Since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has increasingly relied on private security firms to safeguard its investments and personnel abroad, addressing gaps in its limited power projection capabilities. Unlike Russia’s quasi-PMCs, which engage in militarized covert operations, Chinese private security companies (PSCs) operate with a narrower focus, protecting BRI-related projects without directly deploying the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The sea is the great global commons and, as Colin Gray pointed out, “Great sea powers or maritime coalitions have either won, or occasionally drawn, every major war in modern history.” But ideas on how to use sea power have not been static. Mahan and Corbett are the names that trip off the tongue, but it was in the Cold War that the ideas we have today were largely formed. This seminar will give a case study of how a set of ideas developed, it will explain a hitherto largely ignored part of Cold War history, and it will suggest how to effectively develop sea power thought in the future.

As NATO’s membership and mission have evolved over the past 75 years, so too has the complexity of the organization as well as the need for clear and effective strategy. While attention often focuses on the more powerful nations of the Alliance, this talk will examine the important but often underappreciated role that NATO political and military staff play in the strategy formation process.