Strategic leadership Seminar Series

Wednesday 27 November, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Rethinking Non-State Armed Groups: Youth, Agency, and Pathways to Sustainable Peace

Yosuke Nagai, SST- CCW Visiting Fellow

This seminar offers a fresh perspective on the roles and potential of youth within non-state armed groups, exploring both micro-level dynamics and broader implications for global peacebuilding. Based on field experiences across regions like Somalia, Yemen, Kenya, Indonesia, and Colombia, combined with insights from recent research, the presentation will challenge traditional narratives surrounding non-state armed groups and youth associated with non-state armed groups (YANSAG). By examining the complex identities and unique capacities of young disengaged combatants, this session will consider how their reintegration can contribute to sustainable peace. Emphasis will also be placed on how macro-level strategies and frameworks, including international policies and normative shifts, can better support the disengagement, reintegration and empowerment of these youth, moving beyond conventional conflict resolution approaches to foster long-term stability.

Dr Yosuke Nagai is the Executive Director of Accept International and the Founder of the Global Taskforce for Youth Combatants. He has been dedicated to mainly implementing deradicalization, reintegration, and rehabilitation programs for defectors, prisoners, and detainees from non-state armed groups, particularly those involved in violent extremism, in regions such as Somalia, Yemen, Kenya, Indonesia, and Colombia. Currently, as a visiting fellow at the Strategy, Statecraft, and Technology: Changing Character of War Centre at the University of Oxford, Dr Nagai is researching the impact of narratives that empower disengaged combatants as agents of peace.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Strategic leadership Seminar Series

Wednesday 13 November, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

At the Frontline: Defence, Media and Leadership

Deborah Haynes

Deborah is Sky News' security and defence editor. She covers the biggest foreign stories around the world and carries out her own investigations. She has reported from Europe on Brexit the United States on Donald Trump, and broken stories on suspected Russian disinformation operations and suspected cyber attacks in the UK.

Before joining Sky, she was defence editor and previously Iraq correspondent at The Times. She covered wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, as well as focusing on armed forces issues in the UK, including exposing the true extent of a funding crisis within the UK's military.

She won the Amnesty International award for national newspaper human rights reporting in 2008 for a series on the plight of Iraqi interpreters working for UK forces in Iraq.

This series also won Deborah the inaugural Bevins Prize for investigative journalism in 2008.

Prior to joining The Times, Deborah worked for the Reuters news agency after six years at AFP in Tokyo, Geneva, Baghdad and London.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Strategic leadership Seminar Series

Wednesday 30 October, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Leading AUKUS: the UK perspective on the Australian, UK, United States strategic alignment for Indo-Pacific Defence and Security

Anne Marie Trevelyan

Anne-Marie Trevelyan was the Minister of State for AUKUS in His Majesty’s Government and this is her account of the multiple benefits of the new strategic alignment for the three powers. She lays out the domestic UK advantages this initiative is producing, and has the potential to produce in the future, for the regeneration of the North-East of England, technological acceleration for UK businesses, and a new era of deterrence against aggression in the region which is such an important strategic and commercial partner for the UK.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Strategic leadership Seminar Series

Wednesday 16 October, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Strategic Leadership through the prisms of the UK Defence-UK Science-UK Industry relationship, the SDR & AUKUS.

Dr Carl Hunter

In this seminar, Professor Carl Stephen Patrick Hunter OBE will discuss strategic leadership through the prism of the UK Defence-UK Science-UK Industry relationship. He will address how UK Industry and UK Science can help the United Kingdom meet its defence and security objectives and how UK Defence-UK Science-UK Industry relationship can secure the most comprehensive possible defence enterprise.

In this complex geopolitical context, we are at a  “near-war AUKUS” age. We face adversarial state threats from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea and significant global threats such as corruption, terrorism, the growth of “ungoverned space”, a distortion of International Standards, water vulnerability, health and new pandemic risks. A National Strategy must be formulated and implemented to alleviate and address them from  a health, wealth and security perspective.

Defence and Security are 2 of the 4 public service capabilities, alongside Diplomacy and Development, and mirrored by the 4 private sector capabilities of Trade, Finance, the Intellectual & Scientific and the Cultural. It is only when all 8 of the UK’s core capabilities are aligned and their interdependence understood that the UK’s most intractable problems can be identified at home and overseas. UK Science, and UK Industry must work in tandem with UK Defence and UK Security to make the next 75 years the gift that it should be for our future generations.

Dr Carl Hunter is Chairman of Coltraco Ultrasonics, a high-exporting advanced manufacturer, Director-General of the Durham Institute of Research, Development & Invention (DIRDI), Director of the Centre of Underwater Acoustic Analysis (CUAA), Professor-in-Practice at Durham University, and Chairman of the Council on Geostrategy Forum. Carl has long leadership experience in the aerospace, marine, energy, manufacturing, scientific, geostrategic and defence sectors and is committed to the development of a national strategy as part of a public service-led national, shared endeavour. Experienced in the private and public sectors, and a former Green Jacket Officer, Coltraco Ultrasonics focuses on ultrasound, acoustics, electro-magnetism and information engineering and has twice-won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2019 and 2022. Their instrumentation is aboard 20% of the world’s shipping fleet, leading allied Navies and across offshore energy. Earlier in his career, Carl was Managing Director International Markets for TIMCO Aviation Services in NC USA, becoming the largest independent aircraft engineering maintenance, repair and overhaul organisation in the world. Prior to that he was Senior Advisor International Markets to United Airlines/United Services, San Francisco CA USA, the largest B777/B747-400 wide-body and PW4090 aircraft engine operator in the world.

During COVID19 he was a member of the UK Government’s COVID19 Economic Recovery Taskforce. His company did not place anyone into furlough, instead establishing a new laboratory, co-located with the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation, part of the Department of Physics, Durham University. They developed via Innovate UK the first instrument to be able to check that negatively pressurised ICU Wards in NHS Hospitals were containing infection rather than spreading COVID19 into the rest of the hospital, which has since developed into the world’s most accurate instrument in the Built Environment to monitor building airtightness and energy loss. He advises several UK Government departments including as co-Chair of External Engagement to Director SONAC at the MoD 2022-24, where he supports Director Defence Innovation and Director UKDSE. He contributed to the Integrated Review in modest external engagement at No10.Carl is a Visiting Fellow of the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre, an Honorary Fellow of the Strategy Statecraft Technology (Changing Character of War) Centre, at Pembroke College, Oxford and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, The Royal Institution of Naval Architects and The Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology. He holds an Honorary Doctorate in Science from Durham University and Durham University Senate’s highest Dunelmensis Award, for his contribution to undergraduate development and scientific research. His research institute aims to be a strategic, nationally significant, “Ideas Factory”, bridging private sector capabilities to a public service-led scientific and geopolitical research ethos, aiming to identify and support the “Next Newton” and future UK Nobel Prize winners over 20-year periods. The CUAA is his “gift to the nation” and specifically to the Royal Navy. DIRDI consists of 325 senior academics and geo-strategists at Professor and Associate Professor level, from the Universities of Durham, Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial College, University College and Kings College London. Carl was recently honoured with the OBE.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Illusionary Trends in Strategic Studies Seminar Series

Wednesday 5 June, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Cultural Bridges and Cold War Alliances: Lessons from the GDR’s Diplomatic Dance with Japan

Dr Bethan Winter, Oxford

As countries of strategic importance on opposing sides of the Cold War divide, the domestic and foreign policies of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and Japan were expected to align closely with those of their respective superpower hegemons. At the same time, West Germany’s Hallstein Doctrine threatened to cut ties with any country that recognized the GDR as a legitimate state, severely restricting East Germany from establishing diplomatic relationships with states outside of the Soviet sphere of influence. Yet, despite these seemingly impermeable geopolitical barriers, the GDR and Japan managed to forge a mutually-beneficial relationship through the use of culture.

This talk will explore both top-down government initiatives and grassroots interactions between the GDR and Japan, illustrating how culture—whether through deliberate soft power strategies or through ‘incidental’ diplomatic exchanges—can play a pivotal role in bridging divides even in the most polarized global contexts.

Bethan Winters is a social and cultural historian of the Cold War, specialising in the German Democratic Republic and its international relations. Bethan is currently a Lecturer in Music at Magdalen College, Oxford, where she was previously a Lecturer in History. She teaches across the music, history, and politics departments.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Illusionary Trends in Strategic Studies Seminar Series

Wednesday 22 May, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Mythbusting the Politics of War: How Presidents Manage the Political Costs of Civilian Control

Dr Andrew Payne, City, University of London

Abstract will be posted shortly.

Andrew Payne is a Lecturer in Foreign Policy and Security at City, University of London, and a Research Associate at the University of Oxford, where he was previously the Hedley Bull Research Fellow in International Relations. His research examines the influence of domestic politics on US foreign policy, military strategy and civil-military relations. His first book, War on the Ballot: How the Election Cycle Shapes Presidential Decision-Making in War, was published by Columbia University Press in July 2023. His work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, including International Security, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Politics, and Contemporary Politics. His writing has also appeared in The Washington Post, The Sunday Times, The Conversation, and International Affairs. In addition to his academic work, Andrew serves on the board of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House).

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Illusionary Trends in Strategic Studies Seminar Series

Wednesday 8 May, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Economic statecraft from the perspective of systemic influence

Maria de Goeij Reid, CCW

Hybrid Meeting: Join through Microsoft Teams

Economic statecraft is often talked about, but relatively poorly understood; the topic finds itself somewhere in the somewhat awkward space between economics and international relations, and often also somewhere in between ‘war’ and ‘peace’. It is often too simplistically labelled as being a weak and ineffective substitute for ‘real’ action. In this seminar Maria will approach the topic from the perspective of complexity and influence, shedding light on how to analyse the strategic utility of economic statecraft in its appropriate context.

Maria de Goeij Reid is a senior associate at the Changing Character of War Centre at Oxford University. Before joining the CCW centre Maria led a team of intelligence analysts at TRSSI, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters. She has been working as a consultant and advisor in both the public and private sector.

Her latest publication on the topic of complex adaptive systems and the analysis and influence of strategic behaviour be found here:  https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters/vol53/iss4/14/ . She is currently working on a book chapter about economic statecraft from the perspective of systemic influence.

Maria has a BA degree in European Studies from The Hague University and an MSc degree in Crisis and Security Management from Leiden University. 

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Illusionary Trends in Strategic Studies Seminar Series

Wednesday 24 April, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Weaponized Interdependence: International Monopolies as Determinants of State Power

Dr Claas Mertens, Blavatnik School of Goverment

Recent weaponized interdependence research has focused on mapping international economic structures to explain states’ capacity to inflict costs on foreign actors. This paper proposes a different approach that integrates weaponized interdependence research with microeconomic concepts of substitution. If an international economic exchange is restricted, actors on either end turn to the best available alternative. Substitution costs describe the utility loss actors incur when doing so. The extent of these costs determines whether either side can ‘weaponize’ the exchange. Monopolies and monopsonies are instances where buyers and sellers face high substitution costs as they lack alternatives. The theory delineates three determinants each for international monopolies and monopsonies, offering a nuanced understanding of why states can weaponize the economic exchanges of some market actors but not others. Various cases illustrate the theory, drawing on in-depth interviews. For instance, the cases contrast the know-how and intellectual property underlying technological monopolies in semiconductor production with the international network effects that bolster several monopolies in the realm of international finance. The developed theory reframes and refines the weaponized interdependence discourse and has important implications for policymakers’ ongoing efforts to ‘de-risk’ international economic exchanges without comprehensively ‘decoupling’ them.

Claas Mertens is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow for Net Zero Governance systems. His research focuses on the international political economy of climate change and international economic conflicts, such as economic sanctions and weaponised interdependencies. It also explores intersections between these two areas. His work is published or forthcoming in International Studies Quarterly and The Review of International Organisations.

Before joining the Blavatnik School, Claas was a DPhil student in International Relations at Oxford University’s Department for Politics and International Relations. He also holds an MPhil in Politics from Oxford and a BA in Business from the University of St. Gallen and was a visiting student at Harvard. Before his DPhil, he worked as a management consultant. Claas was Rowing World Champion in 2015 and represented Oxford in the 2018 Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. Now, he enjoys surfing, where his passion far exceeds his skills.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Illusionary Trends in Strategic Studies Seminar Series

Wednesday 28 February, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Strategic Wishes and What Happens Next: Assessing the UK's Integrated Reviews

Dr Maeve Ryan, KCL, & Professor Jamie Gaskarth, Open University 

In the aftermath of the 2019 election, the Boris Johnson government promised "the most radical assessment of the UK’s place in the world since the end of the Cold War.” The result was the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, published in March 2021 and updated in March 2023 by the Integrated Review “Refresh”. This paper aims to evaluate how far these texts achieved their aims so far, and with what consequences British strategic policy. It begins by exploring the contexts of the reviews, how previous iterations informed the framing, approach, evidencing and rationale, and what innovations were introduced. It then engages in a detailed investigation into how these reviews were implemented across government. In the process, we consider what the IR process suggests about the relationship between grand strategic concepts, grand strategic practice, and measuring success in real time.

Dr Maeve Ryan is a Reader in History and Foreign Policy at the Dept. Of War Studies, King’s College London, and the co-founder and co-director of the Centre for Grand Strategy and the Ax:son Johnson Institute for Statecraft and Diplomacy. 

Prof Jamie Gaskarth is Professor of Foreign Policy and International Relations at The Open University and co-Editor in Chief of Journal of Global Security Studies

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Illusionary Trends in Strategic Studies Seminar Series

Wednesday 14 February, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

'Bury them deep in the ground'; The disastrous legacies of 'expeditionary warfare', 'intervention', and 'counterinsurgency' 

Frank Ledwidge, University of Portsmouth

For much of the last forty years 'expeditionary warfare' in one form or another (e.g., humanitarian intervention, 'CT', counterinsurgency), has formed the key mission of the US, UK, and other European armed forces. These have been supported by ideas such as 'new wars' or 'wars amongst the people'.  From these ideas have flowed failed counterinsurgencies and various dubiously legal 'forever wars' being fought even now in states ruined by such 'interventions'. Their legacy has been strategic disaster and the immiseration of millions.

In whatever form, these expeditions are doomed to failure, not least because they invariably lack adequate preparation, resources, knowledge or strategic grounding. More simply, 'intervention' amounts in practical terms to 'invasion' which is rarely welcomed, to say the least. These ideas stagger on today in forms such as (for the UK) 'persistent campaigning'. The very structures of some major armed forces - designed explicitly around 'expeditionary operations' - have become highly distorted and unfit for their supposed function of national defence. We are all less secure as a consequence. 

Frank Ledwidge is senior lecturer in war studies at the University of Portsmouth, working primarily with the Royal Air Force. He is the author of 'Losing Small Wars' (Yale 2011/17), 'Investment in Blood' (Yale 2013), and 'Aerial Warfare' (Oxford 2018/20). He served as a military intelligence officer in Bosnia and Iraq and as a civilian advisor in (inter alia) Afghanistan, Libya, and Ukraine.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Illusionary Trends in Strategic Studies Seminar Series

Wednesday 31 January, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Closed Deal: Private Authority of Companies in Cyber Conflict and Crises

Louise Marie Hurel, London School of Economics and RUSI

The Russo-Ukrainian War has raised significant questions about not only the role of cyber operations in conflict but also the measure of private sector engagement and participation in these contexts. But neither is Ukraine the only testing ground, nor is the presence and gap-filling of private companies in conflict and crises new. This lecture will explore the antecedents, enablers and recent examples of how companies have sought to legitimize and expand their presence in providing cybersecurity in conflict and crises. 

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Illusionary Trends in Strategic Studies Seminar Series

Wednesday 17 January, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Mass and Multipolarity: Qualitative and Quantitative Balancing after Western Hegemony  

Dr David Blagden, University of Exeter

The international system is returning to multipolarity—a situation of multiple competing major powers—drawing the post-Cold War ‘unipolar moment’ of comprehensive US-led Western political, economic, and military dominance to an end. The rise of China, belligerent assertiveness of Russia, and associated return of multipolarity at the systemic level in turn carry implications for European states’ strategic posture, including that of the UK. In particular, the techno-utopian hope that Britain can achieve its balancing needs through qualitative advantage alone, without significant bolstering of the UK’s quantitative resilience, risks exposure in a world of adversaries capable of their own strategic adaptation and innovation.  

David Blagden is Senior Lecturer in International Security at the University of Exeter. He was previously the Adrian Research Fellow in International Politics at Darwin College, University of Cambridge. His research has been published in International Security, International Studies Quarterly, the European Journal of International Relations, Security Studies, International Affairs, Survival, and Foreign Policy Analysis, among other outlets; he has also provided public commentary for the BBC, The Guardian, The Spectator, the New Statesman, and other media. On the policy side, Dr Blagden has served as Specialist Adviser to a Parliamentary Select Committee as well as consulting for several UK Government departments and agencies. He is also an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve, and has served at sea and ashore with a number of UK and NATO warships and headquarters. He obtained his BA (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics) and DPhil (International Relations) from the University of Oxford, and his MA (International Relations) from the University of Chicago.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Illusionary Trends in Strategic Studies Seminar Series

Wednesday 22 November, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Assessing the Bear: Overestimating the Russian Military

Dr Andrew Bowen, Congressional Research Service

Prior to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, analysts predicted a quick and decisive victory for Russia over Ukraine due the Russian military benefiting from a long and sustained modernization program. It soon became clear that analysts' projections of a quick and decisive victory for Russia were shockingly incorrect. Why was the perception of the Russian military so divergent from its performance in the Ukraine war and why were assessments of the Russian military apparently so inaccurate? Rather than a total analytical failure, however, the answers to these questions aren't so different from other historical examples of inaccurate military performance assessments. In part, analysts failed to adequately appreciate the political context and influence on Russian military operations and an inflated focus on technology and modern equipment. Understanding this case and the factors which contributed to overestimating the Russian military’s performance in Ukraine provide crucial insights into better assessing future dangers and conflicts. 

Andrew Bowen is an Analyst in Russian and European Affairs at the Congressional Research Service (CRS) covering Russian and Ukrainian military and intelligence issues. He has a Ph.D. from Boston College in International Relations and a Masters in Global Affairs from New York University. 

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Illusionary Trends in Strategic Studies Seminar Series

Wednesday 8 November, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Fashions and Fallacies in Contemporary Strategic Thought 

Dr Chiara Libiseller, Leiden University

Every few years a new concept captures the attention of a large part of the strategic studies community. These buzzwords – such as hybrid warfare, grey zone conflict, counterinsurgency or the revolution in military affairs – are both ambiguous and powerful, sparking a wave of publications only to eventually be superseded by the next buzzword. How can we explain this recurring cycle? This talk looks at the dynamics and underlying ideas about war driving this process. It argues that these buzzwords are the outcome of fallacies inherent in much current strategic thinking in the West. 

Dr Chiara Libiseller is a lecturer at the Institute for History at Leiden University and a deputy editor of the Journal of Strategic Studies. She obtained her PhD from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, having written her thesis on ‘The Rise and Fall of Fashionable Concepts in Strategic Studies’. Her most recent output, entitled ‘“Hybrid warfare” as an academic fashion’ was published in the Journal of Strategic Studies. 

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Illusionary Trends in Strategic Studies Seminar Series

Wednesday 25 October, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Strategy, surprise and false futurism

Professor Alexander Evans

Given the return of Great Power Competition, could democratic governments have been better at anticipatory policymaking? Have weapons of mass distraction diverted attention from the persistent challenge of war?  To what extent has a self-referential fascination with ourselves, our universalism and challenges to it from within (like radicalisation) diminished our ability to read the prevailing winds of how most states read the world? Have the twin conceits of cultural narcissism and presentism diminished the ability of major democracies to navigate a volatile world?  If lessons are learned from the false futurism of the past, there are ways in which a more robust capability could be fostered in government. To do so, we need to revalorise concepts of biography, radical uncertainty and longitudinal policy-making – none of which are fashionable or prioritised.

Alexander Evans is a Professor in Practice in Public Policy at the London School of Economics.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Illusionary Trends in Strategic Studies Seminar Series

Wednesday 11 October, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Out of the Shadows: The Shock of Non-Hybrid War

Professor Patrick Porter, University of Birmingham

Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent attritional war has upended pre-war assumptions about "future war." Futurologists within the broad security penumbra increasingly argued that conflict was becoming hybrid, ambiguous and shadowy, with some arguing that the tools and assumptions of major war were becoming obsolete. While all wars to some degree are "hybrid", the unambiguous, industrial-scale clash in Ukraine is emphatically not what they expected. Why did bright minds fall prey to such expectations? The failure had several causes. One of them is an intellectual failure, either to assume war's form was determined by the tools of globalisation, thereby losing sight of war's political essence, or to assume that the conditions of the unipolar era would endure. This delusion has not gone away, however, and has implications for how we prepare for future conflicts.

 Patrick Porter is Professor of International Security at the University of Birmingham.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Wednesday 7 June, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Multinational Coalition Warfare and the Anglo-American Experiment in the Mediterranean, 1942–43

Carson Teuscher, Ohio State University

The origins of modern US-UK-led coalition warfare trace back to the Mediterranean theater of World War II. It was there on the treacherous battlefields of North Africa, Sicily, and Italy where Anglo-American forces learned to harmonize their fighting efforts under a modular and largely experimental integrated headquarters for the first time. Overcoming significant battlefield setbacks between 1942 and 1943, the Allies slowly forged a model for waging effective multinational coalition warfare, one centered on the principles of unity of command, combined operations, partner integration, expeditionary capacity, and robust liaison and logistics support. These pioneering efforts constituted nothing less than an embryonic Allied victory template, one they would export wholesale to great effect in Northwestern Europe and whose legacy lives on to this day.

Carson Teuscher is a Ph.D. Candidate in Military History at Ohio State University. His research focuses on the history of coalition warfare, alliance building, and multinational military operations during World War II. He was previously a non-resident Hans J. Morgenthau fellow in Grand Strategy at the University of Notre Dame and currently holds a World Politics and Statecraft Fellowship from the Smith Richardson Foundation.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Wednesday 24 May, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

BRUSA: Wartime Conception and Formative Conduct, 1940-43

Dr John Jenner, KCL

“[T]o all intents and purposes US security is being run for them at the President’s request by the British. A British officer sits in Washington with Mr Edgar Hoover [Director FBI] and [Colonel] Bill Donovan [Coordinator of Information] for this purpose and reports regularly to the President. It is of course essential that this fact should not become known in view of the furious uproar it would cause if known to the Isolationists.”

Major Desmond Morton [PM Churchill’s personal secretary for intelligence liaison]

Conceived by Churchill in the desperate spring of 1940 and delivered covertly by MI6, the birth of the Anglo-American intelligence alliance was formalised on 17 May 1943 in the “Britain-United States of America Agreement” (BRUSA). When Churchill became prime minister in May 1940, Britain’s intelligence services found their American counterparts divided and unfit for purpose. Between the wars, the Government Code and Cipher School (GCCS) stole more official secrets from the United States than any other country. Relative to Roosevelt, GCCS’ greatest consumer was by far the better informed suitor during the Anglo-American courtship. In Churchill’s eyes a predominantly isolationist Washington appeared complacently incapable of properly perceiving the existential threat that Nazi Germany posed to America’s and Britain’s eternal interests. As France fell, Britain’s beleaguered new prime minister struggled to secure the nation’s immediate survival and a corollary long-term Allied victory by realising his governing policy objective: the formation of a warfighting alliance with the United States. Informed by GCCS and MI6 covert operations, Churchill adroitly deployed actionable intelligence to lubricate his existential relationship with Roosevelt, engender an Anglophile American central intelligence service, and unify the United States’ disjointed cryptographic services in common cause with GCCS. Against the odds, he succeeded in creating an “unparalleled” security alliance.

Dr John Jenner is Senior Fellow, University of Oxford Rothermere American Institute; Visiting Senior Research Fellow, King’s College London; Director, Bounding Power in the Island Chains, University of Oxford - Office of Naval Research. He holds Master of Studies and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Modern History from Oxford, and held various academic appointments in Asia, Europe, and the USA. Before his election as Senior Fellow at Oxford he was a First Sea Lord Fellow; Research and Teaching Fellow, Joint Services Command and Staff College, Shrivenham; and Visiting Research Fellow, University of Cambridge.

In addition to his academic work, John undertakes governmental analytical assignments for policy makers in Whitehall, Washington, and elsewhere including the Indo-Pacific Brief. His current research focuses on U.S.-China strategic engagements in the Indo-Pacific since the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895).

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Wednesday 10 May, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Joint Strike Fighter and Transatlantic Defence Procurement

Emma Salisbury, Birkbeck University of London

Joint Strike Fighter is the sole example of full-spectrum defence procurement collaboration on a weapons platform between the United States and the United Kingdom. What does the unique nature of the JSF programme tell us about the transatlantic defence-industrial relationship? What other models of cooperation are preferred, and why? How do defence procurement and broader geopolitical factors shape each other within the transatlantic context?

Emma Salisbury is a Ph.D. candidate at Birkbeck College, University of London. Her research explores the concept of the military-industrial complex, with a focus on the United States in the 20th and 21st centuries. She is also a senior staffer at the U.K. Parliament and an Assistant Editor at War on the Rocks. 

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Wednesday 26 April, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

American Neutrality and the Anglo-American Crisis of 1916

Dr Andrew Gawthorpe, Leiden University

1916 was arguably the lowest point in Anglo-American relations between the War of 1812 and Suez. Tensions arose daily over the British blockade of Europe and American attempts to mediate an end to World War I, causing Woodrow Wilson and his advisors to muse about the possibility of a future war and the British ambassador to consider withdrawing his credentials. In the background lurked even more consequential issues, particularly the steady but perceptible shift of financial – and potentially military – power west over the Atlantic. This talk explores the events of that year and particularly how popular passions and nationalism shaped the relationship.

Andrew Gawthorpe is a University Lecturer in the Institute for History at Leiden University. He is currently leading a five-year research project on “American foreign policy and liberalism”, funded by a grant from the Dutch Research Council. He is the author of To Build as well as Destroy: The American Experience of Nation-Building in the Vietnam War (Cornell 2019) and also contributes widely to popular media, including through his podcast, America Explained.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Wednesday 1 March, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Jordan and Kuwait: US-UK relations in the aftermath of Suez

Dr Louise Kettle, University of Nottingham

This paper will examine the US-UK relationship through the prism of two key military interventions in the Middle East after the Suez debacle; Jordan in 1958 and Kuwait in 1961. It will argue that the 1956 crisis led the UK to acknowledge that its international power was in decline and that future interventions in the region would always require American acquiescence. Having learned these lessons, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan endeavoured to use Jordan and Kuwait as a means to realign US-UK policy in the region, believing that he could use US means for UK ends. 

Dr Louise Kettle is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nottingham. She specialises in UK foreign policy specifically in relation to the Middle East. Her recent book Learning from the History of British Interventions in the Middle East examines how the FC(D)O, MoD and intelligence agencies learn from their experiences in the region and she is currently researching the history of UK-Iranian relations. 

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Wednesday 15 February, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Regional cooperation: US-UK relations and strategic dilemmas following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 1979-1989

Dr Barbara Zanchetta, King’s College London

This paper will investigate the US and UK response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, with a focus on the longer-term adjustment of policies triggered by this event. Numerous scholars have studied the immediate reaction to the invasion, for example focusing on the tough rhetorical criticism of Moscow, the economic sanctions, and the boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games. However, less attention has been devoted to studying the broader significance of the strategic choices made by Washington and London in the aftermath of the Soviet action. By early 1980, with the proclamation of the Carter doctrine, the American administration elevated the Soviet threat to levels reminiscent of the early Cold War period, forcefully placing the Persian Gulf at the centre of US national security concerns. This led to the implementation of directives for the creation of a rapid deployment force (RDF), the expansion of the aid programme channelled to the Afghan resistance, and increased reliance on Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to execute these policies. As the main European ally of the United States, London not only shared the fundamental perception of an increased Soviet threat, but backed Washington’s policies with vigour, both rhetorically and concretely. This paper will investigate the rationale behind the US and UK choices, their broader implications, and long-term consequences.

Dr. Barbara Zanchetta is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. She is the author of The Transformation of American International Power in the 1970s (Cambridge University Press, 2014), the co-author of Transatlantic Relations since 1945 (Routledge, 2012) and co-editor of New Perspectives on the End of the Cold War: Unexpected Transformations? (Routledge, 2018). Dr. Zanchetta has published articles or book reviews in International Politics, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Diplomatic History, Cold War History, Journal of Transatlantic Studies, International Affairs and for H-Diplo. She is currently working on a monograph tentatively titled The United States and the ‘Arc of Crisis:’ How the Cold War Dominated Strategic Choices in Southwest Asia.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Wednesday 1 February, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

The Post-Cold War Anglo-American military relationship

Professor Wyn Rees, University of Nottingham

This presentation argues that military cooperation makes an important contribution to the so-called ‘Special Relationship’. Working alongside a superpower on the battlefield has been a challenging task and the British armed services have invested considerable effort to ensure their capability to achieve this end. Looking through the lens of institutionalism helps to explain how predictability and persistent cooperation has been achieved. Two aspects will receive particular attention in this presentation. First, UK-US military cooperation has taken place within a dynamic environment in which the nature of conflict has been evolving. Their armed forces have been required to not only engage in high intensity warfare, but also fashion military doctrines to address insurgency, peace enforcement and nation-building tasks. Second, working with the US military has generated risks as well as benefits for the UK’s armed forces. The UK has engaged in tasks that have weighed heavily upon its resources and this has contributed to tensions between their two armed forces.

Wyn Rees is Professor of International Security in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham, UK. Prior to working at the University of Nottingham, he taught at the University of Leicester, the College of Europe in Bruges and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Professor Rees researches, publishes and teaches on the subjects of transatlantic security relations, British defence policy and counter-terrorism. 

This seminar will held in person as usual and will not be affected by the UCU strikeThis seminar will held in person as usual and will not be affected by the UCU strike

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Wednesday 18 January, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Declinism in Postwar Britain and the United States

Dr Robert Ralston, University of Birmingham

Both the United States and the United Kingdom have, historically, experienced bouts of “declinism,” or concern over the nation’s international standing. In this paper, I examine declinist narratives in both countries, detailing both their frequency and their interconnections. I argue that declinism impacts not only the domestic and foreign policies of each country independently, but also the nature of the transatlantic relationship more broadly. In particular, I highlight how declinism can unite like-minded leaders on both sides of the Atlantic, whose declinist narratives are tied to ideological projects and whose visions of renewal share common traits. Using the case of Thatcher and Reagan, I highlight how both used declinism as a domestic political narrative for renewal, how they learned from each other, and how their declinism at home shaped the transatlantic relationship.

Robert Ralston is a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science and International Studies (POLSIS) at the University of Birmingham and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He was previously a Grand Strategy, Security, and Statecraft Fellow jointly appointed at the International Security Program, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School and the Security Studies Program, MIT.  He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota in 2020.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Wednesday 23 November, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Tipping Points: Post-War Postures in US-UK Environmental and Climate Heritage

Dr Kristin Cook, SOAS

Abstract and bio will be posted shortly.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

This seminar will run on 9th November as originally planned

Wednesday 9 November, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

An Exceptional Relationship? US nuclear strategy and the US-UK Nuclear Relationship

Dr Suzanne Doyle, University of East Anglia

A current debate in nuclear studies is the extent to which the United States has pursued non-proliferation, the centrality of this goal in US grand strategy, as well as the related goal of US nuclear superiority. Within this debate US-UK nuclear cooperation has received little consideration.  This talk will address this gap by analysing US decision-makers views on US-UK nuclear cooperation, US nuclear superiority and non-proliferation policy, from its beginnings in the Manhattan project to the purchase of Trident. The talk will examine the ways in which US decision-makers viewed cooperation alongside strategies of extended deterrence, non-proliferation, and alliance politics but also the often-muddled decisions that led to agreements on nuclear technology transfers.

Dr Suzanne Doyle is a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of East Anglia (UEA). She completed her PhD, on the United Kingdom’s purchase of the US Trident missile system, in 2016 at UEA. Suzanne’s work has featured in a range of publications including the Journal of Strategic Studies and The International History Review. Her research interests include nuclear history, transatlantic relations, US and British defence policy, security studies and the Cold War. She completed her MA in Research Methods and International Relations at Durham University and holds an honours degree in Modern History and International Relations from the University of St Andrews. Suzanne is currently working on a monograph analysing the UK’s purchase of Trident missiles from the United States.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Wednesday 26 October, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

The United States, the United Kingdom and the international financial system since 1945

Dr Michael Hopkins, University of Liverpool

What was the nature of the international financial system that emerged at the end of the Second World War and how did it change over the next 75 years? Within this system, what were the roles of the United States and the United Kingdom? What were the comparative influences of the Americans and British in shaping international finance? In addressing these questions, this paper examines the interplay of the attitudes and actions of the two governments, the activities of bankers and major economic trends. Was it possible for governments to have an impact or were they reduced to responding to larger economic forces? Was this especially true for the UK?

To understand this vast canvas across such a crowded period this paper focuses on four snapshots. First, it considers the immediate implementation of the Bretton Woods system in 1945-1949. Second, it addresses the resurgence of Britain’s role in international finance in the second half of the 1950s and early 1960s. Third, it investigates the collapse of Bretton Woods in the early 1970s. Fourth, it examines the financial collapse of 2007-2009.

The paper has three main conclusions. First, the United States played the most important role throughout this period, even though the scale of its dominance progressively declined in the face of rival economic powers. Its government’s decisions and its financiers’ actions shaped developments. Second, the UK had real influence at certain times. Although a much reduced economic power after 1945, sterling was a reserve currency and much of world trade was denominated in pounds. There was, however, a basic tension for the British in trying to operate as a global financial power while being a supplicant for US and IMF assistance. At the same time, the City of London since the early 1960s has been a major financial centre, the leading place in the world for international banking. Third, governments played important roles at key moments, such as the creation of Bretton Woods, the 1971 decision to end convertibility of dollars into gold and the response during the great recession of 2007-2009.

Dr Michael F. Hopkins is Reader in History at the University of Liverpool. His two most recent books are British Financial Diplomacy with North America 1944-1946: the Diary of Frederic Harmer and the Washington Reports of Robert Brand Camden Fifth Series (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and Dean Acheson and the Obligations of Power (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017). He will be a Sassoon Visiting Fellow at the Bodleian Library in Hilary Term 2023 working on the project, “Banker, internationalist and diplomat: Robert Brand and international finance.”

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Wednesday 12 October, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Anglo-American clandestine cooperation: the past, present and future of the Special Intelligence Relationship

Dr Thomas Maguire, Leiden University, & Dr David V. Gioe, King’s College London and West Point

Abstract and bios will be posted shortly.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Wednesday 2 March, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

The Strategies of Small States: Safeguarding Autonomy and Influencing Great Powers

Dr Hillary Briffa, KCL

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 of a breakdown of the rules-based order are well-founded, it will have profound implications for their security. Thus, these actors must look within their own armoury – at the tactics and strategies available to them, within certain bounds – and consider how much leverage they can exert within the context in which they operate. Can small states do anything more than move swiftly to avoid being trampled when elephants collide? This talk will examine the strategies pursued by small states to safeguard their autonomy (including ‘strategic hedging’ and ‘seeking shelter’); as well as innovative means of projecting influence (ranging from the harnessing of multilateralism to bind great power behaviour, to serving as ‘smart states’ in the international system). Today, increasing antagonism between great powers is already creating serious dilemmas for smaller international actors, and this is likely to intensify in the near future. However, the ability of small states to strategically navigate risk and influence the behaviour of Great Powers means that they can be expected to adapt to these changes. As small states navigate a fading rules-based order, this talk will argue that they have several time-tested strategies in reserve.     

Dr Hillary Briffa is a Lecturer in National Security Studies and the Assistant Director of the Centre for Defence Studies in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, where she read for her Ph.D, asking whether small states can have a grand strategy. She is also a founding member of the Centre for Grand Strategy at King’s, where she serves as the research lead for the Climate Change and International Order portfolio. Previously, she has taught courses across the spectrum of global politics, international relations, defence, foreign policy, security and strategy at the Royal College of Defence Studies, the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, University College London, Birkbeck University of London, and Queen Mary University of London. Beyond academia, she served as Malta’s official Youth Ambassador to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for three years, and worked at the Malta High Commission to the UK throughout Malta’s tenure as Commonwealth Chair-in-Office. After running peace-building projects in Eastern and Central Europe, in 2015 she was appointed an Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society, and in 2016 became a recipient of the U.S. State Department’s inaugural Emerging Young Leaders award.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.

Wednesday 16 February, 17.15
Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL

Cyber Capabilities and Decision Making - if we are being out thought, will we always be outfought?

Sally Walker

Sally Walker spent 25 years in the national security community, laterally as Director Cyber at GCHQ. She had joint responsibility for running the National Offensive Cyber Programme and led the stand up and design of the National Cyber Force.

Since leaving government, Sally advises at board level on decision making in big data environments, and supports boards in leadership development. She retains an interest in the role of cyber capability in conflict, particularly as it affects the civilian population and governmental attitude to risk.

Seminars at 17.15, Wharton Room, All Souls College, Oxford, OX1 4AL.
All are welcome, no need to book.