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King’s People

Biography

Professor Michael Clarke is a Fellow of King’s College London. He was Director General of the Royal United Services Institute from 2017-2015 and is now a Distinguished Fellow at RUSI. Prior to that he was Professor of Defence Studies at King’s College London, and Deputy Vice-Principal for Research Development. In addition to his Visiting role at KCL he is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Exeter, where he is Associate Director of its Strategy and Security Institute. He is Fellow of the University of Aberystwyth and in 2019 was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Defence Studies.

He was a Specialist Advisor to the House of Commons Defence Committee from 1997 to 2019, and is now Specialist Advisor to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy. He has served on the Prime Minister’s Security Forum and the Chief of Defence Staff’s Strategic Advisory Panel.

His most recent books are: The Challenge of Defending Britain, Manchester University Press 2019; Tipping Point: Britain, Brexit and Security in the 2020s, I.B.Tauris 2019 (with Helen Ramscar); and Britain’s Persuaders: Soft Power in a Hard World, I.B.Tauris 2021 (with Helen Ramscar).

 

Research Interests

  • British defence and foreign policy
  • International terrorism
  • Military studies
  • Military history

Michael Clarke’s research covers current security policy in the broadest sense, dealing with UK policing, counter-terrorism, military defence and security and various aspects of ongoing intelligence and security policy.

 

Publications

Recent Books

  • The Challenge of Defending Britain, Manchester University Press 2019.
  • Tipping Point: Britain, Brexit and Security in the 2020s, I.B.Tauris 2019 (with Helen Ramscar).
  • Britain’s Persuaders: Soft Power in a Hard World, I.B.Tauris 2021 (with Helen Ramscar).

Recent Book Chapters

  • ‘British Foreign and Defence Policy’, in Norton P and Jones B., eds, Politics UK, 10th edition, Routledge, 2021.
  • ‘Britain’s Foreign Policy Landscape’ in, Stephens, M, ed., Principles and Pragmatism: The UK’s Role in the Middle East, Routledge, 2021.
  • ‘What is NATO for?’, in Webber, M., and Sperling, J, eds., The Oxford Handbook on NATO, Oxford University Press, 2021.

Recent Policy Papers

  • Evidence to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, ‘The Integrated Review of the UK’s External Relations’, 7 May 2020.
  • Evidence to the House of Lords, EU Security and Justice Sub-Committee, ‘Future UK-EU Foreign and Defence Cooperation’, 22 September 2020.

Media work

  • Regular contributions to most UK broadcast and print media alongside online briefings at TippingPoint2020s.com

 

Teaching

Regular teaching at the UK Defence Academy, Shrivenham, and also at the Royal College of Defence Studies, in addition to teaching for the Leadership Centre at the Royal United Services institute.