Mehdi Isse

Ali ‘Mehdi’ Isse is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in Security Studies at Princeton University, specializing in strategic studies and foreign policy decision-making. His research investigates the evolution of U.S. nuclear deterrence strategy and its impact on strategic stability, alliance politics, and global nonproliferation regimes. As a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Political Science at Yale University for the 2025–2026 academic year, Mehdi is advancing his dissertation on the strategic logic of U.S. nuclear security policy, with particular focus on coercive diplomacy, extended deterrence, and the institutional architecture of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) regime.

His work draws on both theoretical insights and methodological rigor, combining archival research with formal models of strategic interaction to explore how nuclear powers design deterrence strategies and manage alliance commitments under varying threat environments. In the summer of 2025, he conducted archival research at The National Archives (UK), the LSE Library Archives, and the Churchill Archives Centre at Cambridge University, focusing on U.S.-UK nuclear cooperation and its implications for extended deterrence and international order.

Mehdi holds MA in Social Sciences—Political Science from the University of Chicago, MS from The Ohio State University and a BA from the University of Texas. Outside academia, he enjoys playing soccer, cheering for Arsenal and the Spurs, and staying active through long walks and runs.