James S. Johnson, PhD

Welcome! I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Monterey USA. I am also an honorary visiting fellow and adjunct professor with the School of History & International Relations, University of Leicester. I spent most of my career in various roles and locations within the financial sector, and have lived and worked in China for almost two decades. I now juggle post-doc research projects, teaching appointments, and ad-hoc work with think-tanks, policy officials, and the defense community.

My research combines a regional focus on East Asia (especially China) with a thematic focus on emerging technologies (especially AI) and the future of warfare. These themes are examined in articles with The Pacific Review, Asian Security, Comparative Strategy, Defense & Security Analysis, The Journal of Cyber Policy (Chatham House), RUSI Journal, The Strategic Studies Quarterly, The Washington Quarterly, War on the Rocks, and my book, The US-China Military & Defense Relationship during the Obama Presidency. My latest book project is entitled, Artificial Intelligence & the Future of Warfare: USA, China, & Strategic Stability.

I hold a PhD in Politics & International Relations from the University of Leicester, and an MA in Asia-Pacific studies. I am fluent in Mandarin.

Latest Book

Recent Articles

'Artificial Intelligence: A Threat to Strategic Stability'

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

'The AI-Cyber Nexus: Implications for Military Escalation, Deterrence, & Strategic Stability'

'The End of Military-Technological Pax Americana? U.S.-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 U.S.'

‘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 U.S. 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’