Since the times of the first hominids, violence had come along with humanity. Although it is a fact that it has been reduced in quantitative terms, the lethal capacity of contemporary armament has done nothing but increase. This means that the risk of large-scale conflicts is alarming. Will we be able to stop this “conflictive human tendency”? Is it possible to expand the “peace culture”? Will wars in the future be more benevolent with the civilian population? Is it compatible with a reduction of the military expenses without diminishing the basic necessities of defense?

These questions, along with some others related to the main topic, were analyzed in “The future of war”, the first of a cycle of debates within the contest Defensa y yo, which took place on 1st February at 17:00h, via Zoom Pro, due to health conditions.

These were the members of the experts panel:

Jim Towsend, Adjunct Senior Fellow, Transatlantic Security Program Center for a New American Society (CNAS)

Montserrat Huguet, professor of History of Contemporary International Relations Contemporary International Relations at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M).

Ángel Gómez de Ágreda, Air Force Colonel.

The debate was held in English and was introduced by Francisco Rodríguez-Jiménez, co-director of the Think Tank on Global Studies, and moderated by Cristina Manzano, director of esglobal.

After the meeting, the participating students from the University of Salamanca had three weeks to develop their projects individually following the instructions and according to the contest rules.