The Centre for Statecraft & National Security is excited to host James D. Boys for a talk about his new book, US Grand Strategy and the Madman Theory: From Nixon to Trump.
What happens when a president convinces the world he might just do the unthinkable? US Grand Strategy and the Madman Theory argues that projecting calculated irrationality can terrify adversaries into submission, but at enormous risk. From Nixon’s secret Cold War gambit to Trump’s chaotic, tweet-driven diplomacy, Dr James D. Boys will discuss how these two leaders weaponised unpredictability to keep allies guessing and enemies off balance. Where does strategy end and madness begin?
In an era where perception can dictate power, unpredictability becomes a weapon and fear its sharpest edge. This talk reveals how calculated chaos reshapes diplomacy, destabilises norms, and forces nations to question whether the next move is genius or catastrophe. This is an essential event for anyone wanting to understand U.S. politics under Trump, and the dangerous allure of strategic madness.
About the Book:
US Grand Strategy and the Madman Theory: From Nixon to Trump examines how U.S. presidents have used calculated unpredictability as a foreign policy tool—and the risks it entails. Richard Nixon pioneered the tactic during the Vietnam War, while decades later Donald Trump revived it in a far more public and theatrical style, keeping allies and adversaries off balance. Where Nixon operated largely behind the scenes, Trump’s approach blurred strategy with impulsiveness.
Drawing on interviews, declassified documents, and White House recordings, the book traces the concept’s development at Harvard University and its use in major international crises. It offers a timely look at how performed madness can become a deliberate feature of American diplomacy.
About the Speaker:
Dr James D. Boys was a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at Kings College London from 2012-2015 and continues to hold close ties with the university, serving as an external PhD examiner on several occasions. He has held appointments at Tuft’s Fletcher School, the University of North Dakota, and Syracuse University’s London faculty. He held a series of roles at the American International University in London over a twelve-year period, including Professor of International Political Studies. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre on US Politics (CUSP) at UCL.
He is the author of three books to date, including the political biography of former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rising. He has recently completed work on his fourth book, US Grand Strategy and the Madman Theory, which considers the use of this tactic as a component of US foreign policy in the nuclear age. He has been a frequent political analyst on CNN, the BBC, Bloomberg, and GB News. He received his PhD from the University of Birmingham and currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts.
To register to attend, please click here.
