James Johnson, PhD

Welcome! I am a Lecturer in Strategic Studies in the Department of Politics & International Relations at the University of Aberdeen. I am also an Honorary Fellow at the University of Leicester, a Non-Resident Associate on the Towards a Third Nuclear Age ERC-funded project, and a Mid-Career Cadre with the CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues. I was previously an Assistant Professor at Dublin City University, a Non-Resident Fellow with the Modern War Institute at West Point, and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the James Martin Center for Non-Proliferation Studies in Monterey, CA.

My research examines the intersection of nuclear weapons, deterrence, strategic stability, great power competition, and emerging technology – especially artificial intelligence. My work has featured in Journal of Strategic Studies, Pacific Review, Asian Security, Journal of Cyber Policy, RUSI Journal, Strategic Studies Quarterly, The Washington Quarterly, European Journal of International Security, Comparative Strategy, Defense & Security Analysis, War on the Rocks, and other outlets. I am the author of The US-China Military & Defense Relationship during the Obama Presidency (2018), and Artificial Intelligence & the Future of Warfare: USA, China, and strategic stability (2021). My latest book project with Oxford University Press is entitled Artificial Intelligence & the Bomb: Nuclear strategy and risk in the digital age.

​

I hold a PhD in Politics & International Relations from the University of Leicester. Before entering academia, I worked in the financial sector for two decades, mostly in China. I am fluent in Mandarin.

Latest Book

Recent Articles

'Inadvertent Escalation in the Age of Intelligence Machines: A new model for nuclear risk in the digital age'

'Catalytic Nuclear War in the Age of AI and Autonomy: New military technology and inadvertent escalation risk between nuclear powers'

'Deterrence in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy: A paradigm shift in nuclear deterrence theory and practice?'

'Artificial Intelligence in Future Hyper-Warfare: A perfect storm of instability?'

'Delegating Strategic Decisions to Machines: Dr Strangelove redux?'

'Artificial Intelligence: A threat to strategic stability'

'AI, Drone Swarming, and Escalation Risks in Future Warfare'

'The AI-Cyber Nexus: Implications for military escalation, deterrence, and strategic stability'

'The End of Military-Technological Pax Americana? US-China strategic competition in artificial intelligence enabling technologies' 

'Artificial Intelligence & Future Warfare: Implications for international security'

'China’s vision of the future network-centric battlefield: Cyber, space, and electromagnetic asymmetric challenges to the US'

‘Chinese Evolving Approaches to Nuclear ‘War-fighting’: An emerging intense US-China security dilemma in the nuclear domain and threats to crisis stability in the Asia Pacific’ 

‘China’s ‘Guam Express’ and ‘Carrier Killers’: The anti-ship asymmetric challenge to the US in the Western Pacific, and security dilemma explanations’ 

‘Washington’s Perceptions and Misperceptions of Beijing’s Anti-access Area-denial (A2/AD) ‘Strategy’: Implications for military escalation control and strategic stability’