Russian Globally Integrated Operations (GIO) Part 1 Grand Strategy, Not Opportunism
Date: September 15th, 2020 at 15:00 CEST / 09:00 EST Platform: Cisco Webex Events
Link to Video Recording
Link to Video Recording Recording Password: ypQwZEYV996
Format
Each panelist will present for 15 minutes followed by 30 minutes of Q&A
Agenda
- 15:00-15:30 CEST / 09:00-09:30 EST: Presentation on GIO#1: Grand Strategy, Not Opportunism
- 15:30-16:00 CEST / 09:30-10:00 EST: Question & Answer Session with Moderation to include other panelists
Project Abstract
This project examines Russian grand strategy. The concept of "Globally Integrated Operations" – one explicitly discussed by the Russian leadership – provides a holistic lens through which to view Russian strategic thinking and activity. It illuminates how Moscow seeks to reorganise the structure of its defence and security landscape to cope with perceived security challenges, and the trajectory of its international activity. It examines Moscow's "mental maps" and how Russian economic and security interests are intertwined.
Panel Abstract
This session will introduce the series setting out the arguments over whether Moscow is acting opportunistically, largely improvising, or strategically. It will examine Moscow's view that geopolitical competition is increasing, and likely to continue to do so through the 2020s. This is the basis for Moscow seeking to enhance its positions in the "strategically important global areas", and attempts to link economic capacity across regions. This view of geopolitical competition means that Russia's military and economic interests are closely related.
Read Ahead Paper
Russia's Grand Strategy, Not Opportunism.pdf (with Executive Summary)
Biography
Lead Speaker: Andrew Monaghan, Ph.D.
Title: Director Affiliation: Russia Research Network Ltd; Non-Resident Associate Fellow, NATO Defence College, Rome
Dr. Andrew Monaghan is Director of the Russia Research Network Ltd. Additionally, he is a Non-Resident Associate Fellow of the NATO Defence College in Rome (where he is also the Commissioning Editor of the Russian Studies publication series), Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London, and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham.
He has previously worked for the Oxford Changing Character of War Centre, Chatham House, NATO, and the UK Defence Academy. He is the author of several books, including Dealing with the Russians (Polity, 2019), Power in Modern Russia (MUP, 2017), and The New Politics of Russia (MUP 2016).
Panelist: Dr. Alexander J. Kent
Title: Reader in Cartography and Geographic Information Science Affiliation: Canterbury Christ Church University
Dr. Alexander J. Kent is Reader in Cartography and Geographic Information Science at Canterbury Christ Church University and Immediate Past President of the British Cartographic Society. Editor of The Cartographic Journal (Taylor & Francis), he is the co-author of the book The Red Atlas: How the Soviet Union Secretly Mapped the World (University of Chicago Press, 2017).
Panelist: Charles Bartles
Title: Analyst and Russian Linguist Affiliation: Foreign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
Charles Bartles is an analyst and Russian linguist at the Foreign Military Studies Office at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. His research areas include Russian and Central Asian military force structure, tactics, modernization, and Soviet/Russian military mapping. He is also a Major in the US Army Reserve and co-author of The Russian Way of War: Force Structure, Tactics, and the Modernization of the Russian Ground Forces (Mentor, 2017).
Panelist: Dr. Nazrin Mehdiyeva
Title: Geopolitics and Energy Security Specialist
Dr. Nazrin Mehdiyeva is a geopolitics and energy security specialist, working with governments, international institutions, and energy majors. She is a regular contributor to the debate on the future of European energy security and co-author of Beyond Blood Oil: Philosophy, Policy, and the Future (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018).
Panelist: Dr. Richard Connolly
Title: Director Affiliation: Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies (CREES), University of Birmingham
Richard Connolly is director of the Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies (CREES) and senior lecturer in political economy at the University of Birmingham. His research focuses on the political economy of Russia and Eurasia, and he is the author of Russia's Response to Sanctions (Cambridge University Press, 2018).