Dominic Johnson

MSc DPhil Oxon, MA PhD Geneva

Academic Staff

Alastair Buchan Chair of International Relations

Co-Director, Oxford Martin School "Natural Governance" Programme

AFFILIATION

International Relations Network

College

St Antony's College

Students

dominic.johnson@politics.ox.ac.uk

phone

+44(0)1865 284700

Dominic 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. His new book, Strategic Instincts: The Adaptive Advantages of Cognitive Biases in International Politics (Princeton University Press, 2020), challenges the common view that human cognitive biases are unfortunate errors or mistakes that lead inevitably to policy failures, disasters, and wars. Rather, it argues they are adaptive heuristics that evolved because they helped us make good decisions, not bad ones. Under the right conditions, these “strategic instincts” continue to lend a competitive edge in international relations. His previous books are: God is Watching You: How the Fear of God Makes Us Human (Oxford University Press, 2015), which examines the role of religion in the evolution of cooperation, and how cross-culturally ubiquitous and ancient beliefs in supernatural punishment have helped to overcome major challenges of human society; 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; and Overconfidence and War: The Havoc and Glory of Positive Illusions (Harvard University Press, 2004), which 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. His current work focuses on the role of evolutionary dynamics, evolutionary psychology, and religion in human conflict and cooperation. Dominic is also Co-Director of the Oxford Martin School Natural Governance Programme.

Professional Responsibilities

Co-Director of the Oxford Martin School Natural Governance Programme

Research

Foreign Policy and diplomacy, Global governance, History, Human nature, International cooperation, International relations, International security, Power, Religion, Violence security and conflict

Publications

Journal Articles

2019

MACDONALD, D., JOHNSON, D. and WHITEHOUSE, H. (2019) “Towards a More Natural Governance of Earth’s Biodiversity and Resources”, Conservation and Society [Preprint].

2017

Johnson, D., Phil, D. and Thayer, B. (2017) “The evolution of offensive realism”., Politics and the life sciences : the journal of the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences, 35(1), pp. 1–26.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1017/pls.2016.6

2016

Johnson, D. (2016) “Anthropology: Hand of the gods in human civilization”., Nature, 530(7590), pp. 285–287.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1038/nature16879

2015

Johnson, D. (2015) “Big Gods, small wonder: supernatural punishment strikes back”, Religion Brain & Behavior, 5(4), pp. 290–298.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599x.2014.928356

Johnson, D. and MacKay, N. (2015) “Fight the power: Lanchester’s laws of combat in human evolution”, Evolution and Human Behavior, 36(2), pp. 152–163.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.11.001

Macdonald, D. and Johnson, D. (2015) “Patchwork planet: resource dispersion and the ecology of life”, Journal of Zoology, 295(2), pp. 75–107.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.12202

Johnson, D. (2015) “Survival of the Disciplines: Is International Relations Fit for the New Millennium?”, Millennium Journal of International Studies, 43(2), pp. 749–763.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1177/0305829814540846

Kuo, R., Johnson, D. and Toft, M. (2015) “Correspondence: Evolution and Territorial Conflict”, International Security, 39(3), pp. 190–201.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_c_00180

2014

Johnson, D., Lenfesty, H. and Schloss, J. (2014) “The Elephant in the Room: Do Evolutionary Accounts of Religion Entail the Falsity of Religious Belief?”, Philosophy Theology and the Sciences, 1(2), p. 200.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1628/219597714x14025664303083

Johnson, D. and Toft, M. (2014) “Grounds for War: The Evolution of Territorial Conflict”, International Security, 38(3), pp. 7–38.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00149

2013

Johnson, D. and Fowler, J. (2013) “Complexity and simplicity in the evolution of decision-making biases”., Trends in ecology & evolution, 28(8), pp. 446–447.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2013.06.003

Johnson, D. (2013) “The evolution of error: Error management, cognitive constraints, and adaptive decision-making biases”, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 28(8), pp. 474–481.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2013.05.014

Johnson, D. (2013) “The evolution of error: error management, cognitive constraints, and adaptive decision-making biases”., Trends in ecology & evolution, 28(8), pp. 474–481.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2013.05.014

Johnson, D. and Fowler, J. (2013) “Complexity and simplicity in the evolution of decision-making biases”, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 28(8), pp. 446–447.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2013.06.003

Johnson, D., Price, M. and Van Vugt, M. (2013) “Darwin’s invisible hand: Market competition, evolution and the firm”, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 90.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2012.12.016

Johnson, D., Price, M. and Van Vugt, M. (2013) “Darwin’s invisible hand: Market competition, evolution and the firm”, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 90, pp. s128 - s140.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2012.12.016

2012

Stopka, P. and Johnson, D. (2012) “Host-parasite dynamics lead to mixed cooperative games”, Journal of Vertebrate Biology, 61(34), pp. 233–238.

Available at https://doi.org/10.25225/fozo.v61.i3.a7.2012

2009

King, A., Johnson, D. and Van Vugt, M. (2009) “The origins and evolution of leadership”., Current biology : CB, 19(19), pp. R911 - R916.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2009.07.027

2005

Thornton, P. (2005) “Preliminary comparison of four anaesthetic techniques in badgers (Meles meles)”., Veterinary anaesthesia and analgesia, 32(1), pp. 40–47.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-2995.2004.00163.x

2004

Thom, M., Johnson, D. and MacDonald, D. (2004) “The evolution and maintenance of delayed implantation in the mustelidae (mammalia: carnivora)”., Evolution; international journal of organic evolution, 58(1), pp. 175–183.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0014-3820.2004.tb01584.x

Johnson, D., Stopka, P. and Macdonald, D. (2004) “Ideal flea constraints on group living: unwanted public goods and the emergence of cooperation”, Behavioral Ecology, 15(1), pp. 181–186.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arg093

2003

Johnson, D. and Macdonald, D. (2003) “Sentenced without trial: reviling and revamping the Resource Dispersion Hypothesis”, Oikos, 101(2), pp. 433–440.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-0706.2003.12697.x

Fehr, E. and Gächter, S. (2003) “The puzzle of human cooperation”, Nature, 421(6926), pp. 912–912.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1038/421912a

Johnson, D., Stopka, P. and Knights, S. (2003) “Sociology: The puzzle of human cooperation”., Nature, 421(6926), pp. 911–912.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1038/421911b

2002

Johnson, D. (2002) “Does the resource dispersion hypothesis explain group living?”, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 17(12), pp. 563–570.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/s0169-5347(02)02619-8

Johnson, D., Jetz, W. and Macdonald, D. (2002) “Environmental correlates of badger social spacing across Europe”, Journal of Biogeography, 29(3), pp. 411–425.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2002.00680.x

2001

Johnson, D. (2001) “Group size versus territory size in group‐living badgers: a large‐sample field test of the Resource Dispersion Hypothesis”, Oikos, 95(2), pp. 265–274.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-0706.2001.950208.x

Johnson, D. and Macdonald, D. (2001) “Why are group‐living badgers (Meles meles) sexually dimorphic?”, Journal of Zoology, 255(2), pp. 199–204.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1017/s0952836901001273

Johnson, D. (2001) “Long-term resource variation and group size: A large-sample field test of the Resource Dispersion Hypothesis”, BMC Ecology, 1.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6785-1-2

2000

Johnson, D., MacDonald, D. and Dickman, A. (2000) “An analysis and review of models of the sociobiology of the Mustelidae”, Mammal Review, 30(3‐4), pp. 171–196.

Available at https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2907.2000.00066.x

Curry, O. (no date) “How moments become movements: Shared outrage, group cohesion, and the lion that went viral”, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution [Preprint].

Available at https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2018.00054

Johnson, D. and Lopez, A. (no date) “The Determinants of War in International Relations”, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization [Preprint].

JOHNSON, D. and Tierney, D. (no date) “Bad World: The Negativity Bias in International Politics”, International Security [Preprint].

Johnson, D. (no date) “The Wrath of the Academics: Criticisms, Applications, and Extensions of the Supernatural Punishment Hypothesis”, Religion, Brain and Behavior [Preprint].

Johnson, D. and Price, M. (no date) “Science and religion around the world: Compatibility between belief systems predicts increased wellbeing”, Religion, Brain and Behavior [Preprint].

JOHNSON, D. (no date) “Can Evolution Make Sense of Fear? Lessons from Bonhoeffer and Darwin”, The Bonhoeffer Legacy: An International Journal 7, no. 1&2 (2021) [Preprint].

Books

2015

Johnson, D. (2015) God Is Watching You How the Fear of God Makes Us Human. Oxford University Press, USA.

Chapters

JOHNSON, D. (no date) “What the Viruses Wants: Evolutionary Insights for the Covid-19 Pandemic and Lessons for the Next One”., in J.-M. marcoux, B. Ackerly, and P. Bourbeau (eds.) Pandemics: A Multidisciplinary Approach, edited by Jean-Michel Marcoux and Brooke A. Ackerly Philippe Bourbeau. oxford university press.

Others

JOHNSON, D. (no date) “H-Diplo/ISSF Roundtable Review of Dominic D.P. Johnson, Strategic Instincts: The Adaptive Advantages of Cognitive Biases in International Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2020”. H-Diplo/ISSF, 2021.