SJMS Talks is a podcast that aims to bridge the gap between peer-reviewed academic scholarship and current affairs.

For more information and updates here is a link to SJMS Talks.

List of Episodes

Episode 1: Training the Commanders - What would Jim Mattis say?

To talk about the future of military education in light of the new Danish Defence Agreement, SJMS Talks invites the contributor, Søren Sjøgren (Søren is now an editor of the journal). Søren has written an article focusing on training of commanders, and in 2022 he published an article on military command, doctrines and executive decision making, titled “What Military Commanders do and how they do it: Executive Decision-Making in the Context of Standardised Planning Processing and Doctrine.”

Episode 2: Arctic Security - What would Putin say?

In this and the next episode, Arctic security politics is on the table, seen from the perspective of Russia and China. To talk about Russia´s role in the Arctic, we have invited, Jørgen Staun, expert on Russia’s role in global politics at Royal Danish Defence College. Jørgen has recently published an article with his colleague, Camilla Sørensen, where they explore how Russian and Chinese strategic cultures or worldviews set distinct limits to the two power’s strategic cooperation in the Arctic, titled “Incompatible Strategic Cultures Limit Russian-Chinese Strategic Cooperation in the Arctic.”

Episode 3: The Arctic Council - What would Xsi Jinping say?

In this episode, we continue our discussion on the Arctic security politics, focusing on China and their interest in the Arctic Council. Camilla Sørensen, the foremost expert of China’s role in global politics at the Royal Danish Defence College joins our host, Jeppe Teglskov Jacobsen in the studio in Copenhagen. Camilla has recently published an article with her colleague, Jørgen Staun, “Incompatible Strategic Cultures Limit Russian-Chinese Strategic Cooperation in the Arctic.”

Episode 4: Foreign Fighters - What would Zelinskyy say?

Foreign fighters are the theme of this episode – their motivation and use – historically, but also more specifically in the Ukraine War. Back in 2022, SJMS fast-tracked a special collection on Ukraine where Naman Karl-Thomas Habtom contributed, with an article on the demographic constitution, structure and role of the pro-Ukrainian foreign fighters, “The Composition and Challenges of Foreign Fighters in Ukraine.” We met Naman at the SJMS conference at Södertörn University in august to ask him what’s currently going on with foreign fighters in Ukraine.

Episode 5: Light Infantry - What would James Gavin Say?

Light infantry are flexible, lightly equipped soldiers who engage in ground combat on foot. What are the dos and don’ts when considering investing in such units? Kristian Lindhardt is in the studio to discuss this rather young part of the infantry five years after Denmark got its first light infantry, and two years after he published his practice-oriented article on historical uses of light infantry in Vietnam, Rhodesia and Sierra Leone, titled “Deployment of Light Infantry Under Air Mobility Doctrine – A Historical Study of Helicopter-deployed Light Infantry.”

Episode 6: Female Soldiers - What Would Lotta Say?

Recently in Denmark, a survey showed that every fifth person in the Danish Army had experienced sexual harassment. This is a lot, but it is less than the general population. How come? Has the work with minimizing sexual harassment paid off? Or do people in the defense tend to report less, than others do? In the studio, contributor Iselin Silja Kaspersen joins Jeppe Teglskov Jacobsen on zoom to talk about how institutions such as the military shape and break our identity. Read Kaspersen's article here: Accepted as Soldiers? Exploring Female Identity Performance and Whistleblowing Dynamics in the Norwegian Army - Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies (sjms.nu).