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Matthew Hill

Matthew Hill is a PhD candidate at the Department of Government, Cornell University, and was previously a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. Matt has previously worked as a consultant on U.S. foreign and trade policy for the Washington Analysis and Assessment Service, and has interned with both the Lowy Institute for International Policy, and the Center For Strategic and International Studies. He holds an MA in Strategic Studies from the Australian National University, where he was a New Zealand Freyberg Scholar.

Articles by Matthew Hill (50)

  • Matthew Hill 7 Nov 2014 15:36

    The geopolitical costs of Europe's stagnation

    As a tenuous ceasefire crumbles in Ukraine, there have been expectations that the region's most serious security crisis since the Cold War would inspire political solidarity across Europe. Yet these hopes not only remain unfulfilled, but are being inverted by reality. The impact of recent sanctions skirmishes with Russia has revealed the deep fissures in the region's international outlook, deepened by the political and economic wounds suffered during the eurozone crisis.
  • Matthew Hill 14 Oct 2014 16:09

    Military and strategy links: Nordics nuzzle up to NATO, Ukraine's shaky ceasefire and more

    The US isn't the only major power in the market for a new strategic bomber: Russia and China are both seeking to update their Cold War-era forces. In a recent memorandum, Sweden and Finland have significantly upgraded their relations with NATO, including the prospect of inviting NATO forces to deploy within their territory.  Lawrence Freedman analyses the practice and constraints of limited war between Moscow and Kyiv. Meanwhile, Dmitri Trenin warns of the risk of backsliding and re-escalation a
  • Matthew Hill 7 Oct 2014 16:05

    Military & strategy links: Controlling IS, re-examining COIN, Mistral and more

    Adam Elkus and Nick Prime contend that US strategy towards the Islamic State should be understood not in terms of florid rhetorical commitments to its destruction but rather in terms of the pragmatic search for control. The Center for the National Interest has published a collection of essays on the costs and risks to all parties of renewed US-Russia confrontation.  Jay Ulfelder argues in defence of the Obama Administration's use of sanctions to handle the Ukrainian crisis. The saga of the Mistr
  • Matthew Hill 30 Sep 2014 15:45

    Military & strategy links: coalition coordination, naval terrorism, the Central Asian vacuum and more

    Sydney Freedberg interviews several US four-star generals on what they think NATO should do to respond to a resurgent Russia. In the wake of this month’s failed hijacking of a Pakistani naval dock, Information Dissemination has a post on al Qaeda’s perception of sea power. The Center for a New American Security previews its work on the impact of the robotics revolution on the trade-off between military quantity and quality. As various states pile in to the 'coalition of convenience' that has spr
  • Matthew Hill 23 Sep 2014 15:00

    Military & strategy links: Missile questions, ISIS quandaries, and a bestiary of intelligence cliches

    Over at The National Interest, Robert Farley evaluates the threat posed by China's 'carrier killer' ballistic missiles. Meanwhile, Arms Control Wonk previews open-source analysis of possible Chinese anti-ship tests sites. On a tangential note, there are questions of what Washington wants out of its hypersonic cruise missile development program.  The Pentagon's research and engineering chief believes the US has 'lost the electromagnetic spectrum' due to the impact of cheap and pervasive civilian
  • Matthew Hill 16 Sep 2014 16:30

    Military & strategy links: BrahMos, NATO counterfactuals, cracks in the BRICs, and more

     Judy Dempsey argues that the West continues to be outmaneuvered by Russia's aggressive push for influence in Eastern Europe. Some commentators see NATO's eastward expansion as having provoked Russia's bellicose policies towards its neighbours. But what's the counterfactual? An interesting data point on the tensions between emerging powers: to China's likely chagrin, Russia and India are in an 'advanced stage' of talks to export the BrahMos hypersonic cruise missile to Vietnam. Is the only thing
  • Matthew Hill 9 Sep 2014 16:56

    Military & strategy links: NATO's 2%, Britain and ISIS, PAK-FA, Scotland and more

     Carnegie Moscow's Yury Tavrovsky argues that sanctions have pushed Russia and China together, to the detriment of the Pacific Pivot. India and Russia are increasingly at odds regarding cooperation on the PAK-FA fifth generation fighter, with New Delhi claiming it is getting short-changed on co-production.  Steve Saideman challenges the relevance of NATO's two percent commitment as a metric of operational burden-sharing. Despite concerns regarding advanced ballistic and cruise missiles, there's
  • Matthew Hill 5 Sep 2014 11:55

    NATO and the challenge of defence integration

    While the NATO Summit in Wales is preoccupied with Ukraine and Iraq, the Atlantic community also faces a fundamental internal challenge. The failure of the alliance to integrate its defence industries has weakened the ability and willingness of its members to heft the burden of collective security. Over the long term, this threatens the alliance's capabilities by depriving it of the scale of a united NATO market.