Are modern alliances ready for geostrategic competition?

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5 May 2022 at 18:00 19:00 BST

Join Dr Hillary Briffa – Lecturer in National Security Studies King’s College London, Dr Alexander Lanoszka – Author of Military Alliances in the Twenty First Century, and James Rogers – Co-founder and Director of Research Council on Geostrategy, as they discuss the suitability of modern alliances for this era of increased geostrategic competition.

This event is intended to celebrate and discuss the publication of Dr Alexander Lanoszka’s book, Military Alliances in the Twenty-First Century. Military Alliances in the Twenty-First Century is the first book to explore fully the politics that shape these security arrangements – from their initial formation through to the various challenges that test them and, sometimes, lead to their demise. Across six thematic chapters, Alexander Lanoszka challenges conventional wisdom that has dominated our understanding of how military alliances have operated historically and into the present. Although military alliances today may seem uniquely hobbled by their internal difficulties, Lanoszka argues that they are in fact, by their very nature, prone to dysfunction.

This book provides a starting point for wider discussion about the suitability of modern alliances in today’s geopolitical climate and how they can be improved. The renewed Russian assault on Ukraine has reinvigorated European security concerns and prompted nations to reevaluate their involvement and commitment to existing alliances, and where they perhaps need to be expanded. The panel will look at how Vladimir Putin’s attempt to seize more of Ukraine has awakened democratic nations to the danger of ignoring aggressive revisionist powers, and what this means for current and future military alliance structures.

Speakers

Dr Hillary Briffa

  • Lecturer in National Security Studies, King’s College London

Dr Hillary Briffa is Lecturer in National Security Studies and the Assistant Director of the Centre for Defence Studies at King’s College London, where she read for her Ph.D in War Studies, asking whether small states can have a grand strategy. In the Department of War Studies, Hillary is the research theme lead for National and International Security in the School of Security Studies. She currently teaches National Security Studies, and Political Violence, Counterterrorism and Human Rights at MA level.

Dr Alexander Lanoszka

  • Author, Military Alliances in the Twenty First Century

Dr Alexander Lanoszka is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo and the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Canada. He has previously taught at City, University of London, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College, and a Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT’s Security Studies Programme. Dr Lanoszka has worked for the United States Department of Defence and has consulted for Global Affairs Canada. He holds a PhD in Philosophy and an MA in Politics, both from Princeton University.

James Rogers

  • Co-founder and Director of Research, Council on Geostrategy

James Rogers is Co-founder and Director of Research at the Council on Geostrategy, where he specialises in geopolitics and British strategic policy. Previously, he held positions at the Henry Jackson Society, the Baltic Defence College, and the European Union Institute for Security Studies. He has been invited to give oral evidence at the Foreign Affairs, Defence, and International Development committees in the Houses of Parliament. He holds an MPhil in Contemporary European Studies from the University of Cambridge and an award-winning BSc Econ (Hons) in International Politics and Strategic Studies from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Chair

Patrick Triglavcanin

  • Research Assistant, Council on Geostrategy

Tickets

This event will be held online, the link to join the event will be emailed out 24 hours before the event.