Professor David Betz Could the UK be heading toward its own civil conflict?

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Could the next great conflict come not from abroadbut from within?In this bold and unsettling talk, Professor David Betz confronts one of the most urgent questions of our time: is the West, and Britain in particular, showing the early symptoms of internal fracture?Drawing on his acclaimed essays Civil War Comes to the West (2023) and Civil War Comes to the West, Part II: Strategic Realities (2025), Betz examines how deep cultural divides, economic stress, information warfare and a collapse of institutional trust are converging to threaten the social fabric itself.Rejecting sensationalism, he offers a sober analysis of how democracies can slide into dysfunction and what can be done to pull them back. From identity politics to social media echo chambers, from alienated citizens to eroding authority, Betz explores how the ingredients of modern civil strife are disturbingly familiar.David Betz is a highly respected thinker:One of Britains most original and fearless thinkers on strategy and society. General Sir Rupert SmithBetz has the rare gift of seeing the battlefield before others even realise the war has begun. Military Strategy MagazineClear-eyed, provocative and essential, this talk challenges audiences to ask whether the divisions tearing at Western societies are merely politicalor something far darker.Professor David Betz is Professor of War in the Modern World at Kings College London, specialising in strategy, insurgency and information warfare. He has advised governments and military institutions across NATO and beyond, and is the author of Carnage and Connectivity and Cyberspace and the State.A Q&A Session will follow.