Robert O'Neill

Robert O’Neill has worked in the fields of international relations, the history of war, and strategic studies since 1961. He was Head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, 1971–82, Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London, 1982–87, and Chichele Professor of the History of War, All Souls College, Oxford, 1987–2001. He served in the Australian Army 1955–68 and was mentioned in dispatches for his work in Vietnam, 1966–67. He was Chairman of the Council of the IISS 1996-2001 and of the Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, 1997–2001.

Robert O'Neill reviews 'War! What Is It Good For? The role of conflict in civilisation from primates to robots' by Ian Morris

January-February 2015, no. 368 • 01 January 2015

It is a brave author who produces a book proclaiming the usefulness of war at a time when most of us are thinking about the horrors and wastefulness of World War I. Ian Morris, British by birth but now the Willard Professor of Classics at Stanford, and author of Why The West Rules – For Now (2010), has done just that and is receiving praise for his efforts. What are the merits of his case? Morr ... (read more)

Hanoi opens up

March 2014, no. 359 • 27 February 2014

Although the Vietnam War ended thirty-nine years ago, we have had to wait until now for a full and rigorous scholarly analysis of Hanoi’s policies during that war. Much important material from the war years survived in the archives of the former North Vietnamese ministries, but for a long time it was off limits to Westerners. Gradually, over the past twenty years, things have changed. Hanoi has ... (read more)