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Military Studies Programme

The Military Studies Programme (MSP) was instituted in 2012. It traces its genesis from the then-Institute of Defence Studies, which had the responsibility of educating senior Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) officers at the former Singapore Command and Staff College, as well as provide policy-related research for Singapore’s Ministry of Defence and the SAF.

Today, MSP is the strategic partner of the SAF in its Professional Military Education (PME), working with the SAF-NTU Academy and the various SAF schools, including the Officer Cadet School, the SAF Advanced Schools, the Goh Keng Swee Command and Staff College (GKS CSC) and the SAFWOS Leadership School, to this effect. As part of this PME role, MSP conducts tailored lessons for various SAF courses focusing on two broad topics: military and strategic studies, and geopolitics and international relations. These SAF courses include:

  • Courses at the Master’s level at the GKS CSC
  • Joint Foundation Course
  • Joint Warfighting Course
  • Officer Cadet Course
  • Joint Senior Leadership Course
  • Joint Advanced Leadership Course
  • Joint Leadership Course

MSP accomplishes these through a team with diverse expertise and research agendas aimed towards credibility and relevance. Recent select publications include:

  • Chang Jun Yan, “Framing Minilateralism in the Asia-Pacific”, Centre for Strategic and Contemporary Research, 10 September 2024.
  • Thomas Lim, “Comparing Gray-Zone Tactics in the Red Sea and the South China Sea”, The Diplomat, 20 April 2024.
  • Chang Jun Yan, “US Security View of China Is Not Black and White”, CNA, 23 April 2024.
  • Ian Li Huiyuan, “Swift and Decisive – An Anachronistic Ideal?”, Wavell Room, 1 March 2024.
  • Bernard Loo Fook Weng and James Char, editors, Strategic Currents: China and US Competition for Influence, Singapore: World Scientific, 2024.
  • Ian Li Huiyuan, “The Rise of the Information-State: Imagined Communities and the Roots of Conflict in the Information Age”, Modern War Institute, 19 December 2023.
  • Thomas Lim, “South Korea’s Defence Industry Might – The Golden K-Cow”, Modern Diplomacy, 29 November 2023.
  • Chang Jun Yan, “Singapore’s Defense Metamorphoses”, The National Interest, 3 October 2023.
  • Chang Jun Yan, “Of Risk and Threat: How the United States Perceives China’s Rise” in The Chinese Journal of International Politics, Vol. 16, Issue 3, 2023, pp. 357-381.
  • Chang Jun Yan, and Ho Shu Huang, Mind the Gap: The Curious Case of Everyday Civil-Military Relations in Singapore in Alan Chong and Nicole Jenne, Asian Military Evolutions: Civil-Military Relations in Asia. Bristol: Bristol University Press, 2023, pp. 90-109.
  • Ian Li Huiyuan and Thomas Lim, “Operation Inherent Resolve: Understanding Singapore’s Participation in Multilateral Overseas Operation”, IDSS Paper. 25 January 2023.
  • Chang Jun Yan, “Not Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Singapore’s Hedging”, International Studies Quarterly, 66:3 (2022).

The Programme also aims to create a networking platform for military officers, policymakers and stakeholders to discuss the dynamic changing security environment and the challenges for military and national leadership in these issues.

Programme Staff

To reach the Military Studies Programme, email us at [email protected].