Dr Bleddyn Bowen

Dr Bleddyn Bowen is an expert in space policy and international relations in outer space. He has published research on strategic thinking and outer space, UK and EU space policy, UK and US military space doctrines, and the politics of orbital debris. Based on the classic works of military theory, his research challenges prevailing thought in military and civilian space communities and offers practical policy relevant insights for the space sector at the intersection of politics, military power, security, and technology.

Building on his expertise in the politics of outer space and the impact of space technologies on warfare, national security, and international relations, Dr Bowen has published several journal articles and a monograph on the military, security, and political dimensions of outer space. He can offer expert insights on military and intelligence space activities, governance issues in outer space, space arms control, and the international political dimensions of space exploration.

These are my core research interests.

• Spacepower theory
• Space warfare/security/policy/history
• Astropolitics
• Strategic theory/Military philosophy, particularly Clausewitz, Mahan, Castex
• Modern Warfare, Strategy, and Technology

with Cameron Hunter, ‘We’ll never have a model of an AI Major-General: Artificial Intelligence, Command Decisions, and Kitsch Visions of War’, Journal of Strategic Studies, 2023, online first.

Original Sin: Power, Technology, and War in Outer Space (Hurst, 2022)

‘The Integrated Review and British Spacepower: The Search for Strategy’, Freeman Air and Space Institute, 2020

War in Space: Strategy, Spacepower, Geopolitics (Edinburgh University Press, 2020)

‘Neither a silver bullet nor a distraction: Economic warfare in seapower theory’, in David Morgan-Owen and Louis Halewood, eds. Economic Warfare and the Sea: Grand Strategy for Maritime Powers, 1650-1945 (Liverpool University Press, 2020)

‘British Spacepower: Context, Policies, and Capabilities’, in Kai-Uwe Schrogl, ed. Handbook of Space Security: Policies, Applications, and Programs (Springer, 2020)

with Andrew Futter, ‘A Perfect Storm? Coronavirus, Brexit, the Integrated Review, Scottish Separatism and the Future of Trident’, RUSI Journal, 2020, 165:5-6

‘From the sea to outer space: The command of space as the foundation of spacepower theory’, Journal of Strategic Studies, 2019, 42:3-4 (first online in 2017)

‘Space Oddities: Law, War, and the Proliferation of Spacepower,’ in Ernst Dijxhoorn and James Gow, ed., Routledge Handbook of War, Law, and Technology (Routledge, 2019)

‘British security strategy and outer space: a missing link?’ British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2018, 20:2

‘The RAF and Space Doctrine: A Second Century and a Second Space Age’, RUSI Journal, 2018, 163:3

‘Cascading Crises: Orbital Debris and the Widening of Space Security’, Astropolitics: The International Journal of Space Politics & Policy, 2014, 12:1

Prospective PhD students may request supervision in these areas:

• Spacepower theory
• Space warfare/security/policy/history
• Astropolitics
• Strategic theory/Military philosophy, particularly Clausewitz, Mahan, Castex
• Modern Warfare, Strategy, and Technology

I currently convene the following modules:

• PL7099 Astropolitics: Space Policy and International Relations
• PL3144 Politics and War in Outer Space (watch the introductory video here)
• PL1015 Cold War, Crisis, and Confrontation: International Relations 1945-1989
• PL7000 MA Dissertation (Campus)
• PL7503 MA Dissertation (Distance Learning)

I have appeared on many media outlets, such as Sky News, BBC Radio 4, 5 Live, Radio Cymru, Radio Wales, S4C, Radio FM4 (Austria), and ARTE TV to provide expert analysis on modern warfare and security issues in both Welsh and English languages.

I have been quoted as an expert in space policy in numerous print and online outlets such as The Times, The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Economist, CNBC, Le Monde, Wired, The Register, Space News, and Politico.

I have also featured as a guest on the podcasts Defense One, Brexit Unspun, Space Rocks, The Dead Prussian, and The Space Show, and write a regular column for SpaceWatch Global.

Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), Associate Fellow

Towards a Third Nuclear Age: Strategic Conventional Weapons and the Next Revolution in the Global Nuclear Order, University of Leicester. Project Associate.

United Nations Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) Project Group on Space and Cyber Security. Advisor

British International Studies Association (BISA) Member

International Studies Association (ISA) Member

SpaceWatch Global Columnist (2019-2021)

The Space Policy Institute, George Washington University. Visiting Scholar (Spring 2014)

Security Research Group, Aberystwyth University. Convenor (2012-2015)