Abstract

The Ukraine Crisis and the escalation of confrontation between Russia and its neighbours over the past decade are reminders that power and geopolitics are more relevant today than ever. But military confrontation is just the most extreme form of this conflict. Economic warfare, cyber attacks, and above all, energy are the new battlefields.

On Monday 14 March at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Prof Nick Butler (KCL) will deliver a ‘Nightmare Series’ lecture, in which he will discuss the consequences for Europe of a geopolitically motivated Russian zero-supply gas disruption.

This event has been very kindly supported by Absolute Strategy Research.

About Prof. Butler Nick Butler was Group Vice President for Strategy and Policy Development at BP from 2002 to 2006 and previously BP’s Group Policy Adviser. From 2009 to 2010 he worked for the Prime Minister as Senior Policy Adviser at 10 Downing Street. He is also energy policy adviser at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, and a Senior Adviser to Coller Capital, Linton Capital and Corporate Value Associates. From 2007 to 2009 he was Chairman of the Cambridge Centre for Energy Studies. He is a non executive Director of Cambridge Econometrics, a Trustee of Asia House, and a Vice-President of the Hay-on-Wye literary festival. He is a regular contributor to the Financial Times.

About the Nightmare Series The Nightmare Series is a series of events in which the Forum on Geopolitics invites leading geopolitical thinkers and practitioners to reflect upon their own personal ‘nightmare’ scenarios: the greatest potential geopolitical disasters they could plausibly see on the horizon of the next five to ten years. Each speaker outlines the precipitating event, or series of coincident circumstances that they dread, because of the cascade of political, military, economic and social consequences that would follow. They then reflect on ideal strategies and mindsets that could prepare governments and other key stakeholders to prevent, mitigate or cope with the anticipated consequences. The overall objective of the series is to demonstrate the need for building capabilities in innovative, strategic thinking at the highest levels of policy-making and decision-making, and to showcase to practitioners, the private sector and public opinion the value of using cutting-edge academic thinking to prepare for the ‘real world’ geopolitical events that may well be just around the corner.

This series has been made possible by the support of Absolute Strategy Research: http://www.absolute-strategy.com/ Please register your attendance by emailing Dr Maeve Ryan (mcr39@cam.ac.uk)