The Diplomat | Author
Jacob Parakilas
Jacob Parakilas is an author, consultant, and analyst working on U.S. foreign policy and international security.
He has over a decade’s professional experience spanning think tanks, NGOs, the U.S. government, and academia. He started his career in 2007 working on student visa issues for the U.S. government before returning to academia and earning a Ph.D. at the London School of Economics. From 2014 until 2019 he was the deputy head of the U.S. and the Americas Programme at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, where his job was to explain the key issues in U.S. foreign and domestic policy to non-American audiences. Jacob is currently based in Lagos, Nigeria, and is also an Associate with LSE IDEAS.
March 04, 2022
No-Fly Zones, Nuclear Powers, and the Escalation Slide
By Jacob Parakilas
The strategic logic that prevents a no-fly zone over Ukraine would apply to any conflict between nuclear-armed states, including in Asia.
December 03, 2021
Can Technology Predict War?
By Jacob Parakilas
Political scientists and analytical units in governments have tried to create more accurate, more rational, and more systemic ways to assess the risk of war for decades
November 16, 2021
Can a Military Be Both Accountable and Environmental?
By Jacob Parakilas
Militaries can be made greener or they can have more human control. They probably can’t be both.
November 06, 2021
China-US Tensions Put Nuclear War Back in the Spotlight
By Jacob Parakilas
A nuclear arms race isn’t new, per se, but it does help refocus our attention on dangers that have long been with us.
October 30, 2021
What Role Could Civilians Play in Taiwan’s Defense?
By Jacob Parakilas
Is there a place for civic defense in a world of high-tech strategic competition?
October 15, 2021
Why Do Armed Robot Dogs Make Us Uncomfortable?
By Jacob Parakilas
Is it the function of an armed robot dog that raises eyebrows, or its form?
October 08, 2021
Alfred Nobel, Technology, and the End of War
By Jacob Parakilas
The namesake of the famous prize believed that more destructive weapons would make war unthinkable. Few people believe that anymore – but we have new delusions to contend with.
September 17, 2021
The Strategic Symbolism of Australia’s Nuclear Subs
By Jacob Parakilas
Australia’s announcement that it will be building nuclear-powered submarines with American and British help will take years to pay military dividends, but the strategic impacts start immediately.
September 09, 2021
Will Lasers Change War?
By Jacob Parakilas
The first iterations of laser weapons will most likely serve to preserve the existing hierarchy of battlefield weapons. But as they grow more sophisticated, they may come to have the opposite effect.
September 04, 2021
Will a ‘Digital Military’ Change War?
By Jacob Parakilas
The U.S. Space Force claims that it is in the process of delivering a “digital military branch.” Is it a contradiction in terms?
August 30, 2021
Are the Taliban’s Captured Weapons Any Use?
By Jacob Parakilas
The Taliban’s blitz to power in Afghanistan has left them in possession of a veritable arsenal of U.S. weaponry intended for the defunct government. Are captured weapons a strategic game-changer?
August 13, 2021
What Does National Security Mean in a +2 Celsius World?
By Jacob Parakilas
The new U.N. climate report confirms that significantly higher global temperatures are now a near-term certainty. National security planning needs to take a warmer, less stable world into account.
Page 1 of 5