Charles L. Glaser

Biography

Charles Glaser is a Senior Fellow in the MIT Security Studies Program. His research focuses on international relations theory and international security policy, including U.S. policy toward China, nuclear weapons policy, and U.S. energy security. 

His most recent book, Retrench, Defend, Compete: Securing America’s Future Against a Rising China, will be published in Fall 2025. His other books are Rational Theory of International Politics (2010) and Analyzing Strategic Nuclear Policy (1990); he co-edited Managing US Nuclear Operations in the 21st Century (2022) and Crude Strategy (2016). His 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 US Nuclear Strategy toward China” (Summer 2016), and “A US-China Grand Bargain? The Hard Choice between Military Competition and Accommodation” (Spring 2015).  Recent articles on nuclear policy include “The End of MAD? Technological Innovation and the Future of Nuclear Retaliatory Capabilities,” Journal of Strategic Studies, and “The U.S. Nuclear Arsenal Can Deter Both China and Russia: Why America Doesn’t Need More Missiles,” Foreign Affairs. 

Glaser holds a PhD and MPP from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, a BS in Physics from MIT, and an MA in Physics from Harvard. He was a Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University, where he was the Founding Director of the Elliott School's Institute for Security and Conflict Studies. Before GW, 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 research associate at the Center for International Studies at MIT, a visiting fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford, a fellow at the Kissinger Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Roth Family Distinguished Visiting Professor at Dartmouth.. He has served on the Joint Staff in the Pentagon and was a peace fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, 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.
 

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Selected Publications

"Considering a US-Supported Self-Defense Option for Taiwan," The Washington Quarterly (April 8, 2025)

"The End of MAD? Technological Innovation and the Future of Nuclear Retaliatory Capabilities,”  Journal of Strategic Studies (January 30, 2025)