David E. Banks

I am a lecturer at King's College London where I teach and contribute to BA and MA courses on topics such as War in International Order, Diplomacy and Foreign Policy, War & Statecraft, and Wargaming Methodology and Design.

The central question that motivates almost all my research is “what are the potential moves to make in a certain situation, and why or why not do actors make them?” In thinking about political outcomes, such a mindset inevitably means being sensitive to the social and material structures that surround, constrain, and an enable actors – the ‘rules,’ so to speak. But it also means being sensitive to the actions that actors could take at any one time, and whether and why they took them – in other words, the ‘moves.’

These questions inform my IR research on diplomatic practice, empires, and historical international relations. They also led to my interest in wargaming as a tool for research and education. In particular, I have been increasingly interested in better determining and evaluating the epistemological foundations of wargaming as a method.

I have been published in a variety of sources including International Studies Quarterly, as well as media outlets including The Washington Post, Time, The Independent, Chicago Tribune, Navy Times, US World News & Report, and have appeared on BBC News.

I received my PhD from George Washington University in 2015.