Countering Growing Violent Extremism in West Africa
Speaker: Dr. Daniel Eizenga (Africa Center for Strategic Studies) Date: 19 December 2024 Speaker Session Summary SMA hosted a speaker session with Dr. Daniel Eizenga (Africa Center for Strategic Studies) as part of its SMA AFRICOM Speaker Series. Violence perpetrated by extremist groups in the Sahel has increased during the last several years alongside a rise […]
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Faltering China – What Happens When China Fails?”: Summer Symposium Findings
Speaker: Dr. Molly Silk (UK MOD’s Secretary of State’s Office of Net Assessment and Challenge (SONAC)) Date: TO BE RESCHEDULED 2025 Speaker Session Summary Forthcoming! Speaker Session Recording Also forthcoming! Briefing Materials Biography: Dr. Molly Silk is a Senior Policy Advisor at the UK MOD’s Secretary of State’s Office of Net Assessment and Challenge (SONAC), […]
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Russian Adaptation to Sanctions: The Military Industrial Complex and Regional Dynamics
Speaker: Elina Ribakova (Peterson Institute for International Economics; Director of the International Program at Kyiv School of Economics.) Date: 10 December 2024 Speaker Session Summary The Russian economy has proven stubbornly resilient to Western sanctions. Ms. Ribakova discussed this resilience through two lenses: the military industrial complex and the economic convergence of Russia’s regions. While […]
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When Rambo Meets the Red Cross: Civil-Military Engagement in Fragile States
Speaker: Dr. Stanislava P. Mladenova (Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, Brown University; Irregular Warfare Initiative, US Military Academy at West Point) Date: 6 December 2024 Speaker Session Summary Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their military counterparts often have a confrontational relationship, with both sides suggesting that the other should “stay in their respective lanes.” […]
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Strategic Culture – A Complex Model for a Complex Concept
Speaker: Dr. Larry Kuznar (NSI, Inc.) Date: 19 November 2024 Speaker Session Summary In recent years, strategic culture has regained attention as US policymakers work to integrate deterrence strategies with allies and partners while understanding the strategic cultures of adversaries, like China and Russia. Dr. Kuznar explored the components of an actor’s strategic culture, how […]
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U.S. Military Theories of Victory for a War with the People’s Republic of China
Speakers: Jacob Heim (RAND) & Nathan Beauchamp-Mustafaga (RAND) Date: 13 November 2024 Speaker Session Summary The United States has not had to seriously consider conflict escalation with a near-peer adversary that could result in a conflict that ends in large-scale destruction since the Cold War. However, it must now consider the potential for escalating toward that exact kind […]
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China’s Options for Taiwan Short of an Invasion
Speakers: Dr. Bonny Lin, Dr. Matthew Funaiole, & Brian Hart (China Power Project, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)) Date: 30 October 2024 Speaker Session Summary A blockade, by contrast, would be significantly more restrictive and kinetic, and would be led by the military. In another difference from a quarantine, there is doctrinal evidence […]
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Dynamic Parity: The Nuclear Strategy We Need
Speakers: Dr. Adam Lowther (National Institute for Deterrence Studies) & Curtis McGiffin (NationalInstitute for Deterrence Studies) Date: 24 October 2024 Speaker Session Summary SMA hosted a speaker session with Dr. Adam Lowther (National Institute for Deterrence Studies) & Curtis McGiffin (National Institute for Deterrence Studies) as part of its SMA “Strategic Deterrence Frameworks” (SDF) Speaker Series. Russia, […]
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American Statecraft and the Challenge of Emerging Powers
Speakers: Dr. Christopher S. Chivvis (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) & BeatrixGeaghan-Breiner (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) Date: 23 October 2024 Speaker Session Summary The United States has primarily focused on China’s geopolitical rise over the past two decades and the implications of a near-peer competitor to US interests. However, several other emerging state powers […]
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The CCP-ification of Pacific Islands: What it Means for U.S. Strategy and What Can Be Done
Speaker: Cleo Paskal (Foundation for the Defense of Democracies) Date: 8 October 2024 Speaker Session Summary China is expanding its influence in many Asia-Pacific countries by offering economic incentives and other forms of “good will,” which Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members use to fosters political corruption. This political corruption allows the CCP to build political […]
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