Project Connect: Andrew Monaghan- “Living in Different Worlds?” Interpreting Russia’s Cognitive Maps, Strategy and Scenario Planning Through 2030
Date: February 12th, 2025 at 15:00 CET / 14:00 GMT / 09:00 EDT Platform: Cisco Webex Events
Link to Video Recording
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Details
Dr. Andrew Monaghan, Mr. George Ellis, Dr. Charles Bartles, and Dr. Nicholas Danforth will explore the idea of cognitive mapping and how it is useful for interpreting Russian perspectives and therefore for Moscow's strategic planning and activity.
This panel discussion explores how Moscow's views of strategic geography underpin Russian policy. The presentations will introduce the value of interpreting "cognitive maps" as they offer insight into the Russian leadership's assumptions about international affairs and therefore decision making and strategy. In this way, it is an essential ingredient in interpreting Russian strategic culture.
Biography
Andrew Monaghan
Title: Director Affiliation: AM Leadmark Research Ltd; Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)
Dr. Andrew Monaghan is Director of AM Leadmark Research Ltd, a London-based research consultancy. He is also a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute in Washington, D.C., and a Non-Resident Associate Fellow of the NATO Defence College in Rome. Previously, he has been a George F. Kennan Fellow in the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute in Washington, D.C., and employed by Pembroke College, Oxford, Chatham House, and NATO.
George Ellis
Title: Advisor Affiliation: Former Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)
George Ellis graduated from Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1980 with a degree in Land Economy and joined the UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) where he spent a 35 year civilian career. Starting as an intelligence analyst he went on to fill a wide range of operational, policy and senior leadership positions. The first 10 years of his career were focused on the armed forces of the Soviet Union. Throughout his career, he worked closely with MOD and the wider military. He also served at the British Embassy Washington as a liaison officer with the US Department of Defense.
Charles Bartles
Title: Analyst and Russian Linguist Affiliation: Foreign Military Studies Office; Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)
Dr. Charles K. Bartles is an analyst and Russian linguist at the Foreign Military Studies Office at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. His specific research areas include Russian and Central Asian military force structure, modernization, tactics, officer and enlisted professional development, and security assistance programs. Chuck is a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserve that is imagery (35A1D) and space operations (FA40) qualified. He has deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, and has served as a security assistance officer at embassies in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.
Nicholas Danforth
Title: Fellow and Editor Affiliation: Century International; War on the Rocks
Nicholas Danforth is a fellow at Century International and an editor at War on the Rocks, where he writes the politics and cartography newsletter Mid-Afternoon Map. He has previously covered Turkey, U.S. foreign policy, and the Middle East for think tanks including the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Bipartisan Policy Center.