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The Uncertainty Doctrine


The Uncertainty Doctrine shows how uncertainty per se has emerged as the framework that interlinks US security policy traditions with contemporary strategic planning efforts after the Cold War. By exploring the gradual reconstruction of US national security interests after the threat posed by the ‘Evil Empire’ receded, it sheds new light on the intense political bargaining process that took place behind the scenes within the US defence establishment from the late 1980s onwards. It thereby contributes more widely to a new wave of scholarship within International Relations that aims to blend political economy and security studies. Please see the related article 'How to Last Alone at the Top: US Strategic Planning for the Unipolar Era' in the Journal of Strategic Studies.

This project involved research fellowships at Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, and the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, and the research monograph is in the final stages of development.