Maria de Goeij provides a brilliant introduction to reflexive control theory, a Soviet theory of influence. Listen to learn more and appreciate how it can help us better understand today's world, including strategic decision making in hybrid warfare. Reflexive control theory is a theory of influence that was developed in the 1960s, in Soviet Russia. During this lecture Maria will talk about the cybernetic origins of the theory, what we know about reflexive control, and what we do not know about ...
May 31, 2022•38 min
Dr Marnie Howlett presents an engaging and thought-provoking look at the cartographical causes and consequences of the war. She looks at Ukraine's position between East and West and the implications of its long history of shifting borders with Russia. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, much attention within political and military circles has been devoted to examining the origins of the seemingly unexpected war. However, these analyses have primarily explored the foreign poli...
May 24, 2022•30 min
Dr Walter Ladwig III presents on his excellent research project which seeks to explain India's foreign policy orientation by analysing the foreign travel patterns of Indian government leaders. Will a rising India seek to uphold the existing conventions and standards that regulate the international system or is it likely to challenge an international order which is seen to have been constructed by the West in general and the United States in particular? This question has recently taken on increas...
May 17, 2022•46 min
Dr Iacovos Kareklas, Visiting Fellow at the Changing Character of War Centre (CCW), presents a strongly argued thesis that there is a legal and moral right to unilateral humanitarian intervention which dates back to the Peloponnesian War. The presented paper adopts a fresh approach on unilateral humanitarian intervention, and purports to demonstrate that, in certain cases, not only is permissible, but also legally and morally imperative. This academic venture is predominantly based on authoritat...
May 17, 2022•45 min
Dr Hillary Briffa looks at what characterises small states, their challenges, and the strategies they utilise to overcome these. She argues that small states can very successfully protect their autonomy and security, and exert considerable influence. When major powers clash, or grow more competitive, the historical record shows that small states are the first to be buffeted by the actions of their larger counterparts. Small states do not set the international agenda. This means that if the fears...
Apr 12, 2022•45 min
Mark Galeotti discusses Russian perceptions of war and conflict. The differences between what is considered "war" vs "conflict" and how this changes between the military and civilian security establishments. In addition, the war in Ukraine is discussed. Discussion of Russian notions of future warfare tend, for understandable reasons, to focus on the debates within the military, which are then embodied in doctrine, tactics and procurement decisions. These debates are important, but also much more...
Mar 16, 2022•48 min
A discussion on the need for the UN to refocus its mission and retool itself to address increased incidence of intra-State conflict. Raja Karthikeya is a Political Affairs Officer in the United Nations Secretariat supporting the General Assembly's deliberations on the Middle East. He has previously served with UN special political missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and led the Global Programme on Preventing Violent Extremism at the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism where he supported governments acr...
Feb 16, 2022•50 min
How would Europe fare if the United States completely withdrew its security assurances and assistance? Dr Hugo Meijer argues that Europe would struggle to mount a collective, autonomous defence capacity vis-a-vis a resurgent Russia. Europe’s security landscape has changed dramatically in the past decade amid Russia’s resurgence, mounting European doubts about the long-term reliability of the U.S. security commitment, and Europe’s growing aspiration for strategic autonomy. Could Europeans develop...
Feb 08, 2022•51 min
What strategies do states and nonstate actors use when engaging in disinformation and malign manipulation of the information environment? What do they do and why, and how successful is it? And what can be done to combat it? Malign manipulation of the information environment is an urgent security threat facing western democracies. This talk examines why and how state and nonstate actors have harnessed emerging technologies – social media platforms in particular – to shape the information environm...
Jan 26, 2022•40 min
Hear from Professor Janne Matlary, co-editor of this recent publication, as well as two contributing authors: Steiner Torset and Anders Sookermany Dr Rob Johnson will chair a panel discussion with contributors to Military Strategy in the 21St Century What is military strategy today? In an era when European states seek to de-escalate and avoid armed conflict, and where politicians fear the consequences of protracted operations or tactical hazards, does military strategy have any relevance? This i...
Dec 14, 2021•38 min
In light of the Integrated Review this year, what other military reviews have there been and what was their impact? Peter Watkins (former Director General in the UK MoD) looks back at previous military reviews and discusses continuing themes. Peter Watkins became an associate fellow for Chatham House in June 2019. Before that, from 2014 to 2018, he was Director General (DG) in the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) responsible for strategic defence policy, including key multilateral and bilateral rela...
Dec 07, 2021•48 min
How are new technologies impacting the conduct of war? And what will be the impact more broadly on our societies and, in particular, our understandings of time, space, and self. “Military revolutions” refer to major changes in the technologies required for prosecuting wars, which in turn fundamentally alter the organization and functioning of human societies. This phenomenon has been observed for the Napoleonic wars, the industrial age, and the nuclear age. The 4th industrial revolution (4IR), c...
Dec 07, 2021•47 min
As space becomes increasingly central in military planning and strategy development, what is the current situation and what capabilities (and weaknesses) currently exist? Since the start of the Space Age, the orbital domain has always been used for military purposes; but in recent times there has been an increasing focus on tactical rather than strategic satellite applications. There has been a shift in military emphasis towards systems that provide wider coverage, more timely information, incre...
Dec 07, 2021•44 min
What is better integration? More integration may not be the simple answer for militaries like the US and UK. The Integrated Review, Multi-Domain Integration, The Integrated Operating Concept, Multi-Domain Battle,, the list goes on. These concepts define US and UK ideas of how to fight and win in the future, and they all have a common underpinning premise: integrate better. But what is ‘better’ integration? Counter-intuitively to many, better integration is not as simple as more integration. ‘Bet...
Dec 07, 2021•40 min
Ricardo Nogales gives a talk for the Changing Character of War seminar series.
Apr 16, 2020•42 min
Sara Polo, University of Essex, gives a talk for the Changing Character of War seminar series.
Apr 16, 2020•36 min
Oscar Jonsson, Stockholm Free World Forum, gives a talk for the Changing Character of War Programme.
Apr 16, 2020•36 min
Lord John Alderdice gives a talk for the Changing Character of War seminar series.
Apr 16, 2020•42 min
This talk will discuss the parallels between the Thirty Years War and today’s Middle East and suggest ways in which lessons drawn from the congress and treaties of Westphalia. It was the original forever war, which went on interminably, fuelled by religious and constitutional disputes, personal ambition, fear of hegemony, and communal suspicion. It dragged in all the neighbouring powers. It was punctuated by repeated failed ceasefires. It inflicted suffering beyond belief and generated waves of ...
May 01, 2019•46 min
Using longitudinal data from Burundi collected in 2011 and 2015, this paper explores the consequences of repatriation for stayee households i.e. those who never left the country during the conflict Large-scale refugee repatriation is sometimes considered a threat to stability and sustainable development because of the burden it could impose on receiving communities. Yet the empirical evidence on the impacts of refugee return is limited. Using longitudinal data from Burundi collected in 2011 and ...
May 01, 2019•31 min
Michael von der Schulenburg will discuss the shortcomings of the UN Charter to regulate foreign military interventions and paradoxes in UN peacekeeping The character of wars is changing. Today, wars between nation-states have largely disappeared and armed conflicts between states and belligerent non-state actors have become predominant. But has the international community found the right answers to deal with such intrastate armed conflicts? Schulenburg will argue, no. In a future world of 11 bil...
May 01, 2019•38 min
Dapo Akande and Emanuela-Chiara Gilliard from ELAC (Oxford) discuss humanitarian relief in Syria The extremely severe restrictions on humanitarian operations have been one of the defining features of the Syrian conflict. Humanitarian operations have been severely impeded by a range of constraints, including active hostilities, repeated attacks against those providing humanitarian and, in particular, medical assistance, shifting front lines, proliferation of parties to the conflict, and the instr...
Apr 29, 2019•47 min
Gender, State-collapse, Conflict and State-building: Recent Research from the Somali Context Prescribing and policing gender norms and relations, in other words controlling society’s experiences of femininity and masculinity, along with social exclusion practices, is arguably at the very heart of the protracted and violent struggle for political and ideological power in today’s Somalia. The research material that my session will be drawing on comes from two recent qualitative studies: the Impact...
Apr 29, 2019•53 min
Within the context of modernity and globalisation, this research project investigates the processes by which governance arises in territories subjected to illicit forms of social order that contest state sovereignty and authority. Within the context of modernity and globalisation, this research project investigates the processes by which governance arises in territories subjected to illicit forms of social order that contest state sovereignty and authority. Drawing from recursive theoretical and...
Apr 29, 2019•46 min
Focusing on the 'male perpetrator,' this paper first examines how, why, and with what effect gendered and raced imaginaries became encoded in international peace and security policy. Sexual violence in conflict once again captured the international spotlight earlier this month when gynaecologist, Dr Denis Mukwege, and human rights activist, Nadia Murad, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Responding to sexual violence grew exponentially in importance on international policy agendas over ...
Dec 17, 2018•37 min
Dr Katerina Tkacova, member of CCW, introduces the seminar series based on the CCW research project - Changing Character of Conflict Platform project: New approach to quantitative analysis of protracted conflicts. The interdisciplinary project aims to create a knowledge-based platform for academics, practitioners, policy-makers and the wider public to understand the changing character of conflicts across different epistemologies and methodologies. While we might not be able to stop some conflict...
Dec 17, 2018•34 min
The Strategic Cyber Security model illustrates how offensive cyber capability has been operationalised as a critical component in the delivery of the UK's cyber security strategy The 2013 public announcement by the then Secretary of State for Defence, Phillip Hammond stating that the United Kingdom was creating an offensive cyber capability as part of its national cyber security strategy moved the debate on the use of offensive cyber into the public policy sphere. While this debate has continued...
May 14, 2018•41 min
Brandon Valeriano examines cyber strategies in their varying forms through quantitative analysis and questions their level of impact This project examines the changing character of cyber strategies in the digital domain. We develop a theory that cyber operations are a form of covert coercion typically seeking to send ambiguous signals or demonstrate resolve. Cyber Coercion from this perspective is neither as revolutionary nor as novel as it seems when evaluated with evidence. We examine cyber st...
May 14, 2018•46 min
Al Brown discusses new technologies, robotics and artificial intelligence entering armed conflict Secretary of Defence James Mattis recently said of artificial intelligence: "I'm certainly questioning my original premise that the fundamental nature of war will not change. You've got to question that now. I just don’t have the answers yet." Vladimir Putin stated: "Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind." "Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will be...
Apr 30, 2018•45 min
Dr Matlary discusses the driving forces behind defence cooperation, the key players and cooperatives within Europe, as well as Russia’s effect on defence policy.
Mar 21, 2018•51 min
