The Ukraine War and the Western Way of War: The Risk Management of Remote Warfare

In this lecture, Professor Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen explores the risks associated with Western strategy in the Ukraine War. Western support for Ukraine represents the culmination of the West's approach to managing conflicts as risk management scenarios in the post-Cold War era. The adoption of remote warfare, characterized by the use of drones, advanced strike systems, and AI-driven battle management software, has become a central strategy in Western military operations. While this operational model has yielded significant initial results for the Ukrainian armed forces, Rasmussen contends that it is not without substantial strategic shortcomings.

In his discussion, Rasmussen will delve into the deployment of algorithmic warfare, which, despite ostensibly rationalizing military decision-making, paradoxically undermines strategic coherence. The emphasis on operational tactics at the expense of overarching strategic objectives leads to a situation where the ease of target identification overshadows the imperative of achieving meaningful outcomes. Whether in the Middle East or on the frontlines of Ukraine, the reverberations of Groundhog Day serve as a poignant reminder of recurrent patterns of intervention that lack decisive results.

After booking your ticket, you will receive the link to join via email two days before the event.

Speaker Bio

Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen is a professor of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen, where he currently serves as the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. His research primarily focuses on strategy, risk, and the political economy of defence. Professor Rasmussen is chairman of the board at INVI - a public policy think tank based in Copenhagen. He has previously served as head of the Defence and Security Policy Development Secretariat at the Danish Ministry of Defence, and he led the Centre for Military Studies at the University of Copenhagen. Professor Rasmussen is the author of The Risk Society at War, The Military’s Business, and several other publications on national security and defence.