Podcasts

🔥 “Winning Without Fighting”: Rethinking Civil-Military Interaction for the Future of Conflict

How do we navigate modern conflicts that are more hybrid, technological, and deeply intertwined with civilian populations than ever before? Tanks and rifles alone won’t cut it.

In a thought-provoking episode of the Tension Podcast, Vince DiDato—architect, designer, and military engineer—explores how civil-military interaction (CMI) is evolving to meet today’s security challenges. He argues that:

🔹 Traditional military doctrine in a complex world. The Clausewitzian idea of victory through brute force in a world where conflicts are not just about military power, but also about energy, water, food, and societal resilience. Sunzi could be a more comprehensive philosophy to be adopted to solve conflicts.

🔹 We need a networked approach. Military, civilian sectors, industries, and governments must work together before conflicts erupt in an integrated continuum, not just after. 

🔹 Winning without fighting is possible. DiDato advocates for design thinking, systemic problem-solving, and cultural understanding as essential tools for preventing conflict and saving lives.

The future Armed Forces will need a diversity of thinkers, educated technology experts, more collaboration between the universities and the military academies, as well as an increase in innovation research shared between the industries and the military centers of excellence.

With ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, and beyond, CMI is no longer a niche concept—it’s a necessity for global security, democracy, and long-term sustainability.

🔗 Listen to the full episode

This podcast episode can be streamed below and is also available through Castos, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Learn out Loud, Listen Notes, Player FM, Pocket Casts, Podcast Addict, Podchaser, RadioPublic and YouTube.

About the Episode’s Guest

Designer, Architect, and Military Engineer with a Master in Civil-Military Interaction at the Helmut Schmidt University of the Federal Armed Forces of Hamburg. He began his career in product design. He won the Compasso d’Oro in 1987, among many other worldwide recognitions and prizes. His projects have been published internationally and presented at XVII Triennale di Milano and Centre Pompidou in Paris. He later re-oriented on systems analysis and sustainability. 1st Captain of the Italian Army Reserve and CIMIC (Civil-Military Cooperation)

Functional Specialist, he participated in several missions in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2004 and 2013. From 2010 to 2016, he taught Civil-Military Synergies at Centro Addestramento Alpino, in Aosta. He works on conflict evolution and the potential of non-lethal, non-violent activities to prevent and solve them. He has a long experience in crisis areas worldwide for emergency management, reconstruction, energy, and essential services after wars and critical events. He has specializations in Italian and European civil protection. In Iraq, he was Deputy for the Public Works at the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) of Dhi Qar Province in 2004. He started three Energy Agencies inside EU network programs.

He writes and paints convincingly that Art is fundamental for the human spirit understanding and to open new paths to creativity and imagination.

In 2018, published his Italian translation of Richard Buckminster Fuller’s Operating Manual of Spaceship Earth with Il Saggiatore. In 2022, he published VITAL STRATEGIES – “The Hidden Code of Sunzi” for Narrative Strategies Ink, Washington D. C.

Links & Resources:

• Energy Security and Sustainability in the Mediterranean

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gWJpMzDgjPvC6q7GbD_DVC9s7fUxOO0T/view?usp=sharing

• Vital Strategies – The Hidden Code of Sunzi 

https://www.amazon.com/Vital-Strategies-Hidden-code-Sunzi/dp/1736589563/ref=sr_1_3?__mk_it_IT=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&sr=8-3

Show Notes

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Credits

Host & Producer: Donna Dupont

Editor: Mikhial Gurarie

Graphic Designer: Habiba Elgendy