Dr Colin Robinson

Background

Dr Colin D. Robinson is a Lecturer at the Centre for Defence Leadership and Management, Cranfield Defence & Security, Shrivenham.

His research centers on the strategic challenges and opportunities for OECD states’ defence aims and programs in the remainder of the world, as well as the history of African armies; the African Standby Force; military command and control; and NZ defence issues (Afghanistan and joint operational command & control). He has recently been focused on how liberal ideology, liberal ideas, at the highest levels, both help and impede OECD progress in building partner armies, notably in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and for Liberia, where he did his doctoral fieldwork. He has also done repeated policy & concepts work for the New Zealand defence establishment, with the Policy and Planning Division of the NZ MOD (1999) and as lead author for the NZ Army’s Future Land Operating Concept (2005-07). His NZ defence experience also includes being an analyst for Headquarters Joint Forces New Zealand’s Lessons Learned Branch (2012-15).

He sits on the editorial boards of Defence and Security Analysis and the Journal of Central and Eastern European African Studies. In 2017 and from 2018-2020 he was the Military Expert on an EU-funded project focusing on Somalia at Sahan Research in Nairobi, Kenya, and he retains a particular interest in Somali military developments. He spent much of 2020-22 teaching on military decisions and strategy for the eSchool of Professional Military Education, USAF Air University. He previously worked for the United Nations in Georgia, Liberia, and New York. He completed his doctorate in 2012, worked for the University of Liberia 2016-17, and was a Visiting Lecturer at the Centre for Defence and Security Studies, Massey University in 2018. He has published 18 peer-reviewed academic articles.

Publications

• Articles in journals
• Books