Abstract

Grey Zone operations at sea, half way between peace and war seem to be getting more common. Why is this, and what are their main characteristics? Although as both the Ukraine and Gaza wars show us, Grey Zone operations are less dangerous to the international order and global stability than out right war, but they are still risky and unpredictable. So how should they be managed? To what extent do they present an opportunity rather than just a threat?

About the Speaker

Geoffrey Till is Emeritus Professor of Maritime Studies at King’s College London and Chairman of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies. Once Dean of Academic Studies at the UK Joint Services Command and Staff College, he is author of nearly 300 books, chapters and articles. Since 2009 he has been a Visiting Professor, Senior Research Fellow and Advisor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore. He held the Dudley W. Knox Chair for Naval History and Strategy at the US Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island and is now a Non-Resident Research Fellow at its Hattendorf Historical Center. His Understanding Victory: Naval Operations from Trafalgar to the Falklands was published by ABC-Clio in 2014 and he completed a fourth edition of his Seapower: A Guide for the 21st Century (2018) and an edited version of Bo Hu’s Chinese Maritime Power in the 21st Century (2019). His How to Grow a Navy: The Development of Maritime Power was published by Routledge in 2022. With John Hattendorf, he edited Recovering Naval Power; Henry Maydman and the Revival of the Royal Navy (Routledge, 2023). He is now working on a 5^th edition of his Seapower book.