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Ronan Mainprize

PhD Candidate

Associate Tutor

Academic email:

ronan dot mainprize at warwick dot ac dot uk

Teaching email:

ronan dot p dot mainprize at warwick dot ac dot uk

X:

@RonanMainprize

Profile

Ronan P. Mainprize is a PhD Candidate and Associate Tutor at the University of Warwick. After studying Politics and International Relations as an undergraduate, he moved to Warwick in 2019 to undertake a Masters in International Security. He is now in the fourth year of his PhD project, supported by a PAIS departmental scholarship. His research specialises in intelligence, US foreign policy, and international security.


Thesis

A Tale of Three Crises: President Lyndon B. Johnson and the Central Intelligence Agency

Supervised by Professor Richard J. Aldrich and Professor Christopher R. Moran.

Ronan’s thesis assesses the role of the CIA in US foreign policy decision-making by using three case studies from the presidency of Lyndon Johnson: the Dominican Intervention (1965), the Six Day War (1967), and the Vietnam War (1963-1968). The thesis analyses the performance of the Agency in key intelligence cycle functions, and examines the way intelligence was used, politicised, and neglected by the Johnson administration.


Publications

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles:

Op-Ed Articles:


Conferences and Talks
  • 'COIN Collectors: The CIA in Vietnam' - University of Warwick Intelligence Studies Workshop (26th June, 2023)
  • 'Aye, aye, Sir! William Raborn at the CIA' - APG Rothermere American Institute Conference (23rd June, 2023)
  • 'The CIA at 75: A Roundtable' - University of Warwick (16th May, 2023) (with Richard Aldrich, Christopher Moran, Andrew Hammond, and James Lockhart)
  • 'A Cable from Saigon: CIA Intelligence Collection in Vietnam, 1963-1968' - LSE International Graduate Student Conference on the Cold War (12th May, 2023)
  • 'CIA Covert Action in the 20th Century and Beyond' - University of Warwick Vigilant State Lecture (14th March, 2023)
  • 'Getting it Wrong: Intelligence History and the Six Day War' - CRIPS Working Group Seminar (4th May, 2022)

Fellowships, Grants, and Awards
  • Warwick Cyber Security GRP Early Career Research Fellowship (2023)
  • Warwick Doctoral College Networking Grant (2023)
  • Advance Higher Education Fellowship (2022)
  • Warwick Institute of Advanced Study Research Grant (2022)
  • PAIS PhD Scholarship (2020-2024)

Teaching

Ronan is currently in his third year of teaching in PAIS. Alongside his teaching commitments he is working towards a Postgraduate Award in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (PGA TLHE), and is also a Fellow of Advance Higher Education (FHEA). To organise an advice and feedback session, please contact the teaching email found above.

2023-2024 academic year modules:

  • PO382 - Vigilant State: Understanding Secret Intelligence

  • PO107 - Introduction to Politics


Media Outreach