Olivier Schmitt

Olivier Schmitt is professor of political science at the Center for War Studies, University of Southern Denmark, and currently director of studies and research at the Institut des Hautes Études de Défense Nationale (IHEDN, Paris).He is a founding member of the French Association for War and Strategic Studies (AEGES), of which he was vice-president and scientific director, and a board member of the European Initiative for Security Studies (EISS). A reserve officer in the French navy, he has policy experience at the French MoD and NATO. He also worked for two think-tanks: the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). He is interested in security and strategic studies, in particular multilateral military cooperation, comparative defence policies, arms control, military transformation, the changing character of warfare, influence and propaganda, as well as far-right ideologies. His current main research project, entitled “Transforming Armed Forces in the 21st Century,“ is founded by the Carlsberg Foundation, the Independent Research Fund Denmark and the Gerda Henkel Foundation. He is the author of La RFA et la Politique Européenne de Sécurité et de Défense (L’Harmattan, 2009) and Allies that Count. Junior Partners in Coalition Warfare (Georgetown University Press, 2018). He has published in academic journals such as International Affairs, European Journal of International Relations, Contemporary Security Policy, Cooperation and Conflict, Journal of Strategic Studies, International Politics Reviews, European Security, Revue Française de Science Politique.

Expertise

• Defence Policy
• Modern Warfare
• Alliances and Collective Security

Selected Publications

• Olivier Schmitt, “Wartime paradigms and the future of western military power,” International Affairs 96:2 (2020): 401-418.
• Olivier Schmitt, “How to challenge an international order: Russian diplomatic practices in multilateral security organisations,” European Journal of International Relations 26:3 (2019): 922-946.
• Olivier Schmitt, “When Are Strategic Narratives Effective? The Shaping of Political Discourse through the Interaction between Political Myths and Strategic Narratives,” Contemporary Security Policy 39:4 (2018): 487-511.
• Olivier Schmitt, “French Military Adaptation in the Afghan War: Looking Inward or Outward?” Journal of Strategic Studies 40:4 (2017): 577-599.
• Olivier Schmitt, “International Organization at War: NATO Practices in the Afghan Campaign,” Cooperation and Conflict 52:4 (2017): 502-518.