The Department of Politics and International Relations was deeply saddened to hear of the death of Professor Colin Gray. Within his field of Strategic Studies, Colin was a dominant figure, unmatched both in his energy and in inventiveness. The author of 30 books and over 300 articles, he wrote with erudition and imaginative insight on subjects ranging from geopolitics and maritime strategy to nuclear arms control. His seminal metaphor – the ‘strategy bridge’ – conveyed the idea that the formation and execution of strategy was neither exclusively a military nor a political issue, but a frustrating mixture of the two. His varied career gave him knowledge of both ends of the bridge. As a practising military strategist, he founded the National Institute for Public Policy in Washington DC, which is still in existence today, and served from 1982 to 1987 in the Reagan Administrations General Advisory Committee on Arms Control. On his return to the UK he was appointed a defence advisor to the government of Tony Blair. His final contribution to the world of policy-making was as advisor to General Jim Mattis when he was US Secretary of Defence. The extent of his influence can be gauged from Mattis’s 2019 autobiography, Call Sign Chaos, which acknowledged ‘the strategic thinkers from Sun Tzu to Colin Gray who have guided me through tough challenges’.<\/p>\n
But Colin was also devoted to academic life. He saw Strategic Studies as a branch of social science that was and should be rooted in an ethical commitment. Given that there was no prospect of doing away with war, it was incumbent on people with intellectual gifts to study it with care to minimise its ill effects. In consequence, he was determined that the art of strategy (an activity distinct from military history on the one hand and ‘war studies’ on the other) should have a permanent place in British universities. After Colin came to Reading in 2002, he set up the Centre for Strategic Studies. In addition, he conceived and ran an undergraduate programme – War, Peace, and International Relations – that offered an unequalled introduction to the subject. His energy and vision made Reading a global centre for studying strategy, producing well-trained graduates at every level up to PhD. In his private conversation, as in his published works, there was often as much to be learned from apparently offhand comments as from formal arguments. His personal warmth, enthusiasm, and trenchant sense of humour made him a presence in our lives who will be sadly missed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"