Jeffrey Michaels
Biographic Data
| ID | 5813272 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jeffrey Michaels |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jeffrey |
| FAMILY NAME | Michaels |
| SIGNATURE | MICHAELS J |
| AFFILIATIONS | King's College London |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4980-2448 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 28 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 26 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 28 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
If only we understood them better
Rethinking the Relevance of Self-Deterrence
Self-deterrence is critically understudied in deterrence theory. Similarly, deterrence practitioners prefer to focus on adversaries’ threats rather than seeking to account for the full scope of fears influencing the decision calculus of policymakers. Through historical case studies, this article identifies where self-deterrence has occurred, highlights the benefits of incorporating the concept in future strategic planning and intelligence assessm…
Politically unthinkable? The missing dimension of nuclear use scenarios
Nuclear deterrence strategies are predicated on nuclear use scenarios. However, as nuclear weapons haven’t been used since 1945, why does use occur in scenarios but not in practice? If scenarios incorporated the political challenges of crossing the nuclear threshold, how would this change the utility of the deterrence strategies they support? To address these questions, this article examines Cold War-era American debates about a Soviet ‘first str…
An Indefinite Alliance? Article 13 and the North Atlantic Treaty
This article examines the background to the provisions in the North Atlantic Treaty for the alliance's duration and member state withdrawal (Article 13). Studies of the Treaty have generally ignored Article 13 despite it being intensely debated during the treaty negotiations in 1948–1949. Addressing the views on duration and withdrawal that featured during these negotiations fills important gaps in the historical literature on the Alliance. In pa…
Deterrence Studies
Grand strategy or grant strategy? Philanthropic foundations, strategic studies and the American academy
The relationship between Strategic Studies and the American academy has always been a tenuous one. Tolerated when fully funded, the field quickly lost its place on campus when it failed to attract grant money. Only with the support of philanthropic foundations did it manage to gain a foothold in American universities. What emerges from our investigation is how the field has feasted during times when foundation money was available and suffered per…
Introduction to the special issue
Since its substantive development after the Second World War, Strategic Studies has seen different waves of research foci, each rising as the other declines. This special issue uses a ‘fashion’ lens to analyse these frequent thematical shifts and their related conceptual creations. It looks at both long-term and short-term changes in strategic thought, addressing changes in content and their underlying dynamics and patterns. This issue contribute…
No annihilation without representation”
Scholars focused on NATO nuclear strategy during the Cold War have devoted little attention to the dynamics of how the Alliance would decide to use nuclear weapons. This article aims to fill this gap by examining the internal debates about how a nuclear use decision would be taken, particularly balancing the desire to ensure adequate consultation of the non-nuclear members without undermining the credibility of NATO’s nuclear deterrent by giving …
Casting the atomic canon
We are grateful to Kjølv Egeland, Thomas Fraise, and Hebatalla Taha for their commentary on the four editions of The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy . In addition to their critique of the book, their review was intended to offer ‘a looking glass into the broader field of nuclear security studies’. Our reply to their review therefore touches both upon their critique, as well as the more general theme of writing about the history of nuclear strategy.…
One President at a Time? How the President‐Elect Shapes U.S. Foreign Policy during the Transition
Over the past six decades, the presidential transition scholarship has grown increasingly rich, yet little systematic attention has been paid to the foreign policy activities of the president‐elect. The idea that the United States has “one president at a time” may be a constitutional reality, but it is also a political fiction, more honored in the breach than in the observance. This article demonstrates how U.S. foreign policy operates along seve…
A very different kind of challenge’? Nato’s prioritization of China in historical perspective
An education in counterinsurgency
Visions of the next war or reliving the last one? Early alliance views of war with the Soviet Bloc
This article examines the early NATO discourse to illuminate ideas about a future war with the Soviet Bloc. World War Two provided an important cognitive script for conceptualizing a Third World War, with the impact of the nuclear ‘revolution’ being less dominant than generally believed. I argue that officials were unable to devise a script in which the Soviet Union could conquer Western Europe and then defeat the United States. Although this ina…
Essence of Indecision
Informed and inspired by Freedman’s examination of the Kennedy administration in Kennedy’s Wars and his introduction of the ‘strategic scripts’ concept, this chapter analyzes Washington’s role in the 1963 military coup that deposed Ngo Dinh Diem as President of South Vietnam and saw him and his brother murdered the following day. The US role was, at best, indirect because of Kennedy’s indecision, but although Kennedy did not choose to overthrow D…
Waging “Protracted Conflict” Behind the Scenes
From the end of World War II to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Frank R. Barnett, a private U.S. citizen, became a central player among the West's ‘Cold Warriors’ by developing and applying a unique methodology for organizing anti-Communist “political warfare” both in the United States and around the world. Recognizing the limits of government-sponsored activities in prosecuting a more aggressive strategy to counter the Soviet Union, Barnett si…
The nuclear education of Donald J. Trump
During the 2016 American presidential campaign, Democrats and Republicans alike repeatedly raised concerns at the prospect of Donald Trump being in charge of America’s nuclear arsenal based on his seemingly unstable personality. Unfortunately, this emphasis on Trump’s character distracted attention from any in-depth investigation into his long-standing interest in nuclear issues. This article seeks to remedy this shortcoming by highlighting the n…
Eisenhower and Cambodia
At the height of the US intervention in Vietnam, during the mid-1960s to early-1970s, Cambodia was considered a ‘sideshow’. More than a decade earlier, Cambodia was a ‘sideshow of a sideshow’. This is the period examined in Eisenhower and Cambodia; but as William J. Rust convincingly demonstrates, there was no shortage of diplomatic intrigue, policy frustration and international plotting over this relatively unknown Cold War battleground. Althoug…
Jeremy Black, The Cold War
Revitalizing Strategic Studies in an Age of Perpetual Conflict
Delusions of survival
When North Vietnam launched a military offensive in March 1975, there was little expectation that South Vietnam would collapse 55 days later. As the South’s forces quickly crumbled and the scale of the military disaster became increasingly apparent, the United States considered a number of options to provide emergency assistance to its ally. This article will examine the evolution of the diplomatic, economic, military, and covert options US polic…
Spies, advisors, and grunts
Vietnam was a complex conflict, which historians and political scientists have struggled to understand. Some of the bitterest disputes in the historiography revolve around the US approach to counterinsurgency in Vietnam. Many different facets of the war have received the attention of filmmakers, and an examination of their work suggests new ways of thinking about the conflict. This article considers film portrayals of three phases of the Vietnam …
Helpless or Deliberate Bystander
The USA's role in fomenting and responding to military coups remains an understudied and politically contentious subject despite it being a recurring foreign policy problem exemplified most recently in both Egypt and Mali. To the extent this topic has been addressed in any depth by scholars, it is mainly limited to an examination of a small number of coups that occurred during the Cold War that the CIA was accused of sponsoring. However, this emp…
The Discourse Trap and the US Military
This book proposes the idea of a 'discourse trap' in which the discourses and associated terminology devised for political or military reasons can entrap policymakers by motivating or constraining the
Breaking the Rules
Additional informationNotes on contributorsJeffrey H. Michaels Dr. Jeffrey H. Michaels is a Research Associate in the Department of War Studies at King's College London, where he coordinates an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-sponsored project headed by Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman titled “Strategic Scripts for the 21st Century.” Earlier, he was a Lecturer with the Air Power Studies Division of the college's Defence Studies Departm…
Managing Global Counterinsurgency
The contemporary American counterinsurgency discourse has emphasised a particular historical narrative of Vietnam to justify large-scale military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Absent from this narrative is any reference to the broader Cold War context in which Vietnam existed alongside numerous other small-scale counterinsurgencies and was therefore the exception, not the rule. This article seeks to redress this shortcoming by examining the…
Bandwagonistas
This paper seeks to explore how a particular narrative focused on population-centric counterinsurgency shaped American strategy during the Autumn 2009 Presidential review on Afghanistan, examine the narrative's genealogy and suggest weaknesses and inconsistencies that exist within it. More precisely our ambition is to show how through a process of ‘rhetorical re-description’ this narrative has come to dominate contemporary American strategic disc…
Revitalizing Strategic Studies in an Age of Perpetual Conflict
Visions of the next war or reliving the last one? Early alliance views of war with the Soviet Bloc
This article examines the early NATO discourse to illuminate ideas about a future war with the Soviet Bloc. World War Two provided an important cognitive script for conceptualizing a Third World War, with the impact of the nuclear ‘revolution’ being less dominant than generally believed. I argue that officials were unable to devise a script in which the Soviet Union could conquer Western Europe and then defeat the United States. Although this ina…
The nuclear education of Donald J. Trump
During the 2016 American presidential campaign, Democrats and Republicans alike repeatedly raised concerns at the prospect of Donald Trump being in charge of America’s nuclear arsenal based on his seemingly unstable personality. Unfortunately, this emphasis on Trump’s character distracted attention from any in-depth investigation into his long-standing interest in nuclear issues. This article seeks to remedy this shortcoming by highlighting the n…
Grand strategy or grant strategy? Philanthropic foundations, strategic studies and the American academy
The relationship between Strategic Studies and the American academy has always been a tenuous one. Tolerated when fully funded, the field quickly lost its place on campus when it failed to attract grant money. Only with the support of philanthropic foundations did it manage to gain a foothold in American universities. What emerges from our investigation is how the field has feasted during times when foundation money was available and suffered per…
Helpless or Deliberate Bystander
The USA's role in fomenting and responding to military coups remains an understudied and politically contentious subject despite it being a recurring foreign policy problem exemplified most recently in both Egypt and Mali. To the extent this topic has been addressed in any depth by scholars, it is mainly limited to an examination of a small number of coups that occurred during the Cold War that the CIA was accused of sponsoring. However, this emp…
Managing Global Counterinsurgency
The contemporary American counterinsurgency discourse has emphasised a particular historical narrative of Vietnam to justify large-scale military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Absent from this narrative is any reference to the broader Cold War context in which Vietnam existed alongside numerous other small-scale counterinsurgencies and was therefore the exception, not the rule. This article seeks to redress this shortcoming by examining the…
Deterrence Studies
A very different kind of challenge’? Nato’s prioritization of China in historical perspective
Delusions of survival
When North Vietnam launched a military offensive in March 1975, there was little expectation that South Vietnam would collapse 55 days later. As the South’s forces quickly crumbled and the scale of the military disaster became increasingly apparent, the United States considered a number of options to provide emergency assistance to its ally. This article will examine the evolution of the diplomatic, economic, military, and covert options US polic…
Spies, advisors, and grunts
Vietnam was a complex conflict, which historians and political scientists have struggled to understand. Some of the bitterest disputes in the historiography revolve around the US approach to counterinsurgency in Vietnam. Many different facets of the war have received the attention of filmmakers, and an examination of their work suggests new ways of thinking about the conflict. This article considers film portrayals of three phases of the Vietnam …
Agents for Stability or Chaos
Recent discussions among U.S. officials about how the intelligence community can demonstrate its “relevance” to counterinsurgency have been dominated by an ideology that presupposes large-scale military intervention, and in which the role of intelligence is limited to improving analysis in support of current military activities, with little debate of future requirements. This article will highlight a number of alternative conceptions of intellige…
Laying a Firm Foundation for Withdrawal? Rethinking Approaches to Afghan Military Education
The Coalition’s strategic framework for the withdrawal of its combat troops from Afghanistan is predicated on building a large and sustainable security apparatus for the Afghan state, what may be r
Agents for Stability or Chaos
Recent discussions among U.S. officials about how the intelligence community can demonstrate its “relevance” to counterinsurgency have been dominated by an ideology that presupposes large-scale military intervention, and in which the role of intelligence is limited to improving analysis in support of current military activities, with little debate of future requirements. This article will highlight a number of alternative conceptions of intellige…
Bandwagonistas
This paper seeks to explore how a particular narrative focused on population-centric counterinsurgency shaped American strategy during the Autumn 2009 Presidential review on Afghanistan, examine the narrative's genealogy and suggest weaknesses and inconsistencies that exist within it. More precisely our ambition is to show how through a process of ‘rhetorical re-description’ this narrative has come to dominate contemporary American strategic disc…
Breaking the Rules
Additional informationNotes on contributorsJeffrey H. Michaels Dr. Jeffrey H. Michaels is a Research Associate in the Department of War Studies at King's College London, where he coordinates an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-sponsored project headed by Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman titled “Strategic Scripts for the 21st Century.” Earlier, he was a Lecturer with the Air Power Studies Division of the college's Defence Studies Departm…
Managing Global Counterinsurgency
The contemporary American counterinsurgency discourse has emphasised a particular historical narrative of Vietnam to justify large-scale military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Absent from this narrative is any reference to the broader Cold War context in which Vietnam existed alongside numerous other small-scale counterinsurgencies and was therefore the exception, not the rule. This article seeks to redress this shortcoming by examining the…
The Discourse Trap and the US Military
This book proposes the idea of a 'discourse trap' in which the discourses and associated terminology devised for political or military reasons can entrap policymakers by motivating or constraining the
Helpless or Deliberate Bystander
The USA's role in fomenting and responding to military coups remains an understudied and politically contentious subject despite it being a recurring foreign policy problem exemplified most recently in both Egypt and Mali. To the extent this topic has been addressed in any depth by scholars, it is mainly limited to an examination of a small number of coups that occurred during the Cold War that the CIA was accused of sponsoring. However, this emp…
Revitalizing Strategic Studies in an Age of Perpetual Conflict
Delusions of survival
When North Vietnam launched a military offensive in March 1975, there was little expectation that South Vietnam would collapse 55 days later. As the South’s forces quickly crumbled and the scale of the military disaster became increasingly apparent, the United States considered a number of options to provide emergency assistance to its ally. This article will examine the evolution of the diplomatic, economic, military, and covert options US polic…
Spies, advisors, and grunts
Vietnam was a complex conflict, which historians and political scientists have struggled to understand. Some of the bitterest disputes in the historiography revolve around the US approach to counterinsurgency in Vietnam. Many different facets of the war have received the attention of filmmakers, and an examination of their work suggests new ways of thinking about the conflict. This article considers film portrayals of three phases of the Vietnam …
Jeremy Black, The Cold War
Waging “Protracted Conflict” Behind the Scenes
From the end of World War II to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Frank R. Barnett, a private U.S. citizen, became a central player among the West's ‘Cold Warriors’ by developing and applying a unique methodology for organizing anti-Communist “political warfare” both in the United States and around the world. Recognizing the limits of government-sponsored activities in prosecuting a more aggressive strategy to counter the Soviet Union, Barnett si…
The nuclear education of Donald J. Trump
During the 2016 American presidential campaign, Democrats and Republicans alike repeatedly raised concerns at the prospect of Donald Trump being in charge of America’s nuclear arsenal based on his seemingly unstable personality. Unfortunately, this emphasis on Trump’s character distracted attention from any in-depth investigation into his long-standing interest in nuclear issues. This article seeks to remedy this shortcoming by highlighting the n…
Eisenhower and Cambodia
At the height of the US intervention in Vietnam, during the mid-1960s to early-1970s, Cambodia was considered a ‘sideshow’. More than a decade earlier, Cambodia was a ‘sideshow of a sideshow’. This is the period examined in Eisenhower and Cambodia; but as William J. Rust convincingly demonstrates, there was no shortage of diplomatic intrigue, policy frustration and international plotting over this relatively unknown Cold War battleground. Althoug…
Essence of Indecision
Informed and inspired by Freedman’s examination of the Kennedy administration in Kennedy’s Wars and his introduction of the ‘strategic scripts’ concept, this chapter analyzes Washington’s role in the 1963 military coup that deposed Ngo Dinh Diem as President of South Vietnam and saw him and his brother murdered the following day. The US role was, at best, indirect because of Kennedy’s indecision, but although Kennedy did not choose to overthrow D…
An education in counterinsurgency
Visions of the next war or reliving the last one? Early alliance views of war with the Soviet Bloc
This article examines the early NATO discourse to illuminate ideas about a future war with the Soviet Bloc. World War Two provided an important cognitive script for conceptualizing a Third World War, with the impact of the nuclear ‘revolution’ being less dominant than generally believed. I argue that officials were unable to devise a script in which the Soviet Union could conquer Western Europe and then defeat the United States. Although this ina…
A very different kind of challenge’? Nato’s prioritization of China in historical perspective
Casting the atomic canon
We are grateful to Kjølv Egeland, Thomas Fraise, and Hebatalla Taha for their commentary on the four editions of The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy . In addition to their critique of the book, their review was intended to offer ‘a looking glass into the broader field of nuclear security studies’. Our reply to their review therefore touches both upon their critique, as well as the more general theme of writing about the history of nuclear strategy.…
One President at a Time? How the President‐Elect Shapes U.S. Foreign Policy during the Transition
Over the past six decades, the presidential transition scholarship has grown increasingly rich, yet little systematic attention has been paid to the foreign policy activities of the president‐elect. The idea that the United States has “one president at a time” may be a constitutional reality, but it is also a political fiction, more honored in the breach than in the observance. This article demonstrates how U.S. foreign policy operates along seve…
Grand strategy or grant strategy? Philanthropic foundations, strategic studies and the American academy
The relationship between Strategic Studies and the American academy has always been a tenuous one. Tolerated when fully funded, the field quickly lost its place on campus when it failed to attract grant money. Only with the support of philanthropic foundations did it manage to gain a foothold in American universities. What emerges from our investigation is how the field has feasted during times when foundation money was available and suffered per…
Introduction to the special issue
Since its substantive development after the Second World War, Strategic Studies has seen different waves of research foci, each rising as the other declines. This special issue uses a ‘fashion’ lens to analyse these frequent thematical shifts and their related conceptual creations. It looks at both long-term and short-term changes in strategic thought, addressing changes in content and their underlying dynamics and patterns. This issue contribute…
No annihilation without representation”
Scholars focused on NATO nuclear strategy during the Cold War have devoted little attention to the dynamics of how the Alliance would decide to use nuclear weapons. This article aims to fill this gap by examining the internal debates about how a nuclear use decision would be taken, particularly balancing the desire to ensure adequate consultation of the non-nuclear members without undermining the credibility of NATO’s nuclear deterrent by giving …
Rethinking the Relevance of Self-Deterrence
Self-deterrence is critically understudied in deterrence theory. Similarly, deterrence practitioners prefer to focus on adversaries’ threats rather than seeking to account for the full scope of fears influencing the decision calculus of policymakers. Through historical case studies, this article identifies where self-deterrence has occurred, highlights the benefits of incorporating the concept in future strategic planning and intelligence assessm…
Politically unthinkable? The missing dimension of nuclear use scenarios
Nuclear deterrence strategies are predicated on nuclear use scenarios. However, as nuclear weapons haven’t been used since 1945, why does use occur in scenarios but not in practice? If scenarios incorporated the political challenges of crossing the nuclear threshold, how would this change the utility of the deterrence strategies they support? To address these questions, this article examines Cold War-era American debates about a Soviet ‘first str…
Political science (26 works) · Law (23 works) · Sociology (22 works) · Law (15 works) · Political economy (15 works) · Politics (15 works) · Military History and Strategy (12 works) · International Relations and Foreign Policy (9 works) · History (8 works) · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies (8 works)