Abstract

This session focuses on hybrid threats and the future of war, examining how to prepare, equip, and organize for conflict. Drawing lessons from both ongoing frontlines and developments occurring beyond the battlefield, Dr. Sweijs will explore the essential prerequisites for waging and sustaining war, including societal preparedness, the role of the population, industrial contributions, and the military’s ability to leverage technology and innovate. The session will also address the significance of alliances and alignments, as well as strategic competition and hybrid threats that operate below the threshold of large-scale violence to undermine adversaries and their supporters.

Framing these considerations at the grand strategic level, Dr. Sweijs will discuss the changing character of war and share lessons learned from the war in Ukraine and other ongoing conflicts and how this is relevant for grand strategy and defense planning, particularly for small and middle powers.

About the Speaker

Dr. Tim Sweijs is the Director of Research at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies and a Senior Research Fellow at the War Studies Research Centre of the Netherlands Defence Academy. His work is multidisciplinary in nature and straddles political science, strategic studies and war studies.

He is a board member at the European Initiative for Security Studies where he chairs the War, Coercion and Statecraft Working Group. He is also a Research Affiliate at the Center for International Strategy, Technology and Policy in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute for Technology. Tim has advised international organisations, governments and defence departments across the globe. He has provided expert testimony to the United Nations Security Council, the European Parliament, the Dutch Parliament, as well as to NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly. He teaches an advanced graduate and executive staff command course on the future of war.

Dr. Tim Sweijs holds degrees in War Studies (PhD, MA), International Relations (Msc), and Philosophy (BA) from King’s College, London and the University of Amsterdam.