Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In this second quarter of the 21st Century, it's becoming apparent the world is once again bipolar and will remain so for the foreseeable future. China and the US are now both significantly larger in national power terms than any other state; no one else even comes close. Like the last time the international system was bipolar, this is now again allowing an outbreak of serious wars and significant coercion that is both throwing up new ways of war and revitalising old ones.
Drawing on current wars and tensions, this talk will discuss the initial combat use of artificial intelligence, the operational and strategic impact of fighting on transparent battlefields, the sudden rise of robot machines of war and the return of national mobilisation, along with attempts to disrupt it. The nature and character of war are changing with significant implications for states, including Australia and its alliance with the US, and for the people who get caught up in such conflicts.
Changes in the character of war are arguably unsurprising in a time when much new technology is now entering military service. On the other hand, the nature of war is held by many to be immutable but maybe that 19th Century Clausewitzian view can now be challenged.
In this second quarter of the 21st Century, it's becoming apparent the world is once again bipolar and will remain so for the foreseeable future. China and the US are now both significantly larger in national power terms than any other state; no one else even comes close. Like the last time the international system was bipolar, this is now again allowing an outbreak of serious wars and significant coercion that is both throwing up new ways of war and revitalising old ones.
Drawing on current wars and tensions, this talk will discuss the initial combat use of artificial intelligence, the operational and strategic impact of fighting on transparent battlefields, the sudden rise of robot machines of war and the return of national mobilisation, along with attempts to disrupt it. The nature and character of war are changing with significant implications for states, including Australia and its alliance with the US, and for the people who get caught up in such conflicts.
Changes in the character of war are arguably unsurprising in a time when much new technology is now entering military service. On the other hand, the nature of war is held by many to be immutable but maybe that 19th Century Clausewitzian view can now be challenged.
