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  • Home
  • About RSIS
      • Introduction
      • Building the Foundations
      • Welcome Message
      • Board of Governors
      • Staff Profiles
        • Executive Deputy Chairman’s Office
        • Dean’s Office
        • Management
        • Distinguished Fellows
        • Faculty and Research
        • Associate Research Fellows, Senior Analysts and Research Analysts
        • Visiting Fellows
        • Adjunct Fellows
        • Administrative Staff
      • Honours and Awards for RSIS Staff and Students
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      • Endowed Professorships
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      • Getting to RSIS
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        • Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre)
        • Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS)
        • Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS)
        • International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR)
      • Research Programmes
        • National Security Studies Programme (NSSP)
        • Studies in Inter-Religious Relations in Plural Societies (SRP) Programme
      • [email protected] Newsletter
      • Other Research
        • Future Issues And Technology (FIT)
        • Science and Technology Studies Programme (STSP) (2017-2020)
  • Graduate Education
      • Graduate Programmes Office
      • Overview
      • MSc (Asian Studies)
      • MSc (International Political Economy)
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      • MSc (Strategic Studies)
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      • PhD Programme
      • Exchange Partners and Programmes
      • How to Apply
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    • RSIS
    • The S. T. Lee Distinguished Annual Lecture by Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, Professor of War Studies, King’s College London

    The S. T. Lee Distinguished Annual Lecture by Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, Professor of War Studies, King’s College London

    Why Do Governments Find Strategy So Difficult?

    10 Sep 2014 15:30 - 17:30
    Sheraton Towers, Ballroom 2
    Type: Lectures / Seminars
    Public
    For Enquiries: [email protected]
    Google Calendar

    Lecture Abstract:

    Governments are regularly told that they need more or better strategy as if this is the magic ingredient that will bring coherence and give direction to their policies. At times of great national emergency this may be possible but in normal times this is difficult for a number of reasons. As the status quo may be generally satisfactory there may be no inspirational vision on offer; different parts of government have their own aims and objectives and an attempt to satisfy them all will result in a lack of coherence; even if there is a clear strategy governments may not wish to reveal too much publicly; there are a range of ideas of what a good strategy will look like. A good strategy will be shown to be one that addresses a clear problem rather than reaches out for distant objectives and maintains a degree of flexibility in implementation.

    About the Speaker:

    Lawrence Freedman has been Professor of War Studies at King’s College London since 1982, and was Vice-Principal from 2003 to 2013. He was educated at Whitley Bay Grammar School and the Universities of Manchester, York and Oxford. Before joining King’s he held research appointments at Nuffield College Oxford, IISS and the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1995 and awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 1996, he was appointed Official Historian of the Falklands Campaign in 1997. He was awarded the KCMG (Knight Commander of St Michael and St George) in 2003. In June 2009 he was appointed to serve as a member of the official inquiry into Britain and the 2003 Iraq War.

    Professor Freedman has written extensively on nuclear strategy and the cold war, as well as commentating regularly on contemporary security issues. Among his books are Kennedy’s Wars: Berlin, Cuba, Laos and Vietnam (2000), The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy (3rd edition 2004), Deterrence (2005), the two volume Official History of the Falklands Campaign (second edition 2007) and an Adelphi Paper on The Transformation in Strategic Affairs (2004). A Choice of Enemies: America confronts the Middle East, won the 2009 Lionel Gelber Prize and Duke of Westminster Medal for Military Literature. His most recent book is Strategy: A History (2013).

    He is married to Professor Judith Freedman and has a son, Sam, and a daughter, Ruth.

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    • ST Lee Lecture by Prof Sir Lawrence Freedman [10 Sep 2014]

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    The S. T. Lee Distinguished Annual Lecture by Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, Professor of War Studies, King’s College London

    Lecture Abstract:

    Governments are regularly told that they need more or better strategy as if this is the magic ingredient that will bring coherence and give di ...
    more info