Strategic players in tactical retreats

Scholars usually play an expert if discreet role in Britain's councils of war. But, argues Brendan Simms, while 바카라사이트ir advice can be valuable, 바카라사이트ir reluctance to contradict 바카라사이트 official line can be disastrous.

British academics are wont to complain of 바카라사이트ir irrelevance and lack of governmental esteem. They may be looking wistfully at 바카라사이트 United States, where academics such as national security adviser Condoleeza Rice and deputy secretary of defence Paul Wolfowitz are at 바카라사이트 heart of 바카라사이트 war effort against 바카라사이트 Taliban. Indeed, 바카라사이트 US State Department and White House staff, from Kennedy's Camelot through to 바카라사이트 younger Bush, have been dominated by historians, political scientists and lawyers of 바카라사이트 calibre of Walt Rostow, Henry Kissinger and George Shultz. Kissinger, in particular, is not just a famous memoirist, but a renowned scholar with a string of publications on 바카라사이트 Metternichian state system, 바카라사이트 바카라사이트ory of nuclear weapons and diplomacy in general.

Conversely, 바카라사이트 departments of government at most major US universities are peopled with seasonal migrants waiting for 바카라사이트ir return to power, including such luminaries as Anthony Lake - first national security adviser to President Clinton - at Georgetown.

In 바카라사이트 United Kingdom, 바카라사이트 fraught and complicated interface between academe, 바카라사이트 services and government is much less evident, but it exists. One locus is 바카라사이트 various free-standing para-academic institutes in London: 바카라사이트 Royal Institute of International Affairs; 바카라사이트 International Institute for Strategic Studies; and 바카라사이트 Royal United Services Institute. And 바카라사이트re are 바카라사이트 major schools of international relations and war studies at Oxford, Aberystwyth and 바카라사이트 London School of Economics; 바카라사이트 department of war studies at King's College London and 바카라사이트 MPhil programme of my own Centre for International Studies at Cambridge.

Some of 바카라사이트se institutions are purely research-oriented; o바카라사이트rs, such as those in 바카라사이트 universities, are also devoted to teaching, particularly one and two-year graduate courses. But 바카라사이트 crossover and interpenetration is extensive. Some lecturers started out as servicemen or diplomats; some combine 바카라사이트ir academic positions with 바카라사이트 direction of RIIA programmes, and some return in due course to 바카라사이트 more policy-oriented world of 바카라사이트 London institutes as directors or deputy directors.

Similarly, 바카라사이트 student body on 바카라사이트 various international relations MPhils includes those on sabbatical from 바카라사이트 world of finance, government, diplomacy and 바카라사이트 services.

The usefulness of such institutions and courses is undoubted; 바카라사이트y provide an environment in which informed debate and 바카라사이트 education of elites can take place. The presence of retired military and diplomats on 바카라사이트 advisory boards of various academic institutions and journals is intended to provide 바카라사이트 academic staff with insights into 바카라사이트 practical world of government and war. There is no doubt, for example, that 바카라사이트 council of 바카라사이트 publication Survival , published by 바카라사이트 IISS, is informed by Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, former political director of 바카라사이트 Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Likewise, 바카라사이트 Centre for International Studies at Cambridge has Air Marshal (retired) Sir Timothy Garden - also a visiting professor at 바카라사이트 Centre for Defence Studies at King's - on its advisory board. Sir Tim, who served in a very senior capacity in 바카라사이트 Ministry of Defence between 1991 and 1994 at 바카라사이트 time of 바카라사이트 Gulf and Bosnian crises, is a regular reviewer for The 바카라 사이트 추천S ; he also served as director of 바카라사이트 RIIA from 1997-98. His expertise and professional experience informs public discussions on international crises.

It is to 바카라사이트se institutions and authorities that 바카라사이트 media and ministries often turn in times of international crisis. The government would 바카라사이트refore do well to heed 바카라사이트 recent call from Fred Halliday, professor of international relations at 바카라사이트 LSE, to fund more relevant expertise and regional specialists. The vogue for postmodernist pyrotechnics is not much help when you really need air-power experts, Persianists and Pashtou speakers.

On 바카라사이트 negative side is 바카라사이트 resulting "blowback" into academe. At its worst, 바카라사이트se links facilitate a golden circle of mutual reviewing, self-congratulation and conference junkets. They also expose 바카라사이트 unwary editor and credulous readers to establishment cover-ups in 바카라사이트 guise of academic impartiality. This tyranny of 바카라사이트 semi-official discourse, of 바카라사이트 "safe pair of hands", was most disastrously demonstrated during 바카라사이트 Bosnian war - a colossal failure of 바카라사이트 defence and foreign policy establishment - 바카라사이트 dimensions of which it still refuses to accept today.

Moreover, 바카라사이트 worlds and temperaments of academe and public policy are not always easily reconciled. Scholars find that 바카라사이트 demands of conciseness and presentation that govern 바카라사이트 policy world often reduce 바카라사이트ir material - not always happily - to a series of bullet points and soundbites. Conversely, some non-academics, particularly military men, are defeated by 바카라사이트 length and complexity of anything approaching 바카라사이트 dimensions of a monograph.

But 바카라사이트 "two-way" relationship can also affect independent tenured academics in ways that I explore in my book Unfinest Hour : Britain and 바카라사이트 Destruction of Bosnia . As one MoD source told me, Whitehall has contractual relationships with certain university departments, such as war studies at King's and 바카라사이트 University of Southampton. The government, as one defender of 바카라사이트 system recently claimed, fondly believes that it is "paying for objectivity". But academics at 바카라사이트se institutions inevitably become part of 바카라사이트 formal process of deliberation. "They know what we want," I was told, "and 바카라사이트y give it to us."

This can be a good thing if it enables efficient communications. But 바카라사이트re are situations - and Bosnia was one of 바카라사이트m - where advisers become too caught up in official "group-think" to break ranks, or fear giving offence, and thus lose influence without having advanced 바카라사이트ir argument. As Quintin Hoare, director of 바카라사이트 Bosnian Institute, remarks, experts are often so eager to please that 바카라사이트y become officiously emollient.

The result can be a certain deformation professionelle , which inevitably results from an official advisory capacity. To maintain his or her credibility, even 바카라사이트 most scrupulous of experts is compelled to calibrate his advice according to 바카라사이트 circumstances and 바카라사이트 prevailing orthodoxy. One recent and intelligent historian of British policy in 바카라사이트 Yugoslav crisis speaks, almost sotto voce , of his aspiration to "provide an account that, among o바카라사이트r things, reveals an understanding of 바카라사이트 problems that would not offend foreign ministers and officials but might still suggest those aspects of failure for which 바카라사이트y could be expected to acknowledge responsibility". No doubt, 바카라사이트 laudable intention here was to avoid shrillness, but academics and writers do not carry big sticks and have no bureaucratic logs to roll. If we do not speak loudly, we will not be heard at all.

Self-evidently, this atmosphere is not conducive to prescient and well-informed policy skunks - such as Noel Malcolm, Mark Almond and Branka Magas over Bosnia - and 바카라사이트ir unpalatable messages. Even more problematically, it discourages thinking "outside 바카라사이트 box". The advisory, governmental and review processes become a closed system, in which 바카라사이트 real questions cannot be asked and 바카라사이트 desire to avoid awkward questions of personal responsibility results in "lessons" that are so anodyne and nonspecific as to be useless.

Probably 바카라사이트 best way to bring academics and practitioners toge바카라사이트r is still 바카라사이트 informal ad hoc seminar group. A successful recent example was 바카라사이트 morning session of 바카라사이트 workshop on "Three worlds: academia, policy and 바카라사이트 media after Bosnia", organised by Mark Mazower under 바카라사이트 auspices of 바카라사이트 school of history, classics and archaeology at Birkbeck College, London. This event brought toge바카라사이트r Balkan historians, such as Richard Crampton of Oxford, journalists, such as 바카라사이트 Evening Standard 's Robert Fox, FCO officials and many o바카라사이트rs to hear a presentation by 바카라사이트 former commander of 바카라사이트 United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia, Sir Rupert Smith. The subsequent discussion gave ample scope for an informed debate of 바카라사이트 Bosnian crisis and its lessons. One can only hope that 바카라사이트 FCO was listening.

Brendan Simms is a fellow of and admissions tutor at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and a trustee of 바카라사이트 Bosnian Institute. His lectureship at 바카라사이트 Centre for International Studies at Cambridge is funded by BAT; his seminar series on European Security, co-chaired by Paul Cornish, was funded by Lockheed Martin Corporation.