Biography
Professor David Betz obtained his BA and MA at Carleton University, Ottawa and his PhD at the University of Glasgow. He joined the Department immediately after completing his PhD in 2002. His work is broadly contemporary in focus looking at many aspects of military affairs at the strategic and to some extent tactical levels. He has advised many governments and international organisations and contributed to doctrine and policy on the topics of his research. He is somewhat active in media and happy to consider guest lectures for worthy and interesting institutions. He is currently the academic director of the MA War Studies programme and pleased to receive enquiries from prospective students about it.
Research Interests
His areas of research cover:
- Insurgency and counterinsurgency
- Civil wars and Culture wars
- Information Warfare, Propaganda, and Strategic Communications
- Future War/Technology
- Military operations, logistics, and tactics, particularly on land/urban
- Contemporary and historical weapons
- Russian-area military studies
- Fortifications both contemporary and historic
Publications
His most recent books are The Guarded Age: Fortification in the 21st Century (Polity 2025) and Carnage and Connectivity (Hurst 2015).
His recent works on civil wars in the journal Military Strategy have been widely read. These include: Civil War Comes to the West, Part I, Civil War Comes to the West, Part II: Strategic Realities, and Reflections on Homeland Insecurity: The Strategic Anatomy of Civil Wars to Come.
He has published many other scholarly articles and book chapters. A full list of his publications is available here.
Teaching
He currently teaches the MA War Studies core course Theory and Practice of War and the optional module Insurgency and Counterinsurgency.
He has supervised dozens of successful PhDs and is prepared to consider applications in any of his research interests as noted above. He is particularly interested though in students intending to work on any aspect of the strategy and practice of fortification historical or contemporary in any region.