DR ROB JOHNSON
robert.johnson@pmb.ox.ac.uk
Dr Rob Johnson is the Director of the Oxford Strategy, Statecraft, and Technology (Changing Character of War) Centre, Senior Research Fellow of Pembroke College, University of Oxford. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Norwegian Defence University Staff College and Adjunct Professor of Strategic Studies at Rennes School of Business in France. He is a historian, strategic studies and International Relations scholar combining academic analyses with ‘knowledge exchange’ policy impact.
Dr Johnson was the first Director of the UK Office of Net Assessment and Challenge, working closely with the Secretary of State for Defence, Ministers, and Cabinet Office. He continues to advise and delivers direct support to government and armed forces in defence and security matters. His bespoke advisory support is not limited to the United Kingdom, but is requested by governments and armed forces in the United States, Europe, and Australia. The Director is prominent within professional military education, as a member of the advisory panel of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, lecturer for the Royal College of Defence Studies, and as the director of ‘insight and understanding’ study days and workshops. His former military career involved innovations in counter-terrorism, counterinsurgency, and a clear understanding of the requirements and thinking of the armed services. He is specialist in military strategy, operations, military conceptual developments, and strategic decision making.
Dr Johnson has delivered courses in Strategic Studies, Net Assessment, Strategic Leadership, and the History of War and Strategy (Politics, IR, History). He has offered postgraduate supervision on theses concerned with strategy, as well as undergraduate tutorials for a number of colleges, tuition on foreign exchange programmes, lectures in the undergraduate International Relations and General History circus, as well unexamined lecture series. He delivers teaching to overseas academic programmes, including those of Stanford, Harvard, and Yale.
Dr Rob Johnson’s primary research interests are in strategy, its development, and the history of war which informs it. His regional interest is in the Middle East and Asia, but he is familiar with a number of global conflict and security issues. In light of recent strategic challenges, his research has necessarily addressed sub-threshold strategy/hybrid warfare, inter-state wars, multi-domain operational art, unconventional operations, cyber operations, as well as insurgency and counter-insurgency. He has also examined how conflicts can be terminated, through transition and negotiation.
Dr Johnson has published on the issue of startegic leadership and civil-military relations in the making of strategy, and has examined the problems of maintaining internal security, the dynamics of insurrection, and the role of auxiliary forces. He has written on strategic advantages and risks of partnering irregular indigenous forces. His work on grand strategy, defence policy, and military strategy includes a study of the First World War in the Middle East and edited volumes on military strategy in the 21st century, as well as the conduct of war. He has delivered papers on ‘cohesion in combat’, ‘joint operations’, ‘future operating environment’, ‘innovation’ and ‘strategy-making in the twenty-first century’, amongst other themes.
Currently he assists the UK and NATO armed forces in planning for reconfigured structures and missions and is focused on the difficulties of ‘planning future war’ using historical cases. He is actively involved in developing new concepts. He also runs strategic exercises, including scenario-based learning processes grounded in history and recent conflicts, at the Royal College of Defence Studies, and lectures at the Higher Command and Staff Course at the UK Defence Academy.
NEWS
Forthcoming Publications:
Robert Johnson, Anglo-American Strategic Decision Making in the Two World Wars, (Oxford University Press, due 2026)
Robert Johnson and Beatrice Heuser, (eds), Oxford Handbook on the History of War, (Oxford University Press, due 2026).
RECENT Publications:
Robert Johnson, T E Lawrence ‘of Arabia’ on War (London: Osprey-Bloomsbury, 2020).
This book explores Lawrence’s ideas on war, through theory and practice, and how they were applied to the ’desert war’ of 1916-1918, and subsequently how Lawrence’s ideas have been interpreted and used by Basil Liddell-Hart and others, up to the present.
Robert Johnson and Janne Halaand Matlary, (eds), NATO and Russia’s War in Ukraine (London and New York: Hurst and OUP, 2024)
This volume examines strategic integration and military interoperability in NATO with a collection prominent contemporary authors.
Robert Johnson and Janne Halaand Matlary, (eds), Military Strategy in the 21st Century (London and New York: Hurst and OUP, 2020)
This volume examines thematically, and through national case studies, interpretations and applications of military strategy in the early 21st century for NATO.
Robert Johnson, Tim Sweys and Martijn Kitzen, (eds) The Conduct of War (London: Routledge, 2021)
This volume, with a Foreword by Dr Frank Hoffman, examines the current and recent character of war through a thematic structure.
Robert Johnson and Timothy Clack, (eds),World Information War (London: Routledge, 2021, New Defence Studies Series)
This volume addresses the growing significance of information in warfare, and the various ways and means deployed to create informational effects.
Robert Johnson and Janne Halaand Matlary, (eds), The United Kingdom’s Defence Policy Post Brexit: Coalitions, Alliances, and Partnerships, (Palgrave, 2018).
This volume brings together work on British, American and European defence policy, assessing the changes of the last decades and the developments that were anticipated in light of ‘Brexit’ from the European Union.
Robert Johnson and Timothy Clack, (eds), Before Military Intervention: Upstream Stabilisation, including the chapter ‘Assessing the Upstream Strategic Environment’, (Palgrave, 2018).
This volume examines attempts by Western militaries to reconfigure their forces and missions in conflict prevention or the averting of destabilisation that could generate conflict. The concept of upstream stabilisation and persistent engagement reflects on previous attempts in stabilisation and analyses the Western approach.
Robert Johnson and James Kitchen, (eds), The Great War in the Middle East: A Clash of Empires, (London: Routledge, 2019), including the chapter ‘British Strategy and the Middle East, 1878-1918’.
Drs Johnson and Kitchen, with an experienced and diverse group of authors, examine a variety of themes affecting the Middle East, including the military campaigns, the strategies, as well as the changes and continuities of that conflict.
MONOGRAPHS
• True to Their Salt: Partnering Indigenous Forces (London & New York: Hurst-OUP, 2017)
• The Great War and the Middle East: A strategic Study (Oxford University Press, 2016)
• The Afghan Way of War (London and New York: Hurst-OUP, 2011)
• The Iran-Iraq War (New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2010)
• Pulverfass Im Hindukusch: Dschihad, Erdol und die Grossmachte in Zentralasien (Theiss, 2008)
• Oil, Islam and Conflict in Central Asia since 1945 (London: Reaktion, 2007)
• Spying for Empire: The Great Game in Central and South Asia 1757-1947 (London: Greenhill, 2006)
• A Region in Turmoil: South Asian Conflicts Since1947 (London: Reaktion, 2005)
• The British Empire: Mars and Mammon (ebook, 2005)
• British Imperialism: Histories and Controversies (New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002)
Official Publications (Consultancy)
• NATO Study: Urban Warfighting: Strategy and Operations, 2015
• NATO Study: Urban Warfighting: The Human Dimension, 2016
• NATO COE-DAT Study: Future Terrorism and Insurgency 2015
• The Future Operating Environment
• Global Strategic Trends
• Army Doctrine Publication Operations
• Army Doctrine Publication Counter-Insurgency
Edited Volumes
• The World Information War: Western Resilience, Campaigning, and Cognitive Effects, Timothy Clack and Rob Johnson, (eds), (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021) including chapters: ‘Introduction: The world information war’ (with Timothy Clack), and ‘Information warfare: theory to practice’.
• At the End of Military Intervention: Historical, Theoretical and Applied Solutions to Stabilization and Drawdown, Rob Johnson and Timothy Clack, (eds), (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014) including chapters: ‘Introduction’ and ‘India and Pakistan, 1947-48’.
• The British Indian Army: Virtue and Necessity, Rob Johnson, (ed), (Cambridge: CSP, 2014) including 3 chapters: ‘Introduction’, ‘Making a Virtue Out of Necessity, 1746-1947’ and ‘The Indian Army on Expeditionary Operations, 1856-1914: China, Persia, and East Africa’.
• The Gallipoli Campaign: The Turkish Perspective, Rob Johnson and Metin Gurcan, (eds), (Routledge, 2016) including ‘Introduction’ and ‘A Contested Historiography’
Chapters and Journal Articles
Military Strategy in the 21st Century, Rob Johnson and Janne Halaand Matlary, (eds.) (London: Hurst and New York: Oxford University Press, 2020), including three chapters:
Rob Johnson and Janne Haaland Matlary, ‘Introduction: Military Strategy - Missing in Action?’
Rob Johnson, ‘Military Strategy for Conventional War and Deterrence’
Rob Johnson, ‘Military Strategy in Grey Zone Confrontation and Coercion’
The Conduct of War, Rob Johnson, Tim Sweijs and Martijn Kitzen, (eds.) (London: Routledge, 2021), including three chapters:
Rob Johnson, Tim Sweijs and Martijn Kitzen, ‘Introduction: the conduct of war in the 21st Century’
Rob Johnson, ‘Hybrid Warfare and Counter-coercion’, and
Rob Johnson, Tim Sweijs and Martijn Kitzen, ‘Conclusion: Assessing Change and Continuity in the Character of War’
Historical Strategies of War and the Nature of Armed Forces
Robert Johnson, ‘Technological Determinism’ in John Hosler, (ed.) Myths of Military History (Cambridge, MA: Hackett, 2021)
Robert Johnson, ‘Forecasting Conflict’, Special Edition Journal, (forthcoming AHRC project, 2021).
Robert Johnson, ‘Divisional Operations in the Gulf Wars’, chapter in James Kitchen (ed.) (details to follow, 2021)
* Robert Johnson, ‘United Kingdom [‘s Grand Strategy]’, chapter in Thierry Balzacq, Peter Dombrowski and Simon Reich, (eds), Global Grand Strategies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019)
Robert Johnson, ‘Defence Planning Under Conditions of Deep Uncertainty: Robust Decision Making and the Case of the United Kingdom’, article in forthcoming special edition journal, Israel, Strategic Studies.
Robert Johnson, ‘Air Power and United States’ Iraq Wars’ in Dennis Showalter and Kaushik Roy, (eds.) Warfare in Asia (Oxford University Press, 2021)
Robert Johnson, ‘Transformation of War: The Collision of States and Sub-State Polities’, in J. Torpey (ed), Transformations of Warfare in the Contemporary World (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2016).
Robert Johnson, ‘Killing in Close Combat: Contexts and Concepts on Cohesion and Killing from the First World War to the Present’, chapter in Anthony King, (ed), Frontline: Combat and Cohesion, (OUP, 2015).
* Robert Johnson, ‘Predicting Future War’, Parameters 44, 1 (Spring 2014): 65-76.
Robert Johnson, ‘The Iraq Revolt, 1920’ in John Wilson, (ed), British Army Campaign Guide to the Forgotten Fronts of The First World War (London, 2017)
Robert Johnson, The British Indian Army: Virtue and Necessity, Rob Johnson, (ed), (Cambridge: CSP, 2014) including 3 chapters: ‘Introduction’, ‘Making a Virtue Out of Necessity, 1746-1947’ and ‘The Indian Army on Expeditionary Operations, 1856-1914: China, Persia, and East Africa’.
Robert Johnson, ‘The East India Company, the Indian Army and the China Wars, 1839-1860’ in Peter Lorge and Kaushik Roy (eds), India and China (London and New York: Routledge, 2012)
Robert Johnson, ‘The Great Game and Power Projection, 1856-1914’, in Jeff Macris and Saul Kelly, (eds), Imperial Crossroads: The Great Powers and the Gulf (Routledge, 2012) voted ‘Outstanding Academic Title’ by Choice, 2014.
Robert Johnson, ‘The Penjdeh Incident, 1885’ Archives 24, 100, (1999): 28-48. Deterring Russia.
Robert Johnson, ‘ ‘‘Russians at the Gates of India’’’: Planning the Strategic Defence of India, 1884-1899’ Journal of Military History (USA: Virginia Military Institute), 67, (July 2003): 697-743.
The History of Insurgency and Internal Security
Robert Johnson, ‘The Taliban and the Modern History of Afghanistan’, in Erich Marquardt, (ed.), US Counter-Terrorism and Irregular Warfare Operations (New York: Routledge, 2021)
Robert Johnson, ‘The History of Afghanistan, 1978-2018’, West Point, United States Military Academy, https://reader.rowan.nyc/#/read/245/page/9885 (2019)
Robert Johnson, ‘The Taliban’ in Beatrice Heuser and Eitan Shamir (eds), Insurgencies and Counterinsurgencies: National Styles and Strategic Cultures (Cambridge University Press, 2017)
Robert Johnson, ‘Out of Arabia: The Fate of Omani Local Forces Allied with the British, 1967-76’, International History Review, Special Edition, (2017). This article examined the decisions and conduct of the British towards local forces and authorities in Oman, in contrast with Aden during late decolonization.
Robert Johnson, ‘Doing More with Less: The Army Patrols Upstream’, with Dr Timothy Clack, British Army Review, (2016)
Robert Johnson, ‘Command of the Army, Charles Gwynn and Imperial Policing: The British Doctrinal Approach to Internal Security in Palestine 1919-29’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Special Edition, 43, 4 (2015). This article examines the principles underpinning the British thinking on internal stability in the Inter-War Years in the Middle East.
Robert Johnson, ‘The Afghan National Army and COIN: Past, Present and Future Reconsidered’ in Scott Gates and Kaushik Roy (eds.), War and State-Building in Afghanistan: Historical and Modern Perspectives (London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2014)
Robert Johnson, ‘War Amongst the People’ and ‘The Consequences of a Failed State’ in Afghanistan Revealed (London: Afghan Appeal Fund, and Frontline, 2013)
Robert Johnson, ‘Managing Helmand: From Bost to Bastion’, in International Area Studies Review 15, 3 (2012): 279-300.
Robert Johnson, ‘Mizh der beitabora khalqi-i’: A Comparative Study of Afghan-Pashtun Perspectives on Negotiating with the British and the Soviets, 1839-1989’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Special Edition, 39, 4 (November 2011): 551-70.
Robert Johnson, ‘The Army in India and Responses to Low-Intensity Conflict, 1936-46’, Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, 89, 358 (2011), 159-81
Robert Johnson, ‘Small Wars and Internal Security: The Army in India, 1936-46’, in Alan Jefferies and Patrick Rose, (eds), The Indian Army, 1939-1947: Experience and Development (London: Ashgate, 2012)
Robert Johnson, Lessons in Imperial Rule: Instructions for Infantrymen on the Indian Frontier (London: Greenhill, 2008)
Justifications of Revolutionary War and Intervention
Robert Johnson, ‘Egypt and Sudan, 1882-1885’, chapter in Stephen Miller, (ed.), Queen Victoria's Wars: British Military Campaigns, 1857-1902 (Cambridge University Press, 2021)
* Interests, Ethics and Rules: Renewing UK Intervention Policy, policy paper with Robert Johnson, Nigel Biggar, Paul Cornish, and Gareth Stansfield (London: CityForum, 2020)
* Robert Johnson, ‘Hybrid War and Its Countermeasures: A Critique of the Literature’ Small Wars & Insurgencies, 29:1, (2018) 141-163, DOI: 10.1080/09592318.2018.1404770
Robert Johnson, ‘Counter-Revolution or People’s War? The Mujahideen Insurgency’ [in German], Sovietnam (Helmut-Schmidt Univeristaet, 2017)
Robert Johnson, ‘Heroism and Self-Sacrifice for the Nation: Wars of National Liberation’ in Sybille Scheipers, (ed.), Heroism and the Changing Character of War: Towards Post-Heroic Warfare (New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).
Robert Johnson, ‘Upstream Engagement and Downstream Entanglement: The Assumptions, Opportunities and Threats of Partnering Indigenous Forces’, Small Wars and Insurgencies (Special Edition) Volume 25, Issue 3 (2014).
Robert Johnson, ‘The Romanticism of the Revolutionary: Warriors of National Liberation’, in R. Hanks, (ed), Roots of Violence (Stockholm: Ax:Johnson, 2013)
Robert Johnson, ‘Pakistan’s ISI and Covert Operations in Afghanistan’, in K.C Gustafson and P. Davies, (eds), Intelligence Elsewhere (Georgetown University Press, 2013)
Robert Johnson, ‘Mutazafin and Taghutti [The Oppressed and Tyrants]: Iran and its International Relations’ in the Iran-Iraq War’, in Nigel Ashton, Ranj Alaaldin and Bryan Gibson, (eds.), The Iran-Iraq War: New International Perspectives (London and New York: Routledge, 2012)
Robert Johnson, ‘Justifying the Iraq War and Managing the Media’, in David Welch and Jo Fox, (eds.), Justifying War (Routledge, 2012)
Robert Johnson, ‘Jihad and the ‘‘War on Terror’’: Intelligence, Ethics, and Justice in Pakistan and Afghanistan’, in Mark Phythian and Anika Bergman, Intelligence Ethics and the War on Terror (Routledge, 2011)
Robert Johnson, ‘ ‘‘Uncertain Loyalties’’: Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and its Relationship with Western Intelligence Agencies’, in P. Major & C.R. Moran, (eds.), Spooked: Britain, Empire and Intelligence since 1945 (CSP: Cambridge, 2009)
Other History of War
•Utmutato a Gyozelemhez (London: Athenaeum, 2011)
•Hur Man Vinner pa Slagfaltet (Stockholm: Fischer, 2011)
•How to Win on the Battlefield (London: Thames and Hudson, 2010) edited with Michael Whitby and John France
•‘Boys at War: The Ubiquity of Child Soldiers’, lectures at All Souls and Magdalen published for the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Trust.
