
David Holloway, PhD
Raymond A. Spruance Professor of International History and FSI Senior Fellow; CISAC Faculty Member; Forum on Contemporary Europe Research AffiliateFSI
Stanford University
Encina Hall E214
Stanford, CA 94305
Research Interests
civil wars; history of nuclear weapons
David Holloway is the Raymond A. Spruance Professor of International History, a professor of political science, and an FSI senior fellow. He was co-director of CISAC from 1991 to 1997, and director of FSI from 1998 to 2003. His research focuses on the international history of nuclear weapons, on science and technology in the Soviet Union, and on the relationship between international history and international relations theory. His book Stalin and the Bomb: The Soviet Union and Atomic Energy, 1939-1956 (Yale University Press, 1994) was chosen by the New York Times Book Review as one of the 11 best books of 1994, and it won the Vucinich and Shulman prizes of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies. Holloway also wrote The Soviet Union and the Arms Race (1983) and co-authored The Reagan Strategic Defense Initiative: Technical, Political and Arms Control Assessment (1984). He has contributed to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Foreign Affairs, and other scholarly journals.
Since joining the Stanford faculty in 1986 -- first as a professor of political science and later (in 1996) as a professor of history as well -- Holloway has served as chair and co-chair of the International Relations Program (1989-1991), and as associate dean in the School of Humanities and Sciences (1997-1998). Before coming to Stanford, he taught at the University of Lancaster (1967-1970) and the University of Edinburgh (1970-1986). Born in Dublin, Ireland, he received his undergraduate degree in modern languages and literature, and his PhD in social and political sciences, both from Cambridge University.
Stanford Departments
Political Science; History
Publications
The 5 most recent are displayed. More publications »
Jockeying for Position in the Postwar World: Soviet Entry into the War with Japan in August 1945
David Holloway
Stanford University in "The End of the Pacific War: Reappraisals", Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, ed. (2007)
Science, Technology, and Modernity
David Holloway, Ronald Grigor Suny
Cambridge University Press in "Cambridge History of Russia" vol. 3 (2007)
U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy: Confronting Today's Threats
George Bunn, Christopher F. Chyba, Chaim Braun, David Holloway, Michael M. May, W.K.H. Panofsky, Karthika Sasikumar, Roger Speed, Dean Wilkening
Brookings Institution Press and CISAC (2006)
Parallel Lives? Oppenheimer and Khariton
David Holloway
University of California, Berkeley in "Reappraising Oppenheimer: Centennial Studies and Reflections" (2005)
Civil Wars and State-Building in Africa and Eurasia
Stephen J. Stedman, David Holloway
Woodrow Wilson Center Press, in "Beyond State Crisis: Postcolonial Africa and Post-Soviet Eurasia in Comparative Perspective" (2002)
Events & Presentations
The 5 most recent are displayed. More events & presentations »
- The International Control of Atomic Energy, 1945-46: Why Did It Fail? Are There Lessons to be Learned for Today?
May 1, 2008 CISAC Social Science Seminar
David Holloway, Michael M. May - Alex George: A Critical Appreciation
May 10, 2007 CISAC Social Science Seminar
David Holloway, Barton J. Bernstein - 1969 and All That: A New Look at the Sino-Soviet Nuclear Crisis
May 25, 2006 CISAC Social Science Seminar
David Holloway
Dr. Atomic: The Life of J. Robert Oppenheimer
October 12, 2005 Special Seminar
David Holloway, Barton Bernstein, John Else, Kip Cranna- The Tet Offensive: New Evidence on Hanoi Strategy Deliberation in 1967
January 13, 2005 CISAC Social Science Seminar
Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, David Holloway
Research Programs & Projects
Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation (SCICN)- MacArthur Consortium on International Peace and Cooperation
CISAC Project (Completed)

