Jeffrey Michaels

IEN Senior Fellow
Visiting Research Fellow, Department of War Studies, King's College London
Visiting Research Fellow, Changing Character of War Centre, Pemroke College, Oxford
Contact data
Biography
Jeffrey joined IBEI in September 2020 as IEN Senior Fellow in American Foreign Policy and International Security, under IBEI and Institut d’Estudis Nord-americans (IEN) new programme. Earlier experience included working as a Senior Lecturer in Defence Studies at King’s College London, as well as serving as an official with NATO and the US Defense Department. He also holds Visiting Fellowships with the Department of War Studies at King's and the Changing Character of War Centre, Pembroke College, Oxford.
His research into foreign policy decision-making and the study of war incorporates different approaches from political science and history. He is particularly interested in US foreign policy from the Cold War to the present, the use of analogies and metaphors in decision-making, as well as exploring the connection between policymakers' conceptions of war and their decisions to initiate or refrain from war. His research has been published in The Journal of Cold War Studies, The Journal of Strategic Studies, Political Science Quarterly, International Politics Reviews, Small Wars and Insurgencies, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, the RUSI Journal, Contemporary Security Policy and Orbis. He is also the co-author, with Sir Lawrence Freedman, of The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy (4th Edition).
Background and education
- (2009) PhD in War Studies, King's College London
- (2003) MA in War Studies, King's College London
- (2000) BS in Business Administration, Skidmore College
Awards
- 2012. Amos Perlmutter Prize
Professional memberships & affiliations
- UK Higher Education Academy
Courses
Research
Research interests
- American Foreign Policy
- Nuclear Strategy
- Peace and conflict studies
- Cold War History
- Intelligence Studies
IBEI Research Clusters
Research projects
- The Emergence of European Sovereignty in a World of Systemic Rivalry: Strategic Autonomy and Permissive Consensus (EUSOV) (Researcher)
IEN - IBEI programme on American studies (Programme Academic Coordinator)
Selected publications
- 2022.One President at a Time? How the President-Elect Shapes U.S. Foreign Policy during the Transition.Presidential Studies Quarterly,OnlineLink
- 2022.“No annihilation without representation”: NATO nuclear use decision-making during the Cold War.Journal of Strategic Studies,DOI: 10.1080/01402390.2022.2074405Link
- 2022.Deterrence and War Initiation Decisions.The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies,January 2022Link
- 2020.A “Responsible End” to the Afghan War: The Politics and Pitfalls of Crafting “Success” Narratives.In:
David Ryan, David Fitzgerald and John Thompson (eds)
.Not Even Past: How the United States Ends Wars.Berghahn. - 2020.Visions of the Next War or Reliving the Last One: Early Alliance Views of War with the Soviet Bloc.Journal of Strategic Studies,Published online May 2020
- 2020.An Education in Counterinsurgency? The National Interdepartmental Seminar on Problems of Development and Internal Defense, 1962-1971.International Politics Reviews,8:11-20
- 2019.The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, 4th edition.Palgrave.
- 2018.You Don’t Hear the Word Britain Anymore: Anglo-American Security Relations in the Era of Brexit and Trump.In:
Robert Johnson and Janna Matlary (eds)
.The United Kingdom’ Defence After Brexit.Palgrave. - 2017.The Nuclear Education of Donald J. Trump.Contemporary Security Policy,38 (1):54-77
- 2017.Waging Protracted Conflict: The Cold War Activism of Frank R. Barnett.Journal of Cold War Studies,19(1):70-98
- 2017.Essence of Indecision: Coup Scripts, Ngo Dinh Diem and the Kennedy Administration.In:
James Gow and Benedict Wilkinson (eds)
.The Art of Creating Power: Freedman on Strategy.Hurst.