Dr Bleddyn Bowen

Lecturer in International Relations

Contact Details

Email: bb215@leicester.ac.uk
Twitter: @bleddb
Tel: +44 (0)116 252 2469
Office: Attenborough 1117

Personal Website: The Astropolitcs Research Portal

Personal

I am an expert in space warfare, space policy, and international relations in outer space. I also specialise in strategic theory and military thought. I am the Postgraduate Teaching Director for the School’s campus MA programmes in International Relations. I am also a Deputy Director for our Distance Learning MA programme. Information on our MA offerings can be found here, or please email me or pgadmissions@leicester.ac.uk for more details

In 2020 my book War in Space: Strategy, Spacepower, Geopolitics was published by Edinburgh University Press. You can watch the launch event here. I have also published in several academic journals, and written many editorials, blogs, and ‘opeds’ on space policy and strategy. I speak, present, and brief frequently to UK and international audiences on these matters as well, including past engagements with the NATO Engages Summit in 2019, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Royal College of Defence Studies, the Royal United Services Institute, the US Department of Defense, The UK Prime Minister’s Policy Unit, the UK Ministry of Defence, and the UK Parliament to name a few. I am very active in teaching our undergraduate and postgraduate community, from the BA level through to PhD, both campus based and Distance Learning.

I provide research-led teaching in my 3rd year BA specialist module PL3144 Politics and War in Outer Space and my MA option module PL7099 Astropolitics: Space Policy and International Relations. You can watch an introductory video for PL3144 here. I also introduce students to contemporary history, strategy, global politics, and the conduct of international relations in first year BA module PL1015 The Global Cold War: International Relations 1945-1989. I also take a more ‘casual’ academic interest in 18-19th century international and military history and the conduct and study of strategy in general, and provide additional teaching support throughout the School.

Before joining HyPIR at Leicester in January 2018, I was a Lecturer in Defence Studies at the Defence Studies Department, King’s College London, which is embedded at the Joint Services Command and Staff College, Shrivenham. Prior to that, I was a Teaching Fellow at the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University, where I also studied for my various degrees. During my PhD at Aberystwyth University I was also a Visiting Scholar at the Space Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. in Spring 2014.

Media Requests

If you are a journalist, broadcaster, or media researcher and would like to arrange an expert interview or media appearance for your item or news story, please email me at my address above. I can provide commentary/insights on areas including but not limited to:

The policies and programmes of major space powers
Space warfare, military space services (e.g. space forces)
Space arms control and space norms
The politics of space debris, space mining, resource sharing in space
Nuclear weapons and nuclear strategy
High-technology conventional warfare

I am happy to correspond and interview in Welsh and English.

I communicate often with industry and policy communities in the UK space and defence sectors, and have appeared before the UK Parliament’s Exiting the EU Select Committee to provide evidence on the impact of Brexit on UK space policy and the UK’s involvement in EU space projects. I have also appeared before the UK Parliament’s Defence Select Committee to brief MPs about the role of spacepower in UK defence policy. I have appeared on many media outlets, such as Sky News, BBC Radio 4, 5 Live, Radio Cymru, Radio Wales, S4C, Radio FM4 (Austria), and ARTE TV to provide expert analysis on modern warfare and security issues in both Welsh and English languages. I have been quoted as an expert in space policy in numerous print and online outlets such as The Times, The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Economist, CNBC, Le Monde, Wired, The Register, Space News, and Politico. I have also featured as a guest on the podcasts Defense One, Brexit Unspun, Space Rocks, The Dead Prussian, and The Space Show, and write a regular column for SpaceWatch Global.

Consultancy and Professional Development

I am available for consultancy work via the University of Leicester. Please get in touch by email to specify your requirements so that a quote can be provided.

I also convene the University of Leicester’s Politics of Space Security and Space Law Continuing Professional Development course, targeted for professionals working in the space industry, government military, and research. Please view the course page here, and contact me if you have any queries, wish to register an interest as an individual or a group, or discuss requirements.

Research Interests and PhD supervision

These are my core research interests. Prospective PhD students may request supervision in these areas.

Spacepower theory
Space warfare/security/policy/history
Astropolitics
Strategic theory/Military philosophy, particularly Clausewitz, Mahan, Castex.

Modern Warfare, Strategy, and Technology

Education

PhD, International Politics, Aberystwyth University (funded by the ESRC)

MScEcon, Security Studies, Aberystwyth University (funded by the ESRC)

MScEcon, Strategic Studies, Aberystwyth University

BScEcon, International Politics, Aberystwyth University

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

Teaching

I currently convene the following modules:

PL7099 Astropolitics: Space Policy and International Relations
PL3144 Politics and War in Outer Space (watch the introductory video here!)
PL1015 Cold War, Crisis, and Confrontation: International Relations 1945-1989
PL7000 MA Dissertation (Campus)
PL7503 MA Dissertation (Distance Learning)

Major Publications

War in Space: Strategy, Spacepower, Geopolitics (Edinburgh University Press, 2020)
‘Neither a silver bullet nor a distraction: Economic warfare in seapower theory’, in David Morgan-Owen and Louis Halewood, eds. Economic Warfare and the Sea: Grand Strategy for Maritime Powers, 1650-1945 (Liverpool University Press, 2020)
‘British Spacepower: Context, Policies, and Capabilities’, in Kai-Uwe Schrogl, ed. Handbook of Space Security: Policies, Applications, and Programs (Springer, 2020)
with Andrew Futter, ‘A Perfect Storm? Coronavirus, Brexit, the Integrated Review, Scottish Separatism and the Future of Trident’, RUSI Journal, 2020, 165:5-6
‘From the sea to outer space: The command of space as the foundation of spacepower theory’, Journal of Strategic Studies, 2019, 42:3-4 (first online in 2017)
‘Space Oddities: Law, War, and the Proliferation of Spacepower,’ in Ernst Dijxhoorn and James Gow, ed., Routledge Handbook of War, Law, and Technology (Routledge, 2019)
‘British security strategy and outer space: a missing link?’ British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2018, 20:2
‘The RAF and Space Doctrine: A Second Century and a Second Space Age’, RUSI Journal, 2018, 163:3
‘Cascading Crises: Orbital Debris and the Widening of Space Security’, Astropolitics: The International Journal of Space Politics & Policy, 2014, 12:1

Other published works, including editorials, can be found on my personal website, here.

Affiliations

Towards a Third Nuclear Age: Strategic Conventional Weapons and the Next Revolution in the Global Nuclear Order, University of Leicester. Project Associate.
United Nations Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) Project Group on Space and Cyber Security. Advisor
British International Studies Association (BISA) Member
International Studies Association (ISA) Member
SpaceWatch Global Columnist (2019-2021)

The Space Policy Institute, George Washington University. Visiting Scholar (Spring 2014)
Security Research Group, Aberystwyth University. Convenor (2012-2015)