American · b. 1940
Graham Allison is an American political scientist at Harvard University. He was the founding dean of the Harvard Kennedy School, serving from 1977 to 1989, and directs its Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy and Plans under President Bill Clinton and advised several secretaries of defense. His 1971 book Essence of Decision used the Cuban Missile Crisis to compare three models of government decision-making and became a standard text in international relations. He later wrote Nuclear Terrorism (2004) and Destined for War (2017), which popularized the term Thucydides's Trap for the risk of conflict between a rising power and an established one. He also co-wrote Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the World. His work shaped how scholars and officials discuss nuclear security and relations between China and the United States.