This is the second in a series of posts connected to a King’s College First World War Research Group and Corbett Centre Event to mark the centenary of the Battle of Jutland. DR JOHN BROOKS After an industrial career in computing and telecommunications, John Brooks published his first historical paper – on circular dividing engines – in 1992, when he… Read More THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND: AN ‘UNPALATABLE’ RESULT
This is the first in a series of posts connected to a King’s College First World War Research Group and Corbett Centre Event to mark the centenary of the Battle of Jutland. PROF MATTHEW S. SELIGMANN Matthew S Seligmann is Professor of Naval History at Brunel University London. He has written widely on Anglo-German relations before the First World… Read More Was the Anglo-German Naval Race a Mirage?
DR KENNETH PAYNE This is the second of a two-parter on AI and strategy – the first, dealing with creativity is here. In this part, I reflect on the goals for which strategy is a servant. Are the machines coming to take over, and destroy human life as we know it? Or will they be… Read More Consciousness and strategy: What will AI want?
DR BEN KIENZLE Only one month remains until British voters can decide if the UK should leave or stay in the EU. Naturally, the debate about the benefits and disadvantages of British membership in the EU is heating up. Almost each day, the supporters of ‘Brexit’ and ‘Bremain’ vie with each other for the best… Read More Why ‘defence’ does not serve as a suitable argument in the Brexit debate
DR. KENNETH PAYNE I’m working on a book about evolution and strategy. It ends with me wondering whether Artificially Intelligent (AI) machines will be good strategists. My BLUF – yes, but not yet, or any time soon. Here I’m going to rehearse some of that argument. I identify two big issues in AI that bear… Read More Strategy, creativity and artificial intelligence
Professor Harsh V. Pant The Narendra Modi government will complete two years in office this month. Ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government came to power in May 2014, it has been dominated by the powerful personality of its Prime Minister. Today, Mr Modi remains India’s most popular politician. He has benefited in many… Read More Two Years of Modi Government in India
PROFESSOR WYN BOWEN In the run up to the July 2016 NATO Summit in Warsaw, the British and Polish Embassies in Copenhagen, hosted by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organised a one-day conference on ‘Transforming NATO in an Unpredictable Security Environment’. At the event in March I gave a talk on a topic related… Read More NATO and the challenges of implementing effective deterrence vis-à-vis Russia
Professor Matthew Uttley & Dr. Benedict Wilkinson In one of his more exasperated moments, Sherlock Holmes turns to his long-term companion, Dr. Watson and chides him for his impatience, saying ‘It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment.’ Strong words they may be, but wise ones… Read More A Capital Mistake: Evidence and Defence in the Brexit Debates
This is the first in a series of occasional posts from scholars outside of the Defence Studies Department. If you would be interested to contribute to this series please contact the editors: Dr Amir Kamel and Dr David Morgan-Owen. Prof. Jeremy Black Jeremy Black studied at studied at Queens’ College Cambridge, St John’s College Oxford, and Merton… Read More Air Power: Strength and Weaknesses
Dr Ian Speller and Dr Christopher Tuck Next month, our multi-authored volume Understanding Modern Warfare will be published in its second edition by Cambridge University Press. Understanding Modern Warfare is a book explicitly about modern warfare. There are many excellent existing works on war generally: this volume is concerned instead with the employment of organised… Read More Understanding Modern Warfare
Defence-In-Depth 