January 20, 2026 | The CMC welcomed Sten Rynning, Director of the Danish Institute of Advanced Study and Professor of War Studies at the University of Southern Denmark, for a presentation on his assessment of the NATO alliance. The presentation discussed deterrence by denial, deterrence by punishment, and the alliance’s framing of deterrence and escalation given the complexities and sensitivities of such a large group of allied nations.
Sten Rynning founded the University of Southern Denmark’s Center for War Studies in 2011 and headed it until 2019. He served on the official Norwegian Afghanistan Commission (2015−2016) and has in addition advised the commission of inquiry into the Denmark’s war participation in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq (2017−2019) as well as ambassador Peter Taksøe-Jensen’s official review of Danish Foreign Policy (2015−2016). In 2021 he was made Knight of the Order of Dannebrog.