Profile
principal research scientist at MIT’s Center for International Studies
Eric Heginbotham
Asian international relations, conventional warfare, strategic nuclear issues, wargaming.
Eric Heginbotham is a principal research scientist at MIT’s Center for International Studies and a specialist on Asian security issues. Before joining MIT, he was a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation where he led wargaming and research focused on Chinese military capabilities and strategic decisionmaking. He was the lead author of several RAND studies, including China’s Evolving Nuclear Deterrent (RAND, 2017) and U.S.-China Military Scorecard (RAND, 2015). At MIT, Heginbotham has continued to execute research projects and serves as the faculty advisory for the Wargaming Working Group at MIT’s Center for International Studies. He and Joshua Eisenman are co-editors of China Steps Out: Beijing’s Major Power Engagement with the Developing World (Routledge, 2017), and he is co-author of Chinese and Indian Strategic Behavior: Growing Power and Alarm (Cambridge University Press, 2012). Heginbotham has published dozens of articles in Foreign Affairs, International Security, Washington Quarterly and elsewhere. He is currently working on a book on the prospects for a stable balance of power in East Asia.