The Centre for Statecraft & National Security is excited to host Dr Olivier Schmitt for a talk on his new book, Preparing for War: Strategy, Power and Military Change.
How do armed forces actually transform, and why do some succeed while others fail?
In Preparing for War, Dr Olivier Schmitt offers a major new framework for understanding military change in an era marked by renewed great-power rivalry and the return of large-scale war to Europe. Moving beyond technological determinism and institutional clichés, the book explores how armed forces evolve through the interaction of politics, strategy, organisational dynamics, and war itself.
Drawing on insights from strategic studies, sociology, and international relations, Schmitt develops an original conceptual model to explain why military organisations adapt, or resist adaptation, in response to shifting international pressures. From civil–military relations to technological disruption and battlefield learning, Preparing for War examines how states prepare for conflicts that are rare but existential.
At a time when the war in Ukraine has forced European militaries to rethink their assumptions, this book provides essential tools for understanding the future of military power — and the political consequences of success or failure in transforming it.
About the Speaker:
Dr Olivier Schmitt is Professor and head of research at the Institute for Military Operations, Royal Danish Defence College. He is also a non-resident senior fellow at the NATO Defence College, and a research associate at RAND Europe. His research interests include the conduct of contemporary warfare, European and transatlantic security, as well as strategic narratives in world politics. He is the author of Allies that Count, Junior Partners in Coalition Warfare (Georgetown UP 2018), French Defence Policy since the End of the Cold War (Routledge 2020, with Alice Pannier) and War Time. Temporality and the Decline of Western Military Power (Brookings 2021, co-ed with Sten Rynning and Amelie Theussen). He is currently an associate editor of the European Journal of International Security.
To register to attend, please click here.
