Global Strategy
Connecting academics with Whitehall and beyond
The aim of the project is to provide sound practical advice on how strategy can be developed and implemented in foreign, defence and security policy.
To do this, the project brings together a wide range of academics from LSE with senior practitioners past and present, from the UK and overseas. Regular discussions take place with officials on issues such as cyber warfare, grey zone conflict, climate change and security, migration, and great power competition. The project's close links with Whitehall reflect the value senior officials attach to the discussions they have with us and the quality of the LSE’s research and expertise.
Global Strategies hosts lectures on broader themes of strategy: the challenges faced in creating and implementing strategy, and the difficulty of making decisions in an era of radical uncertainty. The project also organises conferences and private discussions focused on foreign, defence and security policy, covering topics such as the future of NATO and the requirements for pursuing consistent policy objectives over the long term.
NATO's 2022 Strategic Concept: Matching Ambition with Reality
July 2022
This Strategic Update is based on a discussion hosted by LSE IDEAS in July 2022 on NATO’s 2030 Strategic Concept. Participants in the discussion included: General Sir James Everard, Gordon Barrass, General Sir Richard Barrons, Lt Gen Giles Hill, ProfessorChristopher Coker, Dr Luca Tardelli, Marissa Kemp, Tom McKane, and Peter Watkins. This Strategic Update reflects points made during the discussion, but no participant is in any way committed to its specific content, and the views expressed here are attributable solely to the authors.
May 2022
This Strategic Update is based on a discussion hosted by LSE IDEAS in January 2022 on ‘How can NATO define and develop practical objectives for enhancing the resilience of member states?’ Participants in the discussion were: General Sir James Everard, Dr Tomas Ries, Susan Scholefield, Peter Watkins, Professor Gordon Barrass, General Sir Richard Barrons, Professor Christopher Coker, and Tom McKane. This Strategic Update reflects points made during the discussion, but no participant is in any way committed to its specific content, and the views expressed here are attributable solely to the authors.
September 2021
This Strategic Update is based on a discussion hosted by LSE IDEAS in June 2021 on ‘Warfare in the 21st Century: Views from NATO Members on the Future Character of Warfare’. Participants in the discussion were: General Sir James Everard, Dr Tomas Ries, Colonel John Andreas Olsen, James Sherr, Gordon Barrass, General Sir Richard Barrons, Professor Christopher Coker, Karsten Friis, Marissa Kemp, Tom McKane, Erik Reichborn-Kjennerud, Professor Rolf Tamnes, and Peter Watkins. This Strategic Update reflects points made during the discussion, but no participant is in any way committed to its specific content, and the views expressed here are attributable solely to the authors.
August 2018
In this Strategic Update, General Sir Richard Barrons highlights the pressing need for greater attention on European defence capabilities. He points a way forward; the transformation of defence and security through the potential of combinations of Digital Age technologies.
Shifting the Dial on Foreign Policy: What it Takes to Reach and Maintain Success
June 2018
Hugh Sandeman summarises the round-table discussion in June 2018 on lessons from negotiating the Iran Nuclear Agreement. The discussion was chaired by Rt Hon Alistair Burt, and brought together leading policy figures.
February 2018
In this Strategic Update, General Sir Richard Barrons warns that our military capabilities must be comprehensively rethought, or we will all be at risk. He sets out 8 principles for how to create an effective military for the digital age.
November 2017
This report summarises the discussion between a group of British politicians, senior officials and other experts assembled by the LSE IDEAS Global Strategies project in November 2017 to discuss the UK's foreign policy and military options after Brexit.
Enhancing Decision Making in Foreign and Security Policy
February 2017
In late 2016 thirty British politicians, officials and former officials, officers, and experts met to discuss ways in which UK foreign policymaking leaves the country vulnerable to strategic errors. In this report, the group put forward practical ideas for improving decision making that are well within the reach of the UK’s current institutions and resources.
Hybrid Warfare in the Middle East
February 2017
Distilled from discussions with senior British officials, academics, and current practitioners in the media, strategic communications, and cyber security, this report considers the hybrid warfare techniques of Daesh, Al Qaeda, the Taleban, and Iran, and makes specific suggestions on how the UK and other Western countries can better counter this threat.
Missing in Action: strategies for deterrence in an area of technological unpeace
Thursday 24 February 2022
Governments representing open societies have failed to develop strategies for deterring hostile intrusions in cyberspace. New thinking on how to impose costs on offenders is long overdue. Hostile disruptions in cyberspace represent a technological revolution in strategic affairs. Lucas Kello goes beyond an examination of the roots and manifestations of the problem of technological unpeace, to ask what governments that represent open societies can do about it. This lecture was delivered under the Chatham House Rule and there is no recording.
Strategies for Urbanisation in Africa
Wednesday 26 January 2022
Marie-Noelle Nwokolo discussed how the future prosperity and security of sub-Saharan Africa depends on building a new urban environment for the world’s most rapidly expanding population. There is a video recording and an audio recording of the lecture available.
Russian National Strategy in a Multipolar World
Thursday 11 November 2021
Dmitry Suslov discusses the formation and practice of Russian national strategy in a multipolar world. He describes how national objectives and their achievement are developed within Russian state institutions, as well as the evolution of national strategy over the past two decades. This is the third in a series of lectures on Strategy: New Voices.
East Asia's Non-Great Powers: strategies for responding to China's rise
Thursday 21 October 2021
In this second of a series of lectures on Strategy: New Voices, Professor Evelyn Goh looks at the strategies of East Asia’s non-great powers for dealing with the rise of China.
Tuesday 15 June 2021
In this first of a series of lectures on Strategy: New Voices, Matthew Kroenig asks what is needed for an effective US national strategy.
Thursday 5 December 2019
How can NATO define its mission and maintain political coherence over the next ten years? The day after the NATO heads of state and government meeting in London in December 2019, held to mark the 70th anniversary of the alliance, officials, military personnel, former practitioners and other experts consider how NATO can define its narrative over the next decade.
Thursday 7 November 2019
Joe Robinson from British technology company Improbable discusses how new advances in the games industry are being adopted by government departments in order to greatly improve the way nations prepare and plan for conflict.
What would it mean for Britain's economic diplomacy if China becomes dominant in the world economy?
Thursday 6 June 2019
Linda Yueh explores what Britain needs to consider in relation to economic diplomacy and China.
Monday 11 December 2017
In this Global Strategies lecture, Phillip Karber looks in detail at Russian and Chinese military capabilities, with particular reference to the experience of battle in Ukraine, and explains the extent of their challenge to US and NATO strategy and forces.
War and PCs: Cyber and Violence in the 21st Century
Monday 5 December 2016
Lecture by General Sir Richard Barrons, who served as Commander Joint Forces Command until April 2016 in a military career including operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Iraq, and Afghanistan. In this lecture, Sir Richard outlines how disruptive technology will transform defence and security thinking worldwide.
Peter Jones is Project Head of Global Strategies