Since its beginnings, the academic field of Strategic Studies has been characterised by a close relationship between scholars and practitioners. This connection has often encouraged a research focus on the policy issue of the day, and more generally has shaped where, how, on what, and for what purposes research in the field is conducted. Strategic Studies scholars have regularly noted the rise and fall of ‘fashions’ or ‘waves of interest’ within the field. As priorities and interests have shifted, so too has the availability of funding and career opportunities, as well as how the subject is taught. This workshop addresses the effects of the constant shifts and rebranding on the field. How do shifts from one topic to another occur? How do practitioners and academics reposition themselves during and after such shifts? How have these shifts affected research? What role have perceived discontinuities such as the end of the Cold War or the 9/11 attacks played in shaping Strategic Studies, and what drives the field more generally? Answers to these questions are likely to provide important critical insights into the field’s intellectual health and progress.

Presentations:

Jeffrey Michaels (IBEI) and Matt Ford (Sussex), ‘Grand Strategy or Grant Strategy? Philanthropic Foundations, Strategic Studies and the American Academy’

Chiara Libiseller (KCL), ‘Hybrid Warfare as an Academic Fashion’

Thomas Marks (NDU) and David Ucko (NDU), ‘Vicissitudes of Fate: American Counterinsurgency, Fad or Foundation?’

Lukas Milevski (Leiden), ‘On Fashionable Strategic Thought’

Isabelle Duyvesteyn (Leiden) and Samuel Zilincik (Leiden): ‘Strategic Studies and the Cyber Warfare Fashion’

Lawrence Freedman (KCL), ‘Some Observations on Strategic Studies’

 

Speaker biographies:

Isabelle Duyvesteyn is Professor of International Studies and Global History at Leiden University. Her latest publication is Rebels and Conflict Escalation: Explaining the Rise and Decline of Rebel Violence (Cambridge University Press, 2021). She is also the co-editor w/Beatrice Heuser of the forthcoming Cambridge History of the Practice of Strategy.

Matthew Ford is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Sussex, School of Global Studies. He is author of Weapon of Choice: Small Arms and the Culture of Military Innovation (Hurst & Co Ltd, 2017), as well as the co-author of Radical War: Data, Attention and Control in the Twenty-First Century (Forthcoming, 2022).

Sir Lawrence Freedman is Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King's College London. He was Professor of War Studies from 1982 to 2014 and Vice-Principal from 2003 to 2013. Among his recent books are Strategy: A History (Oxford, 2013), The Future of War: A History (Allen Lane, 2017), Ukraine and the Art of Strategy (Oxford, 2019) and, with Jeff Michaels, the 4th edition of The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy (Palgrave, 2019). His latest book is Command: The Politics of Military Operations from Korea to Afghanistan (Forthcoming, 2022).

Chiara Libiseller is a PhD candidate and GTA at the Wars Studies Department, King’s College London. Her research looks at fashionable concepts in the field of Strategic Studies as well as the ontological and epistemological foundations of the field. She is also part of the leadership team of Women in International Security (WIIS) UK.

Thomas A. Marks is Distinguished Professor and MG Edward G. Lansdale Chair of Irregular Warfighting Strategy at the College of International Security (CISA) of the National Defense University (NDU) in Washington, DC. His most recent books, both edited volumes, are the People’s War: Variants and Responses (2018) and Perspectives on the American Way of War: The U.S. Experience in Irregular Combat (2019).

Jeffrey H. Michaels is the IEN Senior Fellow at the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI). He also holds visiting fellowships at the Oxford Changing Character of War Centre at Pembroke College and the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. He is the co-author, with Sir Lawrence Freedman, of The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, 4th Edition.

Lukas Milevski is an assistant professor at the Institute for History at Leiden University. His publications include The Evolution of Modern Grand Strategic Thought (Oxford University Press, 2016) and The West’s East: Contemporary Baltic Defense in Strategic Perspective (Oxford University Press, 2018).

David H. Ucko is professor of international security studies at the College of International Security Affairs (CISA), National Defense University in Washington, DC. He is also an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University and a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. He is the author of Counterinsurgency in Crisis: Britain and the Challenges of Modern Warfare (Columbia University Press, 2013) and The New Counterinsurgency Era: Transforming the U.S. Military for Modern Wars (Georgetown University Press, 2009). His most recent book is The Insurgent’s Dilemma: A Struggle to Prevail (Hurst, February 2022).

Samuel Zilincik is pursuing a PhD in Security and Strategic Studies at Masaryk University and the University of Leiden. He also lectures at the University of Defence in the Czech Republic. His research interests include strategic theory, strategic practice, strategic history and the role of emotions in war. He was one of the winners of the 2020 Trench Gascoigne Essay Prize and the 2018 Strategy Bridge writing contest. His most recent publication is: “The Role of Emotions in Military Strategy,” Texas National Security Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2022.

 

Detailed workshop programme incl. panel times TBC.

 

A reception will follow the workshop held in the same room as where the workshop takes place.