Jung Jae Kwon

Jung Jae Kwon is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Technology and International Security at the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) in Washington, D.C. His research focuses on conventional military strategy, extended nuclear deterrence, alliance politics, and East Asian security. His book project examines how U.S. allies shape their military postures to remain “coupled” to the U.S. nuclear deterrent. He focuses on allied agency in shaping escalation dynamics, drawing on extensive fieldwork, elite interviews, and foreign language sources. The project builds on his Ph.D. dissertation, winner of the 2025 Lucian Pye Award for Best Doctoral Thesis in Political Science at MIT.

Previously, Jung Jae was a Stanton Nuclear Security Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Project on Managing the Atom and a Hans J. Morgenthau Fellow at the Notre Dame International Security Center. Jung Jae received his Ph.D. in Political Science from MIT in 2025. He holds an LL.M. in China Studies (Politics and International Relations) from the Yenching Academy of Peking University and a B.A. in Government, magna cum laude, from Harvard University.

Plans for Fellowship:During the fellowship period, Jung Jae will focus on preparing the manuscript for the book project. He will also continue his research on conventional warfighting in the nuclear age, nuclear proliferation, the alliance politics of missile defense, and security affairs in East Asia.