Higher Command Studies Course’s field study trip

Higher Command Studies Course´s (HCSC) first field study trip led to the United Kingdom and Sweden. It aimed to expand students’ understanding of these countries’ perception of the Russian challenge and their respective defence postures in general. Students looked at the policies of countering different security threats by investigating the British and Swedish approaches to regional security policy-making.

The study trip started in Stockholm by visiting the Ministry of Defence on Monday morning, 27 February, where HCSC received valuable briefings on the content of the very recent Swedish Defence Bill 2016 as well as on Swedish perspective of Russian as a challenge for European stability. This was followed by a visit to the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI). Briefings at FOI provided students with insights related especially to the research on Russia and other topics currently studied by this institution.

The second day in Stockholm was dedicated to visit the Swedish National Defence University, where students had an opportunity to get familiar with the Strategic Doctrine of 2016 presented by one of the authors of this document.

The trip then continued in London by paying visits to some of the most prestigious European foreign policy think tanks like The Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI). Open and lively discussions in the very centre of London made it possible for HCSC participants to better grasp the British position in relation to global affairs and the European security architecture. The last part of the field study trip was dedicated to visit the British Ministry of Defence in the Whitehall. During the official visit, the HCSC was offered candid and extraordinarily open discussion of security implications of the Brexit and of the Strategic Defence and Security Review of 2015.

The visit was the last constituent of the HCSC first field study trip and it proved to be important and valuable element of the education supporting theoretical consideration in the BALTDEFCOL by receiving practical insights from respective countries politicians, academics and researchers.