Dissertation Project: 

Why and how do states decide to develop different weapon capabilities within a similar military domain? Contrary to the existing literature, I argue that ideas, particularly those about the future, play a critical role in shaping states’ decisions about military technology. Based on original archival evidence from eleven archives and seventy in-depth interviews with key defense stakeholders, I contend that domestic actors’ ideas about future warfare—what I call the “images of warfare,” consisting of actors’ perceptions of the threat environment and their theory of victory—shape actors’ preferences for particular military capabilities. 

Picture from Pexels

Not all of these ideas, however, are equally influential. I therefore trace how those within the military, the legislative and executive branches, the industry, and the community of defense analysts bargain over their technological preferences. In order to transform ideas into actual capabilities, I argue that actors need to build a cross-cutting coalition within the broader defense community around their “imagined security interests,” while exploiting access points to the state. To test this theory, I use comparative case studies, in which I analyze the development of military capabilities around three major technologies in four different countries: air power (1920s-1930s), aircraft carriers (1950s-1960s), and missile defense (1990-today) in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and India. 

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OTHER WORK IN PROGRESS: 

•  Up in Arms: The Influence of Political Parties on Compliance with Arms Export Regulations. (working paper)
• Writing IR after COVID-19: Reassessing Political Possibilities, Good Faith and Policy Relevance. With Benoît Pelopidas. (working paper)
• The Never-Ending Pursuit of Missile Defenses. (working paper)
• An Inescapable Paradox? The Obama Administration and Missile Defense. (in preparation)
• Culture and Technology as Ambiguous Variables. With Erik Peinert. (in preparation)
• Measuring Elite Understandings of Nuclear Deterrence. With Daniel Post. (data collection)

Buffer Zone, Nicosia, Cyprus. Picture by Sanne Verschuren