Dr Robert Johnson
Senior Research Fellow
Pembroke College
Research Interests
I am the Director of the Changing Character of War Centre (Statecraft and Strategic Studies) which is an interdisciplinary study of strategy and armed conflict. The research priorities of the Centre are the changing relationship between war and the state, war in a connected world, and the impact of technology. CCW hosts a number of Visiting Research Fellows and non-resident Research Fellows. CCW has been particularly successful in developing the dialogue between scholars, the armed services, governments and multinational organisations, and engaging in joint research projects, conferences, and seminars.
I focus particularly on decision-making in strategy and war, including the intellectual developments of military theorists and practitioners. My work in history has concentrated on Asia, from the Middle East to East Asia, across various modalities of warfare, and the interactions of the 'West' with the continent.
Publications
Lawrence of Arabia on War: The Campaign in the Desert 1916-18
Lawrence of Arabia is one of the most iconic figures of the First World War, seen by many as a heroic and romantic guerrilla leader in a period of savage and deeply impersonal industrial warfare. While Lawrence himself has been the subject of many biographies, and an award-winning film, the context of his war in the desert, and his ideas on war itself, are less well known.
DPhil Students
I would like to hear from potential DPhil students regarding: Military and Strategic Thought; Conceptions of Future War; Electronic and Information Warfare