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 Journal of Strategic Studies, The Pacific Review, Asian Security, The Journal of Cyber Policy (Chatham House), The RUSI Journal, The Strategic Studies Quarterly, The Washington Quarterly, Comparative Strategy, Defense & Security Analysis, 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 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, & 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’