Our mission is to shape thinking on the past, present and future of war, and its impact on societies. We aim to contribute to ongoing debates and to illuminate the multiple dimensions of war and peace. Our mission is to facilitate research that enhances the understanding of the scourge of war and how war can be managed - or better still prevented.
We start from the premise that war is one of the most dramatic events in human affairs, and its prevention, conduct and consequences define and shape human societies. The enormous importance of studying and understanding war therefore stems from its destructive and transformative nature.
As an academic field of research, War Studies is relevant to society at both the domestic and international level. We are deeply committed to knowledge exchange with the wider society. We aim to overcome disciplinary barriers and to share our research through engagement with decision-makers, national and international institutions and influencers.
Closer to home, we aim for CWS to be a dynamic and inspirational learning community 麻豆社区 by engaging students and researchers in dialogue and activities and through dissemination of our research and analysis in publications that are suitable for a wider audience.
The Center for War Studies (CWS) is a multidisciplinary research center bringing together researchers from Politics, Law, History and Culture. CWS is organized in a way that encourages interdisciplinary research that is at the same time academically excellent and relevant to society. Currently our inter-disciplinary research is organized into four research streams focusing on institutions, practices, technology and cultural representations of war.
Research in CWS includes a wide span of theoretical and methodological approaches often breaking disciplinary boundaries and challenging methodological orthodoxy. In the development of publications and research projects, we place an emphasis on societal/policy challenges and/or theoretical gaps relevant to the disciplines represented in CWS.
CWS members manage several externally funded projects, which are integrated into the overall research environment of CWS. A full description of our research projects can be found here.
Our research is published in top international journals and presses, we manage projects funded by prestigious donors (including the ERC, the Marie Curie Action, the Danish Research Council, the Carlsberg Foundation, the Velux Foundation, and the Danish Research Councils). We mentor and train early career researchers, and we coordinate and share research with our partners and societal stakeholders in workshops and colloquiums on specific topics.
Our public activities include lectures and roundtables featuring CWS members and invited experts from both the academic and practitioner community. Our flagship event is the CWS Conference which is a two-day event for discussion and presentation of research within a topical issue area.
Read more about our conferences here.
We also produce ongoing analysis on timely topics through our War Studies Dossiers, our Insight Reports, Conversations and Briefings and through our flagship event – the CWS Conference.
The CWS Dossiers are collections of short articles and commentary on a selected timely topic. The Dossiers are designed as a “one-stop” collection of information and analysis delivered in a reader-friendly, comprehensive and rigorous way. They address timely and important issues through different forms of communication such as written articles, interviews, conversations, graphics and mini lectures, drawing on the expertise held by members of CWS and by researchers and practitioners in our network. The Dossiers are “living documents” with content being added continuously.
CWS Insight include three different products: conversations, briefings and reports. They have in common that they provide Insights from people who are close to the topic under investigation – either as practitioners or researchers or between the two.
Insight Reports – are written by practitioners, on topics of particular relevance for CWS. Insight Reports allow readers to peak into the engine rooms of international politics and security.
Insight Conversations - are brief online conversations between a researcher and a practitioner on a topical issue, moderated by a member of CWS and interactive with the online audience.
Insight Virtual Briefings - are videos featuring internationally renowned scholars talking about their area of expertise in conversation with a member of CWS.
All CWS Insights can be found here.
Partnerships and collaborations with societal stakeholder across both public and private domains are an essential element of our mission to shape thinking on the past, present, and especially the future of war. We deeply value our partnerships, and we are always open to forging new partnerships.
CWS is a part of a national and international scholarly community of research centers, institutions, and NGOs, working on issues related to war. CWS is a member of the War Studies Network, which includes departments and centers of War Studies, International Studies and ;military academies from across Europe.
At SDU, CWS cooperates closely with the Danish Institute for Advanced Study (DIAS) and CWS is involved with the new SecDef initiative to support and advance research into security and defence issues and facilitate collaboration with government agencies, industry, and other partners.