Why the U.S. Military Forgets What It Learns in War
Wars are expensive and relatively rare, and so states have strong incentives to learn from war and improve their military performance over time. And yet, even in highly capable great power militaries, the lessons of previous wars are routinely lost. Why do militaries forget what they learn in war? Examining evidence from three cases across the American experiences in Vietnam and Iraq, this project explores the role of in organizational survival in post-war learning.
PRC Gray Zone Operations in the South China Sea
The speaker has provided some recommended reading - please see www.ccw.ox.ac.uk for links.
Protean War: Embracing Complexity in International Relations
“Protean war” offers a compelling new paradigm for scholars studying complex conflicts in international relations. Some scholarship in foreign policy history and political science attempts to fit complicated wars, with multiple, varied actors, into conventional typologies, such as “civil war,” “interstate war,” or “proxy war.” The “protean war” paradigm, rather than narrowing a conflict down into one of these types, offers a convenient framework for layering in the civil, proxy, and interstate dimensions of a particular conflict.
Subversive Economics: Pervasive, Dangerous and Largely Invisible
The discussion about greyzone threats mostly focuses on easy-to-identify forms of aggression including cyber intrusions and disinformation campaigns. That’s a shame, because other forms are at least as dangerous. Subversive economics, for example. While Western countries benefit from their open borders and the commerce this generates, some countries exploit that openness to strengthen their geopolitical position while weakening that of the targeted countries. It involves buying up key companies and using venture-capital investments to access the best innovation early on.
The Royal Navy in the Indo-Pacific: Why small is sometimes better
Following the 'tilt' to the Indo Pacific announced in the Integrated Review last month, the First Sea Lord has confirmed the forward deployment of a Batch 2 Offshore Patrol Vessel to support the UK's wider regional interests. Some have commented that an OPV is not fit for the task. This talk examines the platform options open to the Royal Navy and supports the case that, at this moment in time, OPVs are the right platform for the task.
China’s Military Strategy in the New Era
M. Taylor Fravel is the Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science and Director of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Taylor studies international relations, with a focus on international security, China, and East Asia. His books include, Strong Borders, Secure Nation: Cooperation and Conflict in China’s Territorial Disputes, (Princeton University Press, 2008) and Active Defense: China's Military Strategy Since 1949 (Princeton University Press, 2019).
Two Day Workshop: The Moral Psychology of War
Attendance
If you would like to register to attend the workshop, please email Janina.dill@politics.ox.ac.uk with your name and institutional affiliation. Participant numbers will be limited to ensure a fruitful discussion. Papers will be pre-circulated and taken as read. Please only register if you are willing to read the papers in advance.
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Schedule (*Responding authors mentioned first)
Doing International Relations
In this chapter we offer some reflections, as well references for further study, for scholars engaged in research and knowledge production in the field of International Relations (IR), that is those “doing IR”. We may think of research methods as the strategies and tools that allow us to acquire knowledge about international relations. To make the most of the research techniques available to us, it is first useful to consider the objects of our study, as well as the nature of the disciplinary context in which knowledge production takes place.
The Water-Energy-Food Nexus and COVID-19: Towards a Systematization of Impacts and Responses
The COVID-19 pandemic offers an opportunity to examine the impacts of system-wide crises on key supply sectors such as water, energy and food. These sectors are becoming increasingly interlinked in environmental policy-making and with regard to achieving supply security. There is a pressing need for a systematization of impacts and responses beyond individual disruptions. This paper provides a holistic assessment of the implications of COVID-19 on the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus.