Experts

Todd Sechser

Faculty Senior Fellow
Sechser, Todd - CV.pdf

Fast Facts

  • Professor of Politics and Public Policy at the University of Virginia
  • Coauthor of Nuclear Weapons and Coercive Diplomacy
  • Nonresident scholar, Nuclear Policy Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  • Expertise in international relations, foreign policy, nuclear security, emerging technologies

Areas Of Expertise

  • Foreign Affairs
  • American Defense and Security
  • War and Terrorism
  • World Happenings

Todd S. Sechser is professor of politics and a faculty senior fellow at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. He is also a nonresident scholar in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His research focuses on coercive diplomacy, nuclear security, emerging military technologies, and foreign policy.

Sechser is coauthor of Nuclear Weapons and Coercive Diplomacy (Cambridge University Press) and coeditor of Emerging Technologies and International Stability (Routledge). His work has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, and the Journal of Strategic Studies, among other journals, and his policy writing has been published in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and other media venues. He previously directed the multi-university Program on Strategic Stability Evaluation, a nuclear strategy study group, and was the founding director of the UVA Karsh Institute’s Democratic Statecraft Lab.

Secher's research has been supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the U.S. Air Force, and the Stanton Foundation, and he regularly consults for several government and military agencies.

Sechser was previously a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a postdoctoral fellow at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University. He received his PhD in political science from Stanford University, where his dissertation won the Walter Isard Award for the Best Dissertation in Peace Science. Before entering academia, Sechser worked as a nuclear policy analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

He has received multiple awards for teaching, including the All-University Teaching Award and the inaugural Cory Family Teaching Award. He currently directs the Politics Honors Program.

Featured Publications

Coercive diploacy
Nuclear Weapons and Coercive Diplomacy

Todd Sechser

Todd Sechser News Feed

nuclear button on top of the world
Russia risks becoming 'isolated pariah state'
Putin's nuclear threats aren't a magic wand, writes Todd Sechser.
Todd Sechser UVA Today
screenshot of event headline and photograph of Leonid Brezhnev, Richard Nixon, and translator Viktor Sukhodrev on June 19, 1973
Nuclear brinksmanship: what we learned from Nixon
Experts including Todd Sechser, faculty senior fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, discuss Richard Nixon’s overlooked efforts to curb the spread of the world’s weapons of mass destruction.
Todd Sechser Miller Center Presents
screenshot of podcast title
Nuclear threats are common. What role do they play in diplomacy?
Nuclear threats are made pretty often. What role do they play in diplomacy and how has that evolved over time? Joining guest host Austin Cross to discuss is Todd Sechser, professor of political science at the University of Virginia, senior fellow at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, and co-author of the book “Nuclear Weapons and Coercive Diplomacy.”
Todd Sechser KPCC (NPR) AirTalk
Carnegie
How Is Russia's Invasion of Ukraine Likely to Alter the Post-World War II International Order?
Russia has given us a vivid reminder that nuclear weapons are not a magic wand. As the war began, Vladimir Putin made several nuclear threats – both explicit and implied. But the fear of nuclear escalation has not intimidated Ukraine into submission. Nor have these threats dissuaded the West from imposing crippling sanctions on Russia and providing military aid to Ukraine. If anything, Putin’s nuclear bellicosity has only fueled the international backlash against Russia. The war has thrown a spotlight on the political limits of nuclear weapons, and dictators with nuclear ambitions should take note.
Todd Sechser Carnegie Corporation
Russian president Vladimir Putin
Putin is discovering that overwhelming military power can be a curse
As Stalin learned in Finland, small countries can inflict serious damage on invading superpowers.
Todd Sechser The Washington Post
VFB
Winning and Losing the Nuclear Peace: A Conversation with Michael Krepon
Foreign affairs and policy specialist Michael Krepon ("Winning and Losing the Nuclear Peace") discusses his definitive guide to the history of nuclear arms control, including how the practice was built from scratch, how it was torn down, and how it can be rebuilt. In conversation with Todd Sechser.
Todd Sechser Virginia Festival of the Book