On a national level, ALLIES hosts several events throughout the year, with responsibilities shared between the Tufts, West Point, and the Naval Academy. Inter-chapter collaboration is an essential part of ALLIES in all these events, through Joint Education, Joint Research, and Joint Training between cadets and students.
Joint Education
Civil-Military Relations Conference (CMRC)
- Annual multi-day conference at Tufts University, exploring a functional aspect of civil-military relations. Select topics have included:
- Contested Territories: Geopolitics, Economics, and Security (2023)
- Securing the Final Frontier: The 21st Century Space Race (2020)
- Security, Society, and the New Climate Regime (2018)
- War in a Changing World (2016)
- Civil-Military Relations and Disaster Response (2014)
- Student-directed, bringing over 40+ students from other universities to Tufts
- Includes keynote speakers, panels, breakout sessions, and an extended simulation.
- Extended research project in a foreign country each summer.
- Civilian and military students investigate civil-military topics of shared interest in an integrated civ-mil setting.
- Past locations have included: Singapore, Malaysia, Brazil, Argentina, Poland, South Africa, Japan, Rwanda, Turkey, and Indonesia.
The Summer 2018 JRP took participants from Tufts, West Point, and the Naval Academy to Tallinn where they conducted international security research in conjunction with Estonian defense officials.
- Annual multi-day conference examining various aspects of civil-military relations, rotates between the chapters.
- Keynote speakers, panels, breakout sessions, simulation
- In 2015, the topic was “Humanitarian Aid/Disaster Relief in the Event of a Catastrophic Typhoon and Tsunami in the Pacific” and was held at the United States Military Academy, West Point.
- Past topics have included:
- “The Changing Strategic Environment of the Middle East and North Africa and Evolving Civil-Military Relations” held at Tufts University, February 26-27, 2014. Keynote: Kathleen Hicks
- “A New Way Forward: Realigning America’s Identity and Strategy” held at Boston University, January 25-27, 2013. Keynotes: the Honorable Michèle Flournoy and Capt. Wayne Porter, USN
- “Picking Up the Pieces: Post Conflict Civil-Military Relations” held at Tufts University, December 2-4, 2011. Keynote: Col. William Ostlund, USA, and ALLIES INSPIRE Fellow.
Kinetic Simulations
- Interdisciplinary simulation planned by Tufts undergraduate and graduate students—think Model United Nations on a paintball field
- Conflict resolution simulation which exposes participants to decision-making difficulties during conflict
- Previous themes have included: water conflict, narcoterrorism, and national sovereignty