5x5 Conflict Analysis Framework™

The Ukraine Case

Learn a systematic framework for examining how local grievances, national politics, interstate relations, regional alliances, and global forces interact across every phase of a conflict.

Using the war in Ukraine as an intensive case study, you’ll develop a more disciplined way to assess geopolitical events, recognize critical turning points, evaluate competing scenarios, and communicate your conclusions clearly.

Join the waitlist to receive course updates and an additional early enrollment discount when enrollment opens.

Online, Self-paced

Format

16 Weeks

Access

8

Modules

Blockchain-verifiable

Digital Credential
THE ANALYTICAL CHALLENGE

Why this course matters

A conflict may be explained as a struggle over territory, national identity, political power, economic interests, regional security, or the international order.
Each explanation may reveal something important. But relying on one explanation can obscure the wider forces shaping events.
Conventional analysis often separates developments that should be examined together. Immediate events may be discussed without sufficient historical context. Domestic conditions may be isolated from external pressures. Current reporting may describe what is happening without explaining how the conflict reached that point or where it could go next.

The 5×5 framework offers a structured way to make sense of these connections. It helps you bring the different parts of a conflict together, see what narrower approaches may miss, and explain your assessment clearly.
THE METHODOLOGY

A structured view across space and time

The 5×5 Conflict Analysis Framework™ examines where the forces shaping a conflict are operating and how they change over time.

Bringing these perspectives together helps you see connections that narrower approaches may miss, determine which dynamics matter most, and trace how developments in one area affect others.

Using Ukraine as the primary case study, you will learn the methodology and apply it to develop your own analysis. Your assignments will be graded by the instructors, with direct feedback on how you evaluate evidence, connect relevant developments, and support your conclusions.

THE CASE STUDY

Why Ukraine

The conflict in Ukraine brings together many of the forces that make contemporary conflict difficult to assess. Its origins, development, and consequences cannot be understood through current events or a single explanation alone.

Many forces at work

Political, economic, social, military, and international pressures intersect within the conflict.

Decades of development

The conditions shaping the conflict developed over time and continue to change.

Competing interpretations

The conflict presents disputed narratives, competing interests, and sharply different assessments of events and their significance.

THE INTELLECTUAL FOUNDATION

Based on Patrik Baab's Five Wars in One

From Patrik Baab's Five Wars in One to the 5×5 Conflict Analysis Framework™

Patrik Baab’s Five Wars in One provided the initial insight: what is commonly described as one war may contain several overlapping conflicts, each shaped by different actors, interests, stakes, and forms of logic.

Building on Patrik Baab’s original insight, Steven Smith developed it into the 5×5 Conflict Analysis Framework™.

Together, they bring Patrik’s field-informed perspective and Steven’s experience in structured analysis, strategic planning, and professional education to a framework participants can use in their own analytical work.

FACULTY

Meet the Instructors

Patrik Baab

Senior Faculty Fellow, IAG
Patrik Baab is an investigative journalist, author, and political scientist with nearly five decades of experience covering consequential political events and conflicts.

As a longtime television editor and correspondent for Germany’s NDR and ARD German Television, he reported from Russia, Ukraine, the Baltics, Scandinavia, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and the United Kingdom. His work has examined war, political transformation, intelligence operations, propaganda, and the relationship between power and public perception.

He has taught journalism at Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel and the Hochschule für Medien, Kommunikation und Wirtschaft in Berlin. His books include Propaganda-Presse, On Both Sides of the Frontline, and Investigating: A Toolbox to Criticize the Prevailing Opinion.

His reporting and Five Wars in One analysis provide the conceptual foundation for this course.

Steven Smith

Executive Director and Senior Faculty Fellow, IAG
Steven Smith brings more than 25 years of experience spanning academia, industry, global consulting, and geopolitical education.

He serves as Dean of the School of Business and Engineering Technology at Seminole State College of Florida. His background includes engineering and management roles with Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo, faculty appointments at Rutgers University, Columbia University, and the University of New Orleans, and strategic consulting with Fortune 500 organizations.

Dr. Smith has developed professional programs in geopolitical analysis and delivered lectures and workshops across six continents. He holds a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering, an MBA, and a Ph.D. in Strategy and International Business from Rutgers University.

His work connects geopolitical analysis with strategic planning, organizational risk, and professional decision-making.

Together, the instructors combine field-informed geopolitical insight with the structured application of the 5x5 Conflict Analysis Framework.

WHO SHOULD ENROLL

Built for professionals and serious students of geopolitics

This course is designed for professionals who need a structured way to evaluate complex international events.

Geopolitical, intelligence, defense, and security analysts

Government, policy, and diplomatic professionals

Corporate strategy and geopolitical-risk professionals

Journalists and current-affairs professionals

Consultants and strategic advisors

Academic researchers and graduate students

Emerging analysts seeking applied experience and feedback

A formal background in geopolitics is not required. Participants should, however, be prepared to engage with complex material, evaluate competing interpretations, and complete original analytical work.
ACHIEVEMENT

Earn a Digital Credential

Upon successful completion of the course, participants receive a blockchain-verifiable digital credential, represented by a shareable digital badge issued through Accredible.

Your credential provides a secure, verifiable record of your achievement that can be shared with employers, colleagues, and professional networks, including LinkedIn.

Whether you're demonstrating professional development, documenting specialized expertise, or advancing your career, your credential provides lasting recognition of your accomplishment.

Stay Informed

Join the Waitlist

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