Doctoral Candidate David Blanton
David Blanton is a doctoral researcher in Political Science at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, affiliated with the Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA) and the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences. His research focuses on U.S. foreign and security policy, with particular attention to alliance governance, executive decision-making, and the political and institutional dynamics shaping U.S. overseas military basing and force posture in Europe since 1945.
His dissertation, Balancing Security and Diplomacy: U.S. Force Posture Post-1945 and Military Diplomacy in Europe, examines how U.S. executive-branch actors translate systemic strategic pressures into concrete basing and posture outcomes through processes of military diplomacy, alliance negotiation, and bureaucratic coordination. Drawing on archival research, qualitative document analysis, and elite-level policy sources, the project develops a multi-tiered analytical framework that integrates structural imperatives with domestic political and institutional constraints.
David holds graduate degrees in Policy Management from Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and in Public Affairs from Indiana University in Bloomington, where his academic training focused on defense policy, national security decision-making, and public-sector governance. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH, with a concentration in International Business and German. He has also completed executive education in strategic leadership and innovation at the University of California, Berkeley, and in logistics and technology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Prior to beginning his doctoral studies, David worked in senior operational and strategic planning environments within U.S. Military and NATO institutions, with responsibilities related to deterrence, alliance coordination, force management, and multinational operations. These experiences inform his scholarly interest in civil–military relations, institutional authority, and the practice of military diplomacy.
His research interests include U.S. foreign and security policy, NATO institutions, overseas basing politics, alliance management, and bureaucratic politics. He is a recipient of the General (Ret.) Andrew Goodpaster Advanced Strategic Studies Fellowship and an American Council on Germany Young Leader.
