Ford's 2023 Round-Up
Dr. Christopher Ford • January 8, 2024
With 2023 now in our collective rear-view mirror, I thought I’d offer you a handy compilation of my public work product from the last year. The list is heavy on strategic competition with China, of course, but doesn’t omit other topics (e.g., morality and nuclear weapons policy, nuclear nonproliferation, and North Korea).
Keep checking New Paradigms Forum for new material as we move into 2024!
Papers and Articles
- Christopher A. Ford, “Xi Jinping, Michel Foucault, and Spy Balloons? Communist China’s Theory of Control and Visions of a Post-Westphalian World Order” National Security Law Journal, vol. 11, no. 1 (2023), https://www.nslj.org/wp-content/uploads/Ford-Xi-Jinping-Michel-Foucault-and-Spy-Balloons-Communist-Chinas-Theory-of-Control-and-Visions-of-a-Post-Westphalian-World-Order.pdf
- Christopher A. Ford, “What to Do about North Korean Nuclear Weapons: Allied Solidarity, the Limits of Diplomacy, and the ‘Pain Box,’” Hoover Institution Press (August 23, 2023), https://www.hoover.org/research/what-do-about-north-korean-nuclear-weapons
- Christopher A. Ford, “An Insurance Policy for Dependence of U.S. Supply Chains on Foreign Providers” (with a co-author), as Chapter 3 in Silicon Triangle: The United States, Taiwan, China, and Global Semiconductor Security (Hoover Institution & The Asia Society: July 18, 2023), https://irp.cdn-website.com/ce29b4c3/files/uploaded/Silicon%20Triangle%20Ford%20Chapter.pdf
- Christopher A. Ford, “Nuclear Weapons Ethics and a Critique of the ‘Strong Case’ for Disarmament,” in Morality and Nuclear Weapons: Practitioner Perspectives (Brad Roberts, ed.), (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: Center for Global Security Research, 2023),https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/nuclear-weapons-ethics-and-a-critique-of-the-strong-case-for-disarmament
- Christopher A. Ford, “Assessing the Biden Administration’s ‘Big Four’ National Security Guidance Documents,” National Institute for Public Policy Occasional Papers, vol. 3, no. 1 (January 2023), https://nipp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/OP-Vol.-3-No.-1.pdf
Remarks and Presentations:
- Christopher A. Ford, “Conceptualizing Strategic Competition in the Narrative Trilogy of Victory: ‘What’ Stories, ‘Why’ Stories, and ‘How’ Stories” remarks at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute (December 7, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/conceptualizing-strategic-competition-in-the-narrative-trilogy-of-victory-what-stories-why-stories-and-how-stories
- Christopher A. Ford, “America as a Strategic Competitor: ‘Damn the Doomsayers, Say I,’” remarks to a conference at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (December 5, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/america-as-a-strategic-competitor-damn-the-doomsayers-say-i
- Christopher A. Ford, “Countervailing Posture, the ‘Offensive Nuclear Umbrella,’ and the Future of Arms Control,” remarks at DACOR Bacon House, Washington, D.C. (October 6, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/countervailing-posture-the-offensive-nuclear-umbrella-and-the-future-of-arms-control
- Christopher A. Ford, “Information Confrontation and China’s Discourse Strategy,” remarks at the Center for Global Security Research, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (September 18, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/information-confrontation-and-chinas-discourse-strategy
- Christopher A. Ford, “Running Faster for the ‘Commanding Heights’ of the Next Industrial Revolution?” remarks to Metron’s 2023 corporate strategy retreat (September 12, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/running-faster-for-the-commanding-heights-of-the-next-industrial-revolution
- Christopher A. Ford, “Information Confrontation with Russia and Dynamics of ‘Positive’ and ‘Negative’ Deterrence,” remarks at Wilton Park, United Kingdom (July 21, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/information-confrontation-with-russia-and-dynamics-of-positive-and-negative-deterrence
- Christopher A. Ford, “Nuclear ‘Hedging,’ Arms Control, and Today’s Strategic Challenges,” remarks at the Nuclear Triad Symposium held at Louisiana State University – Shreveport (July 20, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/nuclear-hedging-arms-control-and-todays-strategic-challenges
- Christopher A. Ford, “The Dangers and Limits of Cooperation Between the World’s Most Dangerous Dictators,” remarks at a National Security Institute event at the Rayburn House Office Building, U.S. House of Representatives (May 31, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/the-dangers-and-limits-of-cooperation-among-the-worlds-most-dangerous-dictators
- Christopher A. Ford, Dr. Ford’s
Commencement Address for the Class of 2023 at Missouri State University’s Graduate Department of Defense and Strategic Studies (May 19, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/2023-commencement-address-missouri-state-university-graduate-department-of-defense-strategic-studies
- Christopher A. Ford, “Four Points to Keep in Mind in Strategic Competition with China,” remarks at Vanderbilt University’s 2nd annual Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats (May 4, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/four-points-to-keep-in-mind-in-strategic-competition-with-china
- Christopher A. Ford, “China’s Struggle for Technology Dominance and U.S. Responses: An Insider’s Account,” keynote address to the National Organization of Investment Professionals’ annual Washington, D.C. conference (April 20, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/chinas-struggle-for-technology-dominance-and-u-s-responses-an-insiders-account
- Christopher A. Ford, “Learning from the NPT’s Challenges,” remarks to the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center’s Public Policy Fellows Research Retreat (February 8, 2023), https://www.newparadigmsforum.com/learning-from-the-npt-regime-s-challenges
In this article in Volume 1, Issue 3 of the Missouri State Univeristy's online journal Defense & Strategic Studies Online (pp. 1-89), Dr. Christopher Ford, John Schurtz, and Erik Quam offer a detailed analytical account of how cybernetic theories of social control developed by the scientist Qian Xuesen and his disciples were adopted by the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and are today critical to understanding the Party’s domestic governance and foreign relations. You can see the whole issue on DASSO's website here , read the Ford/Schurtz/Quam article here , or use the button below to access a PDF of the article.
Below are the prepared remarks upon which Dr. Ford based some of his contributions on a panel on “Tech for War or Tech for Peace? Science, Innovation, and Emerging Technologies in a New Geopolitical Era” at a conference in Reykjavik, Iceland, on May 22, 2025, sponsored by the Arms Control Negotiation Academy (ACONA) and the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF).
Below is the prepared text upon which Dr. Ford based his opening remarks on May 21, 2025, when moderating the opening panel – entitled “NATO and Allied Perspectives on Multi-Domain Operations: A Common Understanding or Diverging Views?” – at the conference on Multi-Domain Operations sponsored by NATO’s Supreme Allied Command Transformation (ACT) in Ankara, Türkiye. (His remarks consisted only of his personal views, and do not necessarily represent those of anyone else.)
Below is the text upon which Dr. Ford based his remarks on a webinar organized by the National Institute for Public Policy (NIPP) on April 28, 2025.
Below is the prepared text upon which Dr. Ford drew in making his informal remarks on April 21, 2025, at the biennial nuclear policy conference held by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. You can find a video of the panel discussion here .
Below is the text upon which Dr. Ford drew in making his informal remarks to a March 13, 2025, workshop as part of the “Future of Arms Control Project” sponsored by the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Centre on Conflict, Development & Peacebuilding (CCDP).
The National Institute for Public Policy (NIPP) published Dr. Ford's paper " Struggling with The Bomb: Competing Discourses in the Nuclear Disarmament Movement" in February 2025, as the second paper in Volume 5 of its Occasional Papers series. You can find Dr. Ford's paper on NIPP's website here , or use the button below to download a PDF.
Dr. Ford and Lord Nigel Biggar published their essay on " Rebutting Sino-Russian Political Discourse and Getting Rights Right" in the Winter 2025 issue of Defense & Strategic Studies Online (DASSO). You can find the DASSO homepage here , read the full second issue of DASSO here , access the Ford/Biggar essay online here , or use the button below to download a PDF of the essay.
Below is the text upon which Dr. Ford based his remarks to a conference at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on February 20, 2025.
Below is the text upon which Dr. Ford based his remarks on February 18, 2025, to a Track 2 dialogue with Russia on Military Risk Reduction in Europe.