Dr James Johnson

Honorary Visiting Fellow

Twitter: @James_SJohnson

Website: http://www.jamesjohnsonphd.com

Personal details

BA (Bristol)
MA (Leeds)
PhD (Leicester)

Dr James Johnson is an Assistant Professor in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University and a Non-Resident Fellow with the Modern War Institute at the United States Military Academy, West Point. Previously, Johnson was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), Monterey. Johnson’s research examines the intersection of nuclear weapons, deterrence, strategic stability, and emerging technology - especially AI. His work has been featured in The Journal of Strategic Studies, War on the Rocks, The Modern War Institute, The Washington Quarterly, Strategic Studies Quarterly, The Journal of Cyber Policy, The Pacific Review, Asian Security, Defense & Security Analysis, and The RUSI Journal and other outlets. He holds a PhD in Politics & International Relations from the University of Leicester. Johnson is author of The US-China Military & Defense Relationship during the Obama Presidency (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). His latest book is entitled, Artificial Intelligence & the Future of Warfare: USA, China, and Strategic Stability (Manchester University Press).

Selected Publications

Book

'The AI Revolution & the Future of Warfare: Great Power Competition & Strategic Stability' (Oxford University Press & Manchester University Press, forthcoming).
‘The U.S.-China Military & Defense Relationship during the Obama Presidency’ (Palgrave Macmillan, ‘New Security Challenges Series’ 2018).

Journal articles

‘Artificial Intelligence in Future Hyper-Warfare: A Perfect Storm of Instability?’ The Washington Quarterly (Spring 2020).
‘Artificial Intelligence: A Threat to Strategic Stability,’ Strategic Studies Quarterly (Spring 2020).
‘AI, Drone Swarming, & Escalation Risks in Future Warfare,’ RUSI Journal (Spring 2020).
‘The AI-Cyber Nexus: Implications for Military Escalation, Deterrence, & Strategic Stability,’ The Journal of Cyber Policy (Chatham House), Vol. 4, Issue 3 (2019): 442-460.
‘The End of Military-Techno Pax Americana? Washington’s Strategic Responses to Chinese AI-enabled military Technology,’ The Pacific Review (Published online, October 2019).
‘Artificial Intelligence & Future Warfare': Implications for International Security,’ Defense & Security Analysis, Vol. 35, Issue 2 (2019): 147-169
‘China’s Vision of the Future Network-Centric Battlefield: Cyber, Space & Electromagnetic Asymmetric Challenges to the U.S.,’ Comparative Strategy, Vol. 37, Issue 5 (2019): 373-390.
‘Chinese Nuclear ‘Warfighting:’ An Emerging Intense U.S.-China Security Dilemma and Threats to Crisis Stability in the Asia Pacific,’ Asian Security, Vol. 15, Issue 3 (2019): 215-232.
‘China’s ‘Guam Express’ and ‘Carrier Killers’: The Anti-Ship Asymmetric Challenge to the U.S. in the Western Pacific, and Security Dilemma Explanations,’ Comparative Strategy, Vol. 36, No. 4 (2017): 319-332.
‘Washington’s Perceptions and Misperceptions of Beijing’s Anti-access Area-denial (A2/AD) ‘Strategy’: Implications for Military Escalation Control and Strategic Stability,’ The Pacific Review, Vol. 20, Issue 3 (2017): 271-288.

Book chapters

‘Emerging Technologies and China’s Challenge to US Innovation Leadership,’ in Reuben Steff, Simone Soare, and Joe Bortun (ed), Emerging Technologies and International Security: Machines, the State and War, Routledge (forthcoming, 2020).
‘The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Strategic Stability, Escalation, & Nuclear security,’ in Sam Dudin and Chelsey Wiley (ed), The 2019 UK PONI Papers, Royal United Services Institute (December, 2019).
‘The Incumbent Unipole and its Allies: Multipolar Challenges to U.S. Dominance in Artificial Intelligence’, in Benjamin Zala (ed), Interrogating a Multipolar Order: The Use of Multipolar Narratives in National Contexts (Forthcoming, 2020).
‘China’s Nuclear Modernisation: The Evolution of Chinese Nuclear Doctrine, Strategic Ambiguities and Implications for Sino-U.S. Relations’, in M Kouhi-Esfahani (eds), Nuclear politics in Asia (Routledge, 2018) co-authored with Dr. Andrew Futter.

Selected professional publications

‘How Might AI Affect the Cyberspace Threat Environment?’ War on the Rocks, January 2020 - with Eleanor Krabill
‘Is the US losing the artificial intelligence arms race?’ - The Conversation, October 2019.
‘China and the US are Racing to Develop AI Weapons,’ - The Conversation, June 2018.
"China’s Evolving Approach to Nuclear War-Fighting” - The Diplomat, November 2017.

"If Trump is bluffing on North Korea, the results could be catastrophic” - The Conversation, August 2017.

‘The Shadow of an Unrestrainable Military-Technological Security Dilemma: U.S.-China relations at a dangerous crossroads’ - Think Leicester, July 2017.
‘Is China Moving Towards a Nuclear ‘War-Fighting’ Posture?’ The Institute of Asia & Pacific Studies (IAPS), University of Nottingham, June 2017.
‘High-tech China-US arms race threatens to destabilize East Asia’- The Conversation, May 2017.
‘China’s Vision of the Future Networked Battlefield: Cyber, Space and Electronic Warfare Challenges to the US in the Western Pacific’ - The Diplomat, April 2017.
‘China’s Missiles Threaten New Arms Race’ - Newsweek, March 2017.
‘China’s anti-ship missiles threaten an arms race in the Western Pacific’ - The Conversation, March 2017.
‘China's new missile could threaten an arms war in the Pacific’ - The Business Insider, March 2017.
‘Is China moving towards a nuclear ‘Warfighting’ posture?’ - The Conversation, February 2017.
‘Nuclear No First Use and President Obama’s Legacy’ - Think Leicester Interdisciplinary Research Project at the University of Leicester, August 2016 - with Dr. Andrew Futter.

Research Interests

Artificial intelligence and strategic stability
US-China military and defense relations
Emerging technology and future warfare
Nuclear non-proliferation and arms control
International security

Supervision

I am interested in supervising projects in the broad areas of Security & Strategic Studies, Emerging Technology & Future Warfare, U.S.-China Relations, Rising Powers, Nuclear Strategy, Chinese Foreign Policy, and East Asian Security.