David
Lead Analyst, Geopolitical Risk
Strategic-political analysis of European security and its convergence with industrial decision-making.
David leads our geopolitical risk practice. His expertise centres on the political economy of European security: how shifting alliance dynamics, electoral cycles, and great-power competition reshape the strategic context in which defence and infrastructure decisions are made.
He trained as a political scientist and economist before moving into applied advisory work. Earlier in his career he held research positions at recognised European security-policy institutes and contributed to several national strategic-defence reviews on a non-attributed basis. His writing on the structural drivers of European defence spending circulates among institutional investors and policy analysts under restricted distribution.
At Aethelgard, David provides clients with rigorous scenario analyses, country-risk assessments, and political-economy framing for major capability and investment decisions. His distinctive contribution is the translation of dense political-strategic dynamics into the specific decision parameters that procurement leads, investment committees, and capability planners actually need to act on.
He maintains an extensive personal network across European policy communities, NATO secretariats, and allied analytical institutions, which he draws on to ground his analyses in current developments rather than published positions.