The virtual seminar will be held from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. (E.T.)
A major transition is underway in European policy and debates on defence and security, driven by awareness of acute vulnerability to Russian revanchism, US-China hegemonic rivalry, the US turn against NATO (and the EU), widespread political-economic instability, and now the US-Israeli war against Iran. This presentation will reflect on this transition so as to raise questions, such as where it might lead given scarce European resources, stressed political environments, profound changes in technology, and the legacy of reliance on the United States not least in the nuclear field. Although means of strengthening British and French contributions to European nuclear deterrence are now receiving serious attention, the scope for expanding and reorienting their nuclear forces is heavily constrained, especially in the British case. Greater emphasis is being placed on the expansion and modernisation of Europe's conventional forces, absorbing lessons from the Ukraine War, with the EU becoming an important sponsor and coordinator of initiatives. A significant outcome seems likely to be Germany's reemergence as a major political-military actor on the continent.
About the speaker: William Walker is Professor Emeritus of International Relations, University of St Andrews, occasional visitor to SGS, and former member of the SGS-based International Panel on Fissile Materials. Trained as an electrical engineer, he has studied technological innovation, energy policy, military industries, and international nuclear relations, especially the problems that nuclear weapons pose for international order. Among his books are Nuclear Power Struggles (1982, reissued 2015), and A Perpetual Menace: Nuclear Weapons and International Order (2012). His more recent work includes the essays 'On Nuclear Embeddedness and (Ir)reversibility' (2019) and 'Reflections on complexity, nuclear ordering and disordering over time' (2025).