Center on the Future of War

Exploring the changing nature of war and conflict

Welcome

The Center on the Future of War explores the social, political, economic, and cultural implications of the changing nature of war and conflict. The Center connects ASU faculty with policymakers and national media, organizes collaborative research projects, produces reports and publications, and designs and implements innovative educational programming.

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What we do

The Center has created a unique model for knowledge creation and dissemination through a partnership between Arizona State University and New America, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. The Center builds on the strengths of both institutions, linking top academics from multiple fields with a team of global security policy experts. This provides ASU with exceptional convening power, access to policy makers, connections to national media, as a means of expressing the values and vision of the New American University.

The Center is based in the School of Politics and Global Studies in The College and is supported through ASU Presidential funds and internal and external grants. The Center recruits internationally recognized thought leaders as ASU faculty, student mentors, research collaborators, and members of the university intellectual community to explore and address pressing issues of conflict, human rights, governance, and security.

Key accomplishments

Expanding the team

The Center has grown from two faculty co-directors, Peter Bergen, and Daniel Rothenberg to a team of 20 faculty as well as 25 current and former funded fellows, over 150 ASU affiliated faculty, and over 25 New America affiliated experts.

Developing interdisciplinary policy-oriented research

The Center has created and managed research projects on moral injury, U.S. drone policy, open-source data analysis of security threats, weaponized narrative, oral histories on post-9/11 surveillance and detention, ISIS recruitment in Syria, and other issues. Our Future of Proxy Warfare project produced a dozen reports that have been viewed over 90,000 times as well as a forthcoming book. Our work on U.S. drone policy has led to a major academic book and has been referenced in Congressional hearings and in major media.

Pursuing multiple efforts to obtain research funding

The Center has submitted 48 proposals for research funding and managed over $1.5 million in grants. We have received support from the Social Science Research Council, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and others.

Creating a new model for professional online graduate security education

The Center created the MA in Global Security, an interdisciplinary professional graduate program in the School of Politics and Global Studies. Currently, the program has over 170 current students and more than 225 graduates, generating over $2.3 million per year in tuition and fees and over $8 million since it began. We are also currently exploring educational partnerships with Joint Special Operations University, U.S. Army NETCOM, Kings College London, the University of New South Wales, and others.

Launching one of the nation’s major annual security meetings: the Future Security Forum

The Center created a joint ASU/New America annual meeting on pressing security challenges with high level speakers from government, the media, the military, the academy, industry, and civil society, reaching thousands of influential attendees and viewers, and elevating ASU’s profile as a university leader in security policy.

Engaging students and the ASU and AZ communities

The Center has taught hundreds of students, mentored undergraduate and graduate students including over four dozen Student Research Fellows (including winners of Marshall and Fulbright awards), organized over 90 public lectures reaching more than 5,000 students, faculty, and members of the community, while also presenting over 30 lectures to area groups reaching more than 2,000 attendees.

Producing impactful output and receiving significant awards and recognition

Center faculty and fellows have published articles in The New York Times Magazine, CNN, The Atlantic, Slate, Lawfare, Just Security, Foreign Policy, and major academic journals. The ASU/New America partnership has supported over 18 books published or in the pipeline, including several New York Times bestsellers. Center team members have been named Carnegie Fellows, and Social Science Research Council Fellows, and have been nominated and/or awarded: an Emmy, a Carnegie Fellowship, the Lionel Gelber Prize for best book by the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Magazine Award for Reporting, the Overseas Press Club Ed Cunningham Award, the Roy Rowan Award, Deadline Club Award for Magazine Investigative Reporting, and other prizes.

Center on the Future of War

Welcome

What we do

Key accomplishments

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