Aaron Bateman

Aaron Bateman studies how technology shaped international politics in the 20^th century with a specific focus on the Cold War. His scholarship takes place at the nexus of international history and history of technology.

His first book, Weapons in Space: Technology, Politics, and the Rise and Fall of the Strategic Defense Initiative (MIT Press, 2024), situates the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), or “Star Wars,” within intensifying U.S. – Soviet arms racing in space that began in the 1970s. The book details SDI’s impact on arms control, U.S. – Soviet relations, and the transatlantic alliance. It received the Air Force Historical Association’s Space History Award. This book is part of his larger body of work that explores the impact of space technologies on international security in the Cold War, especially arms control, nuclear strategy, and alliance dynamics.

His second book (which is under contract with MIT Press), Wiring an Empire: Information Networks and U.S. Global Power in the Cold War, details how the national security interests of the United States and its allies shaped the development of global communications infrastructure – subsea cables, radio networks, and satellites. This book is part of his broader research agenda that focuses on the infrastructural foundations of U.S. global power. For example, his recent article in International Security (accessible here) reveals how Cold War-era American space, intelligence, and nuclear capabilities depended on a global network of facilities hosted in foreign territories. In multiple ongoing projects he explores U.S. infrastructural dependencies in ally and non-ally territories in the Cold War.

His peer-reviewed work has been published in International Security, the Journal of Strategic Studies, International History Review, Diplomacy & Statecraft, Intelligence and National Security, and Science & Diplomacy (among others). His policy commentary has been featured in Foreign Affairs, Engelsberg Ideas, Lawfare, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and Physics Today.

His research is supported by grants from the Stanton Foundation and the Smith Richardson Foundation. He received his PhD in history of science from Johns Hopkins University. Prior to his doctoral studies, he served in the United States Air Force.