Alistair Buchan Professor of International Relations, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford

Professor Dominic Johnson is the Alistair Buchan Professor of International Relations in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford. His current work focuses on the role of evolutionary dynamics, evolutionary psychology, and religion in human conflict and cooperation.

Professor Johnson received a DPhil from Oxford University in evolutionary biology, and a PhD from Geneva University in political science. Drawing on both disciplines, he is interested in how new research on evolution, biology and human nature is challenging theories of international relations, conflict, and cooperation.

He has published two books. Overconfidence and War: The Havoc and Glory of Positive Illusions (Harvard University Press, 2004) argues that common psychological biases to maintain overly positive images of our capabilities, our control over events, and the future, play a key role in the causes of war. Failing to Win: Perceptions of Victory and Defeat in International Politics (Harvard University Press, 2006), with Dominic Tierney, examines how and why popular misperceptions commonly create undeserved victories or defeats in international wars and crises.