Join the Defence Studies Department for a discussion on Professor Greg Kennedy's recently published book 'Defense Engagement since 1900: global lessons in soft power'. This event will be chaired by Dr Chris Tripodi, Senior Lecturer in Defence Studies and includes discussions with contributors Dr Geraint Hughes, Reader in Defence Studies and Dr Poppy Cullen, Lecturer in International History at Loughborough University.

This collection is what has come to be known as applied military history, or case study history, a particular form of analysis favoured for use with military and political topics that require historical analysis to comment on contemporary defence/security problems. The methodology is relatively simple: a current policy issue of interest to a particular military organisation is selected for historical interrogation and comparison.

Along with the historical “lessons learned” material, contemporary analysis is provided. This combination creates a synthesis of chronological perspectives, varying national experiences, a wide range of strategic and operational contexts and a base of “reality” (the historical experience) and practitioner theory (the expectations of current actors) that provides a truly comprehensive and holistic commentary.

So, rather than this being simply the exploration of the performance of multiple military attachés (although they do feature largely in the cases selected) it is a question of looking at the ability of the state’s military to move away from thinking of its role as the applicator of force and instead thinking of itself as an applicator of power.

 

Speaker bios

Greg Kennedy is Professor of Strategic Foreign Policy, and the Director of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies, at the Defence Studies Department, King’s College London, based at the Joint Services Command and Staff College in Shrivenham. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Alberta in 1998, MA in War Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada, 1991, and BA Honours in History from the University of Saskatchewan in 1988. Before coming to England Greg taught at the Royal Military College of Canada, in Kingston, Ontario.

Dr Geraint Hughes is a Reader in Diplomatic and Military History at the Defence Studies Department, King's College London, based at the Joint Services Command and Staff College in Shrivenham. He studied for a BA in History at the University of Durham, subsequently completing an MA  in War Studies at King’s College London and his PhD at the same institution. Prior to his appointment with DSD in July 2005 he taught part-time with the War Studies Department. Dr Hughes served with the Territorial Army (London Regiment) between June 1999 and April 2005, and saw active service in Iraq on Telic 4.

Poppy Cullen studied History at the University of East Anglia. She then completed an MA at Durham University and stayed at Durham for her AHRC-funded PhD, ‘‘Kenya is no doubt a special case’: British policy towards Kenya, 1960-1980’. From 2015 she taught at the University of Cambridge, and in 2018 she began a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Exeter on the AHRC-funded project ‘Afterlives of Empire: Thinking Forward through an Imperial Past’ with Professor Andrew Thompson. Poppy was appointed Lecturer in International History at Loughborough in 2020.

 

This event will be held on Zoom, access information will be sent to all registered attendees prior to the event.