Defence and Statecraft Forum 2023

The return of great power competition raises challenging questions for European security. On the one hand, Russia’s war on Ukraine has led to increased defence spending and Europeans have started to yet again see the value of military capabilities and the manufacturing capacity needed to produce them. Both NATO and the EU have stepped up their efforts to defence Europe. On the other hand, Europe appears to be even more dependent on the United States for military equipment and forces. This dependency comes at a time when the United States is debating how best to deal with the simultaneous challenge of Russia and China – a task seemingly made harder by the growing ties between Beijing and Moscow. If Russia’s war has shown the potential for Europeans to make a sizeable effort to their own defence, the strategic challenge posed by China calls into question Washington’s order of priorities.

The second Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy (CSDS) “Defence and Statecraft Forum” will tackle these issues by posing two interdependent questions:

1) If Europe is to play a more credible role for its own defences, what military capabilities should it invest in and what implications will this have for the European and transatlantic defence industry?

2) Can and should the US prioritise a “China first” strategy over a “two front” approach that includes China and Europe? What are the implications for Europe of either approach?

The registration for this event has been closed.