This is a response to a previous Defence-in-Depth post by Dr Chris Tuck entitled “Lidl Heart: Cut Price Strategy and the Perils of Influence”. by EWAN LAWSON Aside from having the cleverest title of a Defence-in-Depth blog so far, Lidl Heart: Cut Price Strategy and the Perils of Influence says much about the challenge of being… Read More ‘Lidl Heart II’: Thinking about the challenges of Influence
This is the third in a series of posts to come out of the ‘Rise of the Islamic State (IS): Ideology, Strategy, and Implications’ roundtable organized by Regional Security Research Centre on 4 February 2015. Subsequent posts will come out on Wednesdays and will cover topics such as the responses by the Kurds, Turkey, and… Read More Migrating to the Land of Jihad: Why European Muslims fight in Syria
This is the second in a series of posts to come out of the ‘Rise of the Islamic State (IS): Ideology, Strategy, and Implications’ roundtable organized by Regional Security Research Centre on 4 February 2015. Subsequent posts will come out on Wednesdays and will cover topics such as the motivations for joining IS and the… Read More The Political, Religious, and Everyday Allure of Islamic State’s Utopianism
by Dr DAVID ROBERTS On 23 January 2015, King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz al-Saud died and his half-brother, Salman bin Abdul-Aziz al-Saud, in a smooth transition, became king. This was the sixth succession in Saudi Arabia since it formally became ‘Saudi’ Arabia in 1932 under King Abdul-Aziz al-Saud (d.1953). So far, each Saudi ruler has been… Read More Grappling with the Implications of Saudi Arabia’s Transition
This is the first in a series of posts to come out of the ‘Rise of the Islamic State (IS): Ideology, Strategy, and Implications’ roundtable organized by Regional Security Research Centre on 4 February 2015. Subsequent posts will come out on Wednesdays and will cover topics such as the motivations for joining IS and the… Read More CALIPHATE, STATEHOOD, AND GOVERNANCE IN ISLAMIC POLITICAL THINKING: HISTORICAL ROOTS, CONTEMPORARY RELEVANCE
This is the fifth in a series of posts from members of the Defence Studies Department’s Regional Security Research Centre, focusing on Russia and the implications of its increasingly assertive posture on the international stage. This post builds on a previous post to examine the prospects for conventional arms control in the wake of the… Read More Conventional Arms Control After Ukraine
by Dr CHRIS TUCK Influence has become a fashionable concept in British defence circles, and it is easy to see why. Influence fits with a powerful globalist zeitgeist focused on the power of networks and ideas. Moreover, with its focus on the logic of persuasion rather than physical force, influence seems an intelligent way of… Read More Lidl Heart: Cut-Price Strategy and the Perils of Influence
This is the fourth in a series of posts from members of the Defence Studies Department’s Regional Security Research Centre, focusing on Russia and the implications of its increasingly assertive posture on the international stage. This post examines the implications of the crisis in Ukraine for EU-Russian relations. Later posts will explore implications for conventional… Read More From Brussels with love? The European Union in conflict with Russia
by DR HEATHER WILLIAMS Yesterday’s ceasefire in Ukraine can hardly be considered a Valentine. Tensions remain high between Russia and NATO over Ukraine, and past attempts at compromise failed or proved to be short-lived. A recent Washington Post op-ed by Anne Applebaum called on the international community to focus on a long-term strategy for dealing… Read More Arms Control After Ukraine
This is the second in a series of posts from members of the Defence Studies Department’s Regional Security Research Centre, focusing on Russia and the implications of its increasingly assertive posture on the international stage. This post examines NATO’s response to recent Russian actions, particularly in Ukraine. It will be followed subsequent Mondays with posts… Read More Russia and NATO: A New Cold War?
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