Stoll’s political science class offers students real-world lessons

Stoll’s
political science class offers students real-world lessons
…………………………………………………………………

BY B.J. ALMOND
Rice News Staff

The students enrolled in POLI 378,
“The Politics of American National Security Policy,” couldn’t
have picked a better time to take the course.

The war in Iraq has provided a steady
supply of practical applications of the theories and strategies taught in this
elective course, whose content ranges from the physics of weapons of mass destruction
to the sociology of small-group interactions.

Richard Stoll, professor of political
science, teaches the course and begins each lecture with an update on what has
happened in Iraq since the class last met and answers students’ questions
about the war. But he notes that this is not a “weapon of the week”
or “conflict of the week” course.

“I want students to be able
to intelligently evaluate American national security policy,” said Stoll.

To give students that ability, Stoll
makes them aware of the “nuts and bolts” of military weaponry, such
as the caliber of damage that can be done by various types of missiles, which
explains why the course is nicknamed “Bombs and Rockets.”

That information can give students
a better understanding of what the U.S. military forces are capable of doing
when called upon to engage in conflict. The supply of weapons held by the United
States, its foes and allies also is studied.

Stoll sheds light on military and
war strategy as well, explaining the advantages and disadvantages of attacking
the enemy by land, air, sea or combinations of these approaches.

Equipped with such basics, students
should be able to analyze whether a particular military strike by the United
States makes sense when they see it on CNN or read about it in the paper, said
Stoll, who also is associate dean of social sciences.

While the war in Iraq provides current
examples of the principles Stoll teaches, history remains a critical teaching
aid too. “I do not believe that everything changed with the dropping of
the atomic bomb, 9-11 or the fall of the Berlin Wall, so I spend some time looking
back into history for examples of cases that are still relevant to defense issues
today,” he said. “How we approach situations today is influenced by
what we were planning to do before.”

Stoll cites as an example the U.S.
Navy, which was built in anticipation of how the United States should deal with
the Soviet navy. And the way the Army and Air Force conduct military operations
harkens back to their strategy for dealing with the Soviet army during the Cold
War.

Assignments in the course are designed
to help broaden students’ perspectives on national security. Students have
to research the training backgrounds of the current members of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff and the Commanders of the Unified Combatant Commands. This information
can reveal which career paths are more likely to get someone to the top military
leadership positions and also hint at the kinds of weapons a particular chief
of staff is likely to prefer when conducting a war.

Another assignment requires students
to evaluate the strategic nuclear weapons inventories of the United States and
Russia.

They participate in a hypothetical
surprise first strike by each superpower, calculating the number of silos that
would be destroyed and the number of the attacker’s missiles that would
remain. They then have to draw conclusions about whether each side is capable
of undertaking a successful first strike and define what they would consider
to be “winning” in a nuclear war.

A third project involves reading
the book “Intervention” by Richard Haass to develop a better understanding
of issues relating to a possible U.S. campaign against North Korea to eliminate
its nuclear weapons capability. Stoll selected this assignment because the topic
is often discussed and debated.

The timeliness of the lessons learned
in POLI 378 seems to appeal to students.

“In a lot of other classes,
it’s hard to understand how the subject actually fits,” said Karen
Alexander, a sophomore who is majoring in political science and chemical engineering.
“This one relates to everything going on in the world. It’s scary
that some of the things we’re learning about could become part of policy-making.”

Alexander noted the scattered news
reports on the war in Iraq have been hard to put together, but Stoll’s
presentations have given her a better picture of what’s happening in the
Middle East.

Brandon Skeen, a junior majoring
in political science, said the class has helped him understand the tactical
and strategic ideas that Bush’s administration had and the government’s
game plan. “One of the things we’ve learned is that two-thirds of
the time a military oust of a regime works in the short run, and one-third of
the time it works in the long run.”

Skeen said the course has been particularly
interesting because it gives him something to talk about outside of class. “You
can talk to your peers and other scholars with a viewpoint that has substance.”

Other students who want to be similarly
enlightened about the war and national security policy will have to wait until
the fall semester, when Stoll will be teaching POLI 378 again.

For more info on the course, visit
<http://es.rice.edu/projects/Poli378/>.