Nuclear Security Course Development Award

Abstract

This course is supported by “The Stanton Foundation”, created by Dr. Frank Stanton, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA with a grant offered to Prof. Kibaroğlu in 2015 as part of its “Course Development Program” in the field of Nuclear Security Studies. MEF University is the first university outside of the U.S. and listed among the world’s best universities, such as Brown, Cornell, George Washington, Georgetown, Purdue, Lehigh, and Virginia Tech that received Stanton Foundation’s grant to date. The primary objective of this course is to introduce the undergraduate students of the Political Science and International Relations Department to a number of existing and emerging threats posed to international security and stability in the 21st Century emanating from the presence as well as the development of nuclear weapons around the world. In that context, dangers associated with the proliferation of nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles, such as ballistic missiles; the current status of the nuclear non-proliferation regime and the NPT; the growing tension in the relations of the nuclear superpowers, namely the U.S. and Russia; military and political implications of Iran’s nuclear program for the Middle East; India’s and Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities and the arms race in the Sub-Continent; North Korea’s nuclearization and its implications for regional security in the Far East; safety and security problems that arise in connection with the nuclear arsenals in the former Soviet republics; illegal trafficking of nuclear material, know-how and technology used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons; and the possibility of unauthorized seizure of such material by terrorist groups and their possible implications for nuclear security will constitute the main themes of the course throughout the semester.