Dr. Charles L. Glaser is a is a Senior Fellow in the MIT Security Studies Program. He has previously taught at The George Washington University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Michigan, and served in the Pentagon on the Joint Staff. His research focuses on international relations theory and international security policy.
Dr. Charles L. Glaser is a is a Senior Fellow in the MIT Security Studies Program.
He was a Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at The George Washington University, where he was the Founding Director of the Elliott School’s Institute for Security and Conflict Studies. Before joining GW, Dr. Glaser was the Emmett Dedmon Professor of Public Policy and Deputy Dean at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. He has also taught Political Science at the University of Michigan; was a visiting fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford; served on the Joint Staff in the Pentagon; was a Peace Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace; and was a Research Associate at the Center of International Studies at MIT.
Dr. Glaser’s research focuses on international relations theory – particularly the security dilemma, defensive realism, the offense-defense balance, and arms races – and international security policy.
His books include Rational Theory of International Politics (2010) and Analyzing Strategic Nuclear Policy (1990); co-edited Managing U.S. Nuclear Operations in the 21st Century (2022) and Crude Strategy (2016). Articles on China in the journal International Security, include “How Much Risk Should the United States Run in the South China Sea,” (Fall 2022); “Should the United States Reject MAD? Damage Limitation and U.S. Nuclear Strategy toward China,” (Summer 2016), and “A U.S.-China Grand Bargain? The Hard Choice between Military Competition and Accommodation,” (Spring 2015). In 2018 he was awarded the International Studies Association, Security Studies Section, Distinguished Scholar Award. In 2021 he was awarded the National Academy of Sciences’ William and Katherine Estes Award for behavior research toward the prevention of nuclear war.
Dr. Glaser holds a Ph.D. and an M.P.P. from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He received a B.S. in Physics from MIT and an M.A. in Physics from Harvard College.
Articles
Fear Factor: How to Know When You’re in a Security Dilemma
"Great-power competition is back. With the post–Cold War unipolar moment over, the United States and China now jostle over trade and technology, compete in a...
Compelling with the Bomb? Revisiting the Effectiveness of Nuclear Compellent Threats
"Are nuclear threats useful for compellence? The existing literature is highly polarized: “nuclear coercionists” argue that states with a nuclear advantage over their adversaries are...
The U.S. Nuclear Arsenal Can Deter Both China and Russia: Why America Doesn’t Need More Missiles
Dr. Charles L. Glaser, Dr. James M. Acton, Dr. Steve Fetter
"Analysts thinking through the implications of the two nuclear peer problem have argued that the United States will face new and worrisome risks and must...
How Much Risk Should the United States Run in the South China Sea?
"China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea poses an especially vexing set of policy choices for the United States. For decades, the South China Sea...