Samuel Gerstle

Samuel Gerstle is a Predoctoral Research Fellow in the International Security Program and a Ph.D. candidate in political science at Boston University. He is also a Hans J. Morgenthau Fellow at the Notre Dame International Security Center. His research examines how domestic political and economic institutions shape states' capacity to convert economic resources into military power, with a regional focus on Japan and East Asia.

His book project and dissertation, How States Mobilize Industry for War, asks why some states are more effective than others at expanding military production in wartime. The project draws on an original Military Production Dataset covering eight industrial powers during the world wars, Japanese- and Italian-language records, and research in four U.S. archives. It bears directly on current debates over the defense industrial base, relations between the state and private sector, and whether the United States and its allies could sustain a protracted conventional conflict.

His other work examines the design of national security organizations, including an award-winning manuscript that draws on an original dataset of national security councils in 48 democracies. Additional projects examine the domestic foundations of U.S. strategy toward China and forward deployments and deterrence. His research has appeared in the Journal of Strategic Studies, Texas National Security Review, and Defence Studies, and has been supported by the Truman Library Institute, the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation, and the Stand Together Trust.

Previously, he was a U.S.-Asia Grand Strategy Predoctoral Fellow at the University of Southern California. Before beginning his Ph.D., he worked at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and The Asia Group. He holds a B.A. in history and Japanese and an M.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

For more information, you can visit Sam's website: http://www.samuelgerstle.com/