MVZb2019 Cuban Missile Crisis: Academic writing workshop

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2025
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Prof. James Gerard Richter, M.A., Ph.D. (lecturer), prof. PhDr. Zdeněk Kříž, Ph.D. (deputy)
Mgr. Jana Urbanovská, Ph.D. (assistant)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Zdeněk Kříž, Ph.D.
Department of International Relations and European Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Olga Cídlová, DiS.
Supplier department: Department of International Relations and European Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Prerequisites
Students are expected to read the book by Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali, “One Hell of a Gamble,” Khrushchev, Castro and Kennedy, 1958-1964.” New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1997, especially chapters 5-15. There will be some short things to read during the class, mostly documents.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 17 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/17, only registered: 0/17
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 26 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
This course uses a detailed study of the Cuban Missile Crisis to improve students’ ability to formulate and present written arguments (in English) to academic and policy-oriented audiences.
Learning outcomes
The students should emerge from the course with a better understanding of the Cuban Missile Crisis in particular as well as more general issues of crisis bargaining and conflict resolution in a nuclear age. More importantly, the students should improve their ability to construct and articulate written arguments to both academic academic and policy-oriented audiences.
Syllabus
  • The Cuban Missile Crisis: Setting the Stage Reflections on Writing: Constructing Questions The Cuban Missile Crisis: Decision-making in Moscow and Washington Reflections on Writing: Descriptive Writing: Summarizing arguments, Describing event The Cuban Missile Crisis: Communications, Bargaining and Blunders Reflections on Writing: Constructing, Organizing and Defending Arguments The Cuban Missile Crisis: The Lessons Reflections on Writing: Editing
Literature
  • Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali, “One Hell of a Gamble,” Khrushchev, Castro and Kennedy, 1958-1964.” New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1997, especially chapters 5-15
Teaching methods
Short lectures, class discussions, brief writing exercises and editing
Assessment methods
Writing exercises during class sessions, short paragraph-long assignments for Tuesday and Wednesday and a rough draft of the final paper due on Friday Final, polished paper of 1500-2000 words.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught in blocks.
Note related to how often the course is taught: October 17-21, 2022.
General note: Read the book "A Hell of A Gamble" by Anatoly Fursenko before the course.
Teacher's information
NOVEMBER 11-11, 2024, each day
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Autumn 2020, Autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2023, Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/autumn2025/MVZb2019