Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen is director of the Centre for Military Studies at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen. He was a member of the Danish Defence Commission of 2008, was a co-writer of the Danish white paper on defence in 2004, and in 2007 to 2008 was part of a Defence Department commission on emergency services. He has also testified to the foreign affairs and defence committees at the Danish Parliament, and in 2007 the Norwegian Foreign Ministry asked him to write a position paper on the future of foreign policy. In 2009, he gave a presentation to the NATO-military committee and briefed the NATO Secretary General. Professor Rasmussen has taught classes at the University of Copenhagen and the Royal Danish Defence College, and has recently lectured at the Baltic Defence College, the Norwegian Air War College, St Andrews University, the Finish National Defence University, the London School of Economics and the NATO Defence College. He publishes regularly in Danish newspapers and is often used as a commentator in the Danish media. From 2006 to 2009 he was the Head of the Danish Institute for Military Studies while on leave from his position at the University of Copenhagen. Previously, he worked at the Danish Institute for International Affairs as a Project Director for a large MoD funded project on defence and security issues. He is also an Adjunct Professor of the Baltic Defence College. Professor Rasmussen received his PhD from the University of Copenhagen and holds an MSc in Political Science from that university as well as an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics.

Introduction; 1. Strategy, strategic studies and risk; 2. Technology: the revolution in military affairs; 3. Doctrines: precautionary principles and anticipatory defence; 4. Agents: the UN-approach and the terrorist-approach to warfare; 5. Conclusions.