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US grand strategy and the Madman Theory

James D. Boys
€19.99
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Author_James D. Boys
Cambodia bombing
Category=JPA
Category=JPHL
Category=JPS
Category=JPSL
Category=JPWS
China
Cold War
Daniel Ellsberg
diplomacy
Donald Trump
Dwight D. Eisenhower
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eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
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Game theory
Greenland
Henry Kissinger
international relations
Iran strike
John Foster Dulles
Kim Jong Un
Madman Theory
MAGA movement
Nicolas Maduro
Nixon in China
North Korea
Richard Nixon
rule by tweet
tariffs
Thomas Schelling
Trump 2.0
Truth Social
US grand strategy
US politics
Venezuela strike
Vietnam War
weaponised unpredictability
Xi Jinping

Product details

  • ISBN 9781526197450
  • Weight: 251g
  • Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
  • Publication Date: 05 May 2026
  • Publisher: Manchester University Press
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Paperback
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Description

What happens when a president convinces the world he might just do the unthinkable?

In US grand strategy and the Madman Theory, James D. Boys 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, he explores how these two leaders weaponised unpredictability to keep allies guessing and enemies off balance. But 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 book reveals how calculated chaos reshapes diplomacy, destabilises norms and forces nations to question whether the next move is genius or catastrophe.
About James D. Boys
James D. Boys is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre on US Politics (CUSP) at University College London. He is the author of Clinton’s Grand Strategy (2015), Hillary Rising (2016) and Clinton’s War on Terror (2018). He is based in Boston, MA.

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