Strategic Strike Capabilities in the Middle East
Andrew Reddie, Professor
Public Policy
Applications for Spring 2025 are closed for this project.
We are looking for students interested in working with us on a project examining how state and
non-state actors’ proliferation and use of precision capabilities in the Middle East influence crisis stability dynamics. In the past few years, precision technologies in missiles, drones, and bombs have been widely used and proliferated in the region. This technology changes the region’s military landscape and might change strategic stability. Hence, this research project seeks to ask how different actors’ precision capabilities influence the crisis stability dynamic in the Middle East? What different responses were developed to handle the technology, including military, economic, diplomatic, and declarative measures? To what extent are they effective? How do non-Middle Eastern actors influence these dynamics? How did this technology affect the battlefield?
What are the possible policy implications for increasing stability and strengthening deterrence?
Role: Role: We are looking for students who are passionate about security matters, specifically
military technologies. Students will help collect information and map the offensive and defensive postures of the leading state and non-state actors who possess precision capabilities, including missiles, drones, and guided munition. Students will also identify and analyze the main non-Middle Eastern actors, including the US, influencing this strategic environment. Depending on the level of progress made, students will then learn how to use Net Assessment tools, widely used in policy institutes, to help assess crisis stability. The material will then be used to create a report, short journal articles and Op-Eds, and brief key stakeholders in government and civil society in the U.S. and the Middle East. The research team will meet regularly throughout the semester to brainstorm, learn new research techniques, and refine the measurement.
Qualifications: (1) Students must be organized.
(2) Strong interest in security issues, specifically in military technology. It will be helpful if the student is also interested in the Middle East as an area of research.
(3) Understanding of a research process. We strongly recommend that applicants have written at least one research paper for a college-level class (preferably in political science or related fields) and received a grade of A- or higher.
(4) Facility with Microsoft Word and Excel.
(5) Research assistants should be familiar with how to use library and electronic resources.
They should not be averse to visiting the library physically and they should be willing to show some tenacity in tracking down very specific information about particular cases.
(6) Reading knowledge of Middle Eastern languages, while certainly not required, would be an asset.
(7) The ability to think creatively and meet deadlines is essential.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Shira Cohen, Graduate Student
Hours: 6-8 hrs