol. 5, No.
4 (Summer 1996), pp. 125-42.
Christopher M. Schnaubelt,
After the Fight: Interagency Operations, Parameters, Winter 2005/2006
Week 12 (4/8): Strategic
Planning Process
Stephen Rosen, Winning the Next
War: Innovation and the Modern Military, Ithaca: Cornell University Press,
1994; 1-54
Quadrennial Defense Review Report, 2006
Michael C. Desch, "Planning War in Peacetime," Joint Forces
Quarterly (Spring 2002), pp. 94-104.
Week 13 (4/15): Defense Budget
and Procurement
Cindy Williams,
"Introduction," in Cindy Williams, ed., Holding the Line:
Defense Alternatives for the
Early 21st Century (
U.S. Congressional Budget Office, The Long-Term Implications of Current
Defense Plans (September 2005)
Stephen P. Rosen, "Systems
Analysis and the Quest for Rational Defense," Public Interest (Summer
1984), pp. 3-17. Builder, pp. 95-114.
Eugene Gholz and
Harvey M. Sapolsky, "Restructuring the U.S.
Defense
Industry," International Security, Vol.
24, No. 3 (Winter 1999-2000), pp. 5-51.
Week 14 (4/22): Transformation
/ RMA
Final week to turn in third
memo assignment.
Andrew F. Krepinevich,
"Cavalry to Computer: The Pattern of Military
Revolutions," The National Interest, No.
37 (Fall 1994), pp. 30-43.
Elizabeth Stanley-Mitchell,
"Technology's Double-Edged Sword: The Case of
U.S. Army Battlefield Digitization,"
Defense Analysis, Vol. 17, No. 3 (December
Peter J. Dombrowski,
Eugene Gholz, and Andrew L. Ross, "Selling
Military
Transformation: The Defense Industry and
Innovation," Orbis, Vol. 46, No. 3
Williamson Murray, Military
Transformation and Legacy Forces, Joint Forces Quarterly, Spring 2002
Colin S. Gray, “How has War changed
since the end of the Cold War?” Parameters, Spring 2005.