BCSIA Annual Report, 1981-1982: Other Center Activities

BCSIA: 1981-1982 ANNUAL REPORT
5. Other Center Activities

OTHER PROGRAM ACTIVITIES

"Technology, War, and Peace", Fall 1982

In the fall semester 166 students enrolled in this course, offered by the Center for the seventh
consecutive year and cosponsored by the Office of General Education and the Kennedy School
of Government. It was taught by Professors Carnesale and Nacht, with the assistance of three
CSIA teaching fellows. Lectures addressed the following subjects:

Introduction
The A-Bomb: The Physics and the Physicists
Hiroshima, the Baruch Plan, and the Origins of the Cold War
The H-Bomb and the Soviet Threat
Political-Military Implications of Nuclear Weapons
Reaching for a Nuclear Strategy
Open (Columbus Day Holiday)
Nuclear Arms at the Table (and at the Brink)
Strategic Forces
Strategic Doctrine: Deterrence and Its Critics
Salt I
Salt II
Strategic Issues for the 1980s
Medium Nuclear Powers
Midterm
Open (Veterans Day Holiday)
Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Weapons
Nuclear Proliferation
Limited War in Theory and Practice
Movie
The Role of Systems Analysis
Weapons Procurement
European Security
Regional Security
The Future of Arms Control
Summary

Working Groups

This year there were two working groups in which the CSIA Research Staff participated. These
groups provided a framework for collaborative research.

The Political Instability Working Group, led by Michael Nacht, examined patterns of regime

change in developing countries and the implications of these patterns for American policy. Part
of the working group i.8 attempting a statistical study to Identify political, social, economic, and
military indices that have been prevalent prior to regime changes in the less developed countries
from 1960 through 1979. Other participants in the group developed case studies of individual
regime changes and the role of American policy prior to, during, and immediately after these
changes. The ultimate objective of the group was to produce an analytical framework for
assessing: (1) the likelihood of regime changes in specific developing countries; and (2)
appropriate American policies prior to these regime changes.

The Ballistic Missile Defense Working Group, led by Albert Carnesale, examined the

implications of the renewed American interest in the contribution that an anti-ballistic missile
system might make to American security. The group evaluated the technological progress of the
past decade and of the foreseeable future in order to gauge the feasibility of a meaningful BMD
deployment. It also assessed the impact that a plausible BMD system might have on strategic
doctrine and on the stability of the nuclear balance. Finally, it addressed the problems raised for
arms control, and particularly the ABM Treaty, by possible BMD deployments.

Table of Contents:

OverviewOrganization and Personnel

Research and PublicationsSeminarsOther Center ActivitiesRelated Professional ActivitiesFormer Members of the Research Staff