In a seminal article in 1978 Robert Jervis outlined the concept of the security dilemma. Jervis observed that ‘many of the means by which a state tries to increase its security decreases the security of …
Articles by: "Mike Scrafton"
Russia’s likely to be pleased with the outcomes of the NATO meeting in Warsaw and will certainly not regard their strategic position as weakened. Russia will welcome signs of discord and posturing within both NATO …
Major geopolitical shifts can be unexpected, such as the once unthinkable situation of European unity crumbling. This prospect may have delighted some observers, but it’s worrying for many others. The European Union (EU) has been …
Imagine yourself walking down the long corridor to the briefing room of the Chinese Central Military Commission (CMC). What would it be like to be providing strategic policy advice to the Chinese government? What would …
As someone who has straddled the public servant/ministerial adviser divide I found that the first two parts of Graeme Dobell’s series on the Canberra Minder caused me to reflect on my own experience. During my …
Jim Molan’s polemical article in Quadrant (March 2013) (and his précis on The Strategist last week) presents a target-rich environment. Putting aside what I’ll describe as Jim’s robust style of argument, he addresses the two …
For a sovereign democratic nation, Andrew Davies’ contribution ‘The who, what, where, and why of the future submarine’ posits some alarming notions. The first relates to an assumption that irrespective of a direct threat to …