Defense Statecraft (DIP 750)
Spring 2011
Wednesday 1:00pm-3:30pm
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 U.S. foreign policy, and the capacity of the Army, Air Force, Navy,
and Marines to execute that policy. We will also study the
administrative, budget, and procurement aspects of defense policy. Students
should expect to gain familiarity with the key military policy issues that
confront government officials, and to become able to evaluate the claims of
journalists and advocacy organizations that confront informed American opinion.
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 (at least five total posts) 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 9, and the first day for turning in your last memo is March
30.
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 online or will be made available in the computer room. The
latter are designated by italics.
Week 1: January 12 War,
Politics, and Coercion Revisited
Week 2: January
19 Conventional Ground Combat
Stephen
Biddle, Military Power; 1-107, 132-149.
E.D. Swinton, The Defence of Duffer’s
Drift in Burgoyne, Defense of Jisr al-Doreaa
Week 3: January 26 Force
Quality
Kenneth
Pollack, Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948-1991 (Lincoln: University
of Nebraska Press, 2002), 1-148.
Week 4: February 2 Transformation
and RMA
Dima Adamsky, The
Culture of Military Revolution
Week 5: February 9 COIN
FM 3-24:
Counterinsurgency, December 2006; Chapters 1-8
Michael
L. Burgoyne, Defense of Jisr al-Doreaa
Week 6: February
16 Naval Warfare
Wayne
Hughes, Fleet Tactics and Coastal Combat; 1-44, 145-168, 266-309
Frank
Hoffman, From Preponderance to Partnership
A Cooperative Strategy
for 21st Century Seapower
Week 7: February
23 Air Warfare
Noah Shachtman, How the Afghanistan Air War Got Stuck in the Sky
Robert Pape, Bombing to Win: Air Power and Coercion in War.
Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996; 55-136
Anthony Cordesman,
America’s Self-Destroying Air Power
Charles Dunlap, Shortchanging the Joint
Fight
Week 8: March
2 Nuclear Weapons
Lawrence Freedman, “The First Two Generations
of Nuclear Strategists,” in Peter Paret ed. Makers of
Modern Strategy. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1987; 735-778.
Jeffrey Lewis, After the Reliable Replacement
Warhead
Keir Lieber and Daryl Press, The Nukes
We Need
Week 9: March
9 Special Operations
Susan
Marquis,
Unconventional Warfare, 1-90, 203-270
Richard B. Andres, Craig Wills and Thomas E.
Griffith Jr. “Winning with Allies: The Strategic Value of the Afghan Model”
International Security Vol. 30, No. 3 (Winter,
2005/2006) (pp. 124-160)
Week 10: March 23
Robots
P.W.
Singer, Wired for War, 1-149; 170-260, 382-412
Week 11: March 30
Private Security
P. W.
Singer, Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry,
3-150.
Week 12: April 6 The
Services and Interservice Rivalry
Carl
H. Builder, The Masks of War
Clark
Murdoch et al, Beyond Goldwater-Nichols: Defense Reform for a New Strategic
Era. Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2005: Phase
1
Week 13: April 13 The Defense Budget
Mackenzie
Eaglen, US Defense Spending: The Mismatch Between Plans and Resources
Travis Sharp, Vision Meets Reality
Lawrence
Korb and Laura Conly,
Strong and Sustainable
Week 14: April 20 The Defense Industry
Stephen Brooks, Producing Security,
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989); 80-129
Week 15: April 27 The
Global Military
Dana
Priest, The Mission, 11-120.