Conference with General Sir Rupert Smith KCB DSO OBE QGM on the occasion of the publication of the 2^nd edition of The Utility of Force – The Art of War in the Modern World.

Chair:  Prof. Dr. Sven Biscop, the Egmont Institute.

Why do we try to use military force to solve our political problems? And why, when our forces win the military battles does this still fail to solve those problems? It is because the force lacks utility. From Iraq to the Balkans, and from Afghanistan to Chechneya, over the past fifteen years there has been a steady stream of military interventions that have not delivered on their promise for peace, or even political resolution. The Utility of Force explains this anomaly at the heart of our current international system.