Everything you think you know about war is wrong. We are in the midst of an age of conflict: global terrorism, Russia’s resurgence and China’s rise, international criminal empires, climate change and dwindling natural resources. The stakes are high, and we are dangerously unprepared. The West is playing the same old war games, but the enemy has changed the rules. In this new age of war: technology will not save us, victory will belong to the cunning, not the strong, plausible deniability is more potent than firepower, corporations, mercenaries, and rogue states have more power than nation states, and loyalty will sit with the highest bidder. Learn how to triumph in the coming age of conflict in ten new rules. Adapt and we can prevail. Fail, and size and strength won’t protect us.

Dr Sean McFate is a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and a professor of strategy at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the National Defense University in Washington DC. Additionally, he serves as an Advisor to Oxford University’s Centre for Technology and Global Affairs. McFate’s career began as a paratrooper and officer in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, and then he became a private military contractor. His newest book is The New Rules of War (US version) and GOLIATH: Why the West Isn’t Winning. And What We Must Do About It. (UK version), which has been called “The Freakonomics of modern warfare.” It was picked by The Times and The London Evening Standard for their books of the summer 2019. McFate also writes fiction based on his real world experiences as a private military contractor. McFate holds a BA from Brown University, MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a Ph.D. in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). 

A sandwich lunch will be served at 12.45. Copies of Sean’s book will be available to purchase after the seminar.