Biography
Senior Lecturer in American History
My main research interests lie in the fields of US and UK foreign policy in the post-1945 period, with a particular focus on national security, nuclear weapons, and secret intelligence. I've had work published on the global arms trade, nuclear non-proliferation, Western interactions with the 'Islamic world', and domestic British intelligence issues.
My current research investigates US and UK nuclear non-proliferation policy directed towards the 'greater Middle East' from 1970 to 1991. Fundamental to this is the investigation of how a wide range of factors, including national security imperatives, the Cold War, economics, globalization, religion, and geopolitics played in role in influencing and framing anti-proliferation policies.
I currently lead the first-year modules Making History (historical skills and methods) and The American Age: People, Politics, and Power (US history survey). I also teach my own special-subject modules An International History of the Cold War Era (second year) and The United States and the Middle East, 1801-2003 (third year).
Alongside my friend and colleague Dr Mark McLay of Glasgow Caledonian University, I co-host the American History Too! podcast (https://recordedhistory.net/american-history-too/). The podcast covers all sorts of American history topics, from slavery in the colonial era, through gender and murder in the late nineteenth century, to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s.
Degrees
2014, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, PhD
2009, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, Masters by Research
1998, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK, BA (hons) History and Sociology
Academic appointments
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh, 2015 - 2016
Adjunct Lecturer, History, Classics, and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, 2014 - 2015
Publications
Book
Craig MM. 2017. America, Britain, and the Pakistani Nuclear Weapons Programme, 1974-1980 Palgrave Macmillan. Basingstoke 978-3-319-51879-4 >DOI
Journal article
Craig MM. 2017. Spycatcher’s Little Sister: The Thatcher government and the Panorama affair, 1980-81 Intelligence and National Security, 32 :677-692 >DOI
Craig MM. 2016. ‘Nuclear Sword of the Moslem World’?: the United States, Britain, Pakistan, and the ‘Islamic Bomb’, 1977–80 International History Review, 38 :857-879
Craig MM. 2016. ‘I think we cannot refuse the order’: Britain, America, nuclear non-proliferation, and the Indian Jaguar deal, 1974–1978 Cold War History, 16 :61-81
Book review
Craig MM. 2015. Review of Or Rabinowitz, Bargaining on Nuclear Tests: Washington and its Cold War nuclear deals (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014) History: the journal of the Historical Association, 100 :504-505
Craig MM. 2015. Review of Eric Schlosser, Command and Control: The story of nuclear weapons and the illusion of safety (London: Penguin, 2014) Journal of American Studies, 49 :942-943 >DOI
Craig MM. 2013. Review of Jonathan Lyons, Islam Through Western Eyes: From the Crusades to the War or Terrorism (New York: Columbia University Press, 2013) Journal of American Studies, 47 :863-866 >DOI
Craig MM. Review of David M. Watry, Diplomacy at the Brink: Eisenhower, Churchill, and Eden in the Cold War (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2014) History: the journal of the Historical Association, 101 :824-825 >DOI
Engagement & Impact
Award:
‘Best Course’ for The Nuclear Cold War at the Edinburgh University Students’ Association Teaching Awards, Edinburgh University Students' Association
University of Edinburgh Dalziel Prize for British History, University of Edinburgh
The Professor James F. McMillan Scholarship, University of Edinburgh
Conference organisation:
British International Studies Association Global Nuclear Order Working Group symposium ‘Nuclear Identity: Interdisciplinary Perspectives'., Organiser
Edinburgh University symposium on ‘Conflict in History'., Co-organiser
Victoria University of Wellington ‘New Historians’ Conference'., Co-organiser
Media Coverage:
April 19, 2016, BBC Radio Merseyside, discussing nuclear non-proliferation, the Cold War, and North Korea
March 1, 2017, Al Jazeera, discussing Donald Trump’s first address to the United States Congress
January 27, 2017, BBC Radio 5 Live 6pm news, discussing the Trump-May press conference
January 27, 2017, BBC News 24, discussing the US-UK ‘special relationship’
January 27, 2017, BBC1 Breakfast, discussing the US-UK ‘special relationship’
January 26, 2017, France24, discussing the US-UK ‘special relationship’
January 26, 2017, Sky News, discussing the US-UK ‘special relationship’
January 26, 2017, TRT World television (Turkey), discussing the United States and immigration
January 26, 2017, Sky News, discussing the US-UK 'special relationship'
January 26, 2017, TRTWorld, discussing and providing historical perspective on Donald Trump's 'Mexican wall' and torture statements.
January 7, 2017, TRTWorld, providing an historical perspective on the national security implications of Donald Trump's election.
April 6, 2016, TBS Radio South Korea, ‘Primetime News’, discussing nuclear terrorism and nuclear proliferation.
April 8, 2016, BBC Radio Scotland, ‘Good Morning Scotland’, discussing Edinburgh Spy Week 2016 and the history of secret intelligence.
Research Grants Awarded:
Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs, Atomic Ayatollahs: US-UK nuclear non-proliferation policy and the greater Middle East, 1970-1992, Grant value (£): 1500, Duration of research project: 5 years
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, The United States, the United Kingdom, and Nuclear Proliferation in South Asia: The Case of Pakistan, 1974-1980, Grant value (£): 1500, Duration of research project: 3 years
Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh, 'Banning Panorama The BBC, the Thatcher government, and secret intelligence on TV, 1980-81', Grant value (£): 9000, Duration of research project: Nine months
British Association for American Studies/British Library Eccles Centre, 'Dreams and Nightmares: Defending the Secret State from Public Scrutiny, 1979-1990', Grant value (£): 2250, Duration of research project: One year
Teaching qualification:
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy