Professor Andrew Futter

Professor of International Politics

Contact details

• Tel: +44 (0)116 252 2703
• Email: ajf57@leicester.ac.uk
• Twitter: @andrewfutter
• Office: Attenborough Tower 1009

Personal details

• BA (BHAM), MA (KCL), MRes (BHAM), PhD (BHAM)
• Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (HEA)

I joined the Department as a Lecturer in International Politics in January 2012, was promoted to the position of Associate Professor in International Politics in 2014, and to Professor of International Politics in 2020. Prior to this I was a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Birmingham (where I completed my PhD in 2011) and a Teaching Fellow at the University of Warwick. During 2010, I was a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington DC. From September to December 2015, I was a Visiting Scholar at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California. In Spring 2017, I took up a Fellowship position at the Norwegian Nobel Peace Institute in Oslo. From September 2017 to January 2020 I was Director of Research for Politics and IR.

I am a member of the cyber-nuclear security threats task force run by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, an Honorary Research Fellow in Nuclear Strategy at the Institute for Conflict, Cooperation and Security at the University of Birmingham, and a member of the Euro-Atlantic Security next generation working group.

From July 2020, I will be working on my €1.6m European Research Council-funded "Nuclear Revolution" project.

Publications

Books

The politics of nuclear weapons, 2nd Ed, (Palgrave, 2020)

Hacking the Bomb: Nuclear Weapons, Cyber Threats and the Incipient Digital Age (Georgetown University Press, 2018)

The Politics of Nuclear Weapons (London, SAGE: 2015) 272pp

Ballistic Missile Defence and US National Security: Normalisation and Acceptance after the Cold War (New York & Basingstoke, Routledge: 2013, pb 2015) 230pp

Edited books

Threats to Euro-Atlantic Security, (London, Palgrave: 2019).

The United Kingdom and the Future of Nuclear Weapons (New York, Rowman & Littlefield: 2016) 244pp

Reassessing the Revolution in Military Affairs: transformation, evolution and lessons learnt (with Jeffrey Collins) (London, Palgrave: 2015) 208pp

Journal articles

• "Strategic conventional weapons and the onset of a Third Nuclear Age", European Journal of International Security, (2021) (with Benjamin Zala)
• “Nuclear war, public health, the COVID-19 epidemic: Lessons for prevention, preparation, mitigation, and education”, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 76:5, pp.271-276 (with Richard Lilford, Samuel Watson & Peter Chilton)
• A perfect storm? Coronavirus, Brexit, the Integrated Review, Scottish Independence and the future of Trident, The RUSI Journal, (2020)
• "Cyber semantics: Why we should retire the latest buzzword in security studies", Journal of Cyber Policy, 3:2 (2018) 201-216.
• "Democracy versus deterrence: nuclear weapons and political integrity", Politics, 38:4 (2017) 500-513 (with Stephen Cooke)
• "Questioning the Holy Trinity: why the US nuclear triad still makes sense", Comparative Strategy, 35:4 (2016) 246-259 (with Heather Williams)

• “War Games redux? Cyber threats, US-Russian strategic stability and new challenges for nuclear security and arms control”, European Security, 24:2 (2016) 163-180

• “Conventional prompt global strike: arms racing and strategic stability in a post-unipolar world”, The Nonproliferation Review, 22:3 (2015) 291-299 (with Benjamin Zala)

• "Trident replacement and UK nuclear deterrence requirements in an uncertain future", RUSI Journal, 160:5 (2015) 60-66
• "Iranian nuclear aspirations and strategic balancing in the Middle East", Middle East Policy, XXII:2 (2015) 80-93 (with Stephen Ellis)
• "Coordinating the arm swing with the pivot: nuclear deterrence, stability and US strategy in the Asia-Pacific", The Pacific Review, 28:3 (2015) 367-390 (with Benjamin Zala)
• "Advanced US conventional weapons and nuclear aboliton: why the Obama plan wont work", The Nonproliferation Review, 20:1 (2013) 107-122 (with Benjamin Zala)
• "The elephant in the room: US ballistic missile defence is thriving under Barack Obama", Defense & Security Analysis, 28:1 (2012) 3-16
• "NATO, ballistic missile defence and the future of US tactical nuclear weapons in Europe", European Security, 20:4 (2011) 547-562
• "Getting the balance right: US ballistic missile defence and nuclear non-proliferation", Comparative Strategy, 30:3 (2011) 254-267
• "Short-term tactical gains and long-term strategic problems: the paradox of the troop surge in Iraq", Defence Studies, 10:1-2 (2010) 196-215 (with David H Dunn)

Book chapters

• "Emerging non-nuclear technology and the future of global nuclear order" chapter in The Nobel Peace Institute, "Nuclear Disarmament: A Critical Assessment", (Routledge, 2019)
• "The proliferation of nuclear weapons: dynamics, threats and challenges for Europe", chapter in Hugo Wyss & Hugo Meijer (eds), "The Handbook of European Armed Forces", (Oxford University Press, 2018)
• "Chinese nuclear thinking: antecedents, current challenges and future trajectories", in M Kouhi-Esfahani (ed), "Nuclear politics in Asia", (Routledge; 2017) (with James Johnson)
• "The nuclear deterrence dynamic in Asia", in Harsh V Pant & Ritika Passi, "Raisina Files: Debating the world in the Asian century", (Observer Research Foundation: 2017)

• “Plus ca Change? Reflecting on Obama’s nuclear agenda”, in M Bentley & J Holland (eds.), “The Obama doctrine: legacy and continuity in US foreign policy”, (Routledge: 2016) (with Jason Douglas)

• "US nuclear weapons policy: from primacy to sufficiency" in M Bentley & J Holland, "Obama's foreign policy: ending the war on terror", (Routledge: 2013)
• "Obama's nuclear weapons policy in a changing world", chapter in LSE IDEAS Special Report, "The United States after Polarity", LSE IDEAS , (London: LSE IDEAS: 2011)

Selected professional publications

• "Artificial Intelligence, autonomy and nuclear stability: Towards a more complex nuclear future”, Valdai Discussion Club, (15 October 2020)

• "What does cyber arms control look like?" European Leadership Network Policy Brief (June 2020)
• The risks posed by emerging technologies to nuclear deterrence, chapter in "Perspectives on nuclear deterrence in the 21st century", (Chatham House: April 2020)
• "Why we must prohibit cyber attacks on nuclear systems", Valdai Papers No.95, (15 November 2018)
• "Reports of the death of arms control have been greatly exaggerated", War on the Rocks, (4 October 2018) (with Alex Bell)
• "Global nuclear threats, missile defence and the Trudeau Government's defence review", On Track, (Summer 2016) (with Jeff Collins)
• "Cyberthreats and nuclear weapons", RUSI Occasional Paper, (July 2016)
• “The danger of using cyber attacks to counter nuclear threats”, Arms Control Today, 46:6 (July/August 2016)

• "The double edged sword: US command and control modernisation", Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, (29 June 2016)

• “Is Trident safe from cyber attack?”, European Leadership Network Policy Brief, (5 February 2016)

• "Reflecting on the revolution in military affairs: implications for the use of force today", Valdai Club Discussion Papers #41, (January 2016)
• "War Games redux? Cyber threats, US-Russian strategic stability and future nuclear reductions", Deep Cuts Commission Issue Brief #6, (September 2015)
• "Cyber threats and the challenge of de-alerting US and Russian nuclear forces", Nautilus Institute Policy Forum, (June 2015)
• "Hacking missile defence: the cyber challenge to BMD", Missile Defense Review, (March 2015)

• "Hacking the bomb: assessing the cyber challenge to nuclear weapons", International Studies Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, (February 2015)

• "A sustainable approach to nuclear zero: breaking the nuclear-conventional link", Oxford Research Group, (October 2013), (with Ben Zala)

• "Nuanced US deterrence: treating the symptoms of drivers of nuclear threats", RUSI Project on Nuclear Issues, (May 2012)

• "Why the latest US-Russian arms control agreement is only a START", The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, (29 June 2010)
• “Sensitive Rationalization or Overlooked Expansion? Obama’s New Missile Defence Plan for Europe”, BASIC Getting to Zero Papers, No13 (1st March 2010)

• “Where now for Ballistic Missile Defence: Opportunities and Constraints for the Obama Administration”, World Defence Systems, 12:1 (2009), pp.119-122 (with David Dunn)

I have also written widely for professional and trade publications, including The Conversation, World Politics Review, Argentia, City AM and NKnews.org.

Research

My research is primarily concerned with contemporary nuclear weapons issues and how emerging technologies are impacting nuclear strategy, stability and arms control.

I recently completed a a three-year Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Future Research Leader's project looking at the link between cyber weapons and nuclear strategy, and from August 2020 will begin a five-year European Research Council funded project looking at the impact of emerging technology on nuclear order.

Supervision

I am interested in supervising doctoral projects looking at contemporary nuclear weapons issues.