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Dr. Trevor McCrisken - University of Warwick. Coventry, , UNITED KINGDOM

Dr. Trevor McCrisken

Associate Professor, Politics and International Studies | University of Warwick

Coventry, UNITED KINGDOM

US presidential politics, US foreign policy, US elections; politics in popular culture; US military force, counterterrorism and drones

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Areas of Expertise (13)

US-Russia Relations

US-Europe Relations

Presidential Election Politics

Drones for Targeting Killing

US Policy Towards Iraq

US Policy Towards Afghanistan

President Trump

American Politics

American/US Foreign Policy

American Culture

Middle East

Us Policy Towards Iran

US-UK Relations

Education (3)

University of Sussex: D. Phil.

University of Kent: B.A., American Studies (Politics)

American University - Washington, D.C.: M.A., International Affairs

Affiliations (1)

  • BASIC Board of Trustees

Selected Media Appearances (4)

Donald Trump Arrives In UK For State Visit

Forces Network  online

2019-06-03

Dr Trevor McCrisken, Professor of politics at the University of Warwick, says Mr Trump has come to London with an agenda...

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Donald Trump not in Situation Room for 'botched' Yemen raid that killed up to 30 civilians and one US Navy SEAL

Independent  online

2017-02-03

Trevor McCrisken, associate professor of politics and international studies at the University of Warwick, told The Independent: “Some presidents are very hands-on and very keen to be present in the Situation Room as major operations are being carried out. Obama and Bush were fairly regular there”...

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Dear Prime Minister – it’s time to do much, much more to help Europe’s refugees

New Statesman America  online

2015-09-07

We the undersigned are dedicated to creating a socially just world. We spend our working lives supporting and promoting research, initiatives, and projects which will create a fairer and more equitable society for everyone. Among our number are many leading experts on community cohesion, asylum, refugees, migration, politics, public opinion, policy and law. We believe the Government’s current position on the European refugee crisis is misguided and requires urgent change. Dr Trevor McCrisken, Associate Professor, School of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick...

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Dio's two-finger gesture - what does it mean?

BBC News  

2010-05-18

When the Obamas use it with their thumb sticking out, it is different from the specifically Texan use by George Bush, says Trevor McCrisken, a professor in US politics at the University of Warwick. "They want to show that they care about people that need to use sign language," he says. "If you're at a political event in the US, there will be a couple of people down the front signing to the audience, so they're more careful [than in the UK] to ensure that everyone with special needs is catered for"...

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Selected Articles (4)

Peace through strength’: Europe and NATO deterrence beyond the US Nuclear Posture Review


International Affairs

2019 With its 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, the Trump administration expanded the scope of US nuclear deterrence, re-emphasizing the importance of non-strategic nuclear weapons, perceptively lowering the threshold for nuclear use and casting doubt on the future of arms control. The authors argue that these changes are consistent with the administration's wider ‘peace through strength’ approach that draws on traditional Republican thinking on security policy. While designed to demonstrate credibility and resolve to both allies and adversaries, however, this assertive approach to security policy and specifically nuclear policy as a necessary precursor to renewed engagement in strategic negotiations may have unintended consequences. This article focuses on European reactions to the strategy and argues that the Trump administration's nuclear posture challenges common European understandings in three principal areas. First, changes to US declaratory policy contest European assumptions on the role of nuclear weapons in defending NATO. Second, US modernization plans and their implications for intra-alliance relations risk accentuating controversial debates about the US commitment to Europe. Third, the apparent US rejection of arms control widens the scope for discord with European leaders. If European leaders assert a clear and credible alternative vision advocating nuclear restraint, risk reduction and arms control they could rebuild trust and confidence between the United States, NATO and Russia, demonstrating real strength and ultimately leading to more genuine opportunities for peace and sustainable European security.

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The secret life of Ian Fleming: spies, lies and social ties


Contemporary British History

2018 This article explores the fascinating interactions and experiences of James Bond creator, Ian Fleming, with the real world of intelligence. It has long been known that Fleming worked in Naval Intelligence during the Second World War. However, accounts of his time there tend to portray him as a lowly and slightly eccentric administrator. Drawing on newly discovered archival materials, plus memoirs and histories, it is argued here that Fleming was a respected and influential figure in the great game of espionage for some three decades. During the war, he was a central cog in the machinery of naval intelligence, planning operations, working with partners in American intelligence and liaising with secret Whitehall departments, including the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. Before and after the war, he was involved in a range of intelligence networks, often using journalistic cover to hide his clandestine connections. Throughout his life, his social circle was a ‘who’s who’ of spies and saboteurs, including CIA Director Allen Dulles. In short, he straddled the state-private divide. Taken together, these dealings with real intelligence paved the way for and gave veracity to his fiction, which continues to shape public perceptions of intelligence to this day.

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James Bond, Ian Fleming and intelligence: breaking down the boundary between the ‘real’ and the ‘imagined’


Intelligence and National Security

2018 This article looks to answer the question of why the James Bond novels and films should matter to scholars of intelligence and national security. We argue that Bond is important because, rightly or wrongly, and not without inaccuracy, it has filled a public knowledge vacuum about intelligence agencies and security threats. On another level, this article explores the unexpected yet important interactions between Bond and the actual world of intelligence. We contend that the orthodoxy dictating that Bond and spying are diametric opposites—one is the stuff of fantasy, the other is reality—is problematic, for the worlds of Bond and real intelligence collide, overlap and intermesh in fascinating and significant ways. In short, Bond is important for scholars because he is an international cultural icon that continues to operate at the borders of fiction and reality, framing and constructing not only public perceptions but also to some degree intelligence practices. Core narratives of intelligence among not only the public but also policymakers and intelligence officers are imagined, sustained, deepened, produced and reproduced through and by Bond. We conclude that Bond and intelligence should be thought of as co-constitutive; the series shapes representations and perceptions of intelligence, but it also performs a productive role, influencing the behaviours of intelligence agencies themselves.

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The Housewife, the Vigilante and the Cigarette‐Smoking Man: The CIA and Television, 1975–2001


History

2015 Reeling from the revelations about its operations in the 1970s, the CIA set up an Office of Public Affairs to improve its public image. Among its activities was greater engagement with television producers, but it largely failed to lead to more US drama series portraying the CIA in a better light. This article, however, analyses those few TV dramas that did characterize the CIA in the 1980s and 1990s – Scarecrow and Mrs King, The Equalizer and The X‐Files. Each series gave a critique of the CIA and its practices while offering alternative pathways to redeeming the organization so that it could better serve US security and domestic safety. They are examples of how television dramas can ask questions, engage with critical issues in contemporary society, and push the boundaries of what we expect to see in our televisual entertainment. They may not have offered very much insight into what the CIA was actually doing globally, but their storylines did confront the public image of the CIA, question its ethos and its methods, and offer some alternative viewpoints on how the Agency might develop its role and approach. Each series attempted to push beyond stereotypes of the CIA and its agents, upset the usual balance between gender roles and refused to give the kind of closed, unambiguous viewpoints that so many US television dramas offered their audiences during the period. They contributed significantly to the cultural representation of the CIA as the Cold War drew to a close.

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