David García Cantalapiedra holds a PhD in Political Science and Sociology from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, receiving an Extraordinary Award and the 2001 Defense Prize.
He is a Associate Professor in the Department of International Relations, Faculty of Political Science at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
He is director of the Complutense Group of International and Strategic Studies. He is also a professor of US Foreign Policy at the Spanish Diplomatic School and has taught the General Staff Course at the Armed Forces School and the National Defense Course at CESEDEN.
He was a Senior Research Fellow (PR) in US Foreign Policy and Transatlantic Relations at the Real Instituto Elcano (2007-2009); he worked for NATO as a Fellow at the Strategy Review Group in Afghanistan, and as a member of the NATO Nuclear Posture Working Group organized by USDTRA and the NATO Nuclear Policy Planning Directorate from 2008 to 2011. He was subsequently an ECA-US State Department Fellow in 2012 and subsequently a Loyola Visiting Professor at Ateneo de Manila University and Visiting Professor at the United Nations University for Peace in Manila (2013-2014). He was subsequently a European Union Center Fellow in Singapore in 2017. He has also been a Visiting Professor at the University of Coimbra, King’s College, Georgetown University, and the University of Mary Washington.
García Cantalapiedra, David (ed.) Spain, Europe and the Western Security Policy. The Future of Europe. Springer, 2024.
García Cantalapiedra, David. “Hacia un nuevo concepto de seguridad: la crisis de los Estudios de Seguridad en el declive del orden internacional liberal multilateral”. Cuadernos de estrategia nº 222 "Crisis migratorias como elemento de coerción internacional". Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos. Ministerio de Defensa, 18 de diciembre de 2023, pp. 47-97.
García Cantalapiedra, David y Mónica Román. “Interacción de las grandes potencias en Asia Oriental: EE. UU., la RPC, India y Rusia”. Cuadernos de estrategia nº 219 "Asia Oriental, la interdependencia como causa de conflicto". Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos. Ministerio de Defensa, septiembre de 2023, pp. 157-215.
García Cantalapiedra, David. “La separación de poderes en el sistema constitucional de EE.UU.: equilibrios y checks and balances”. Vote for America. Cómo entender las elecciones en Estados Unidos, editado por Cristina Crespo Palomares. Los Libros de la Catarata, 2022, pp. 47-68.
García Cantalapiedra, David. “La competición Estados Unidos-República Popular China y el dilema de seguridad en el Indo-Pacifico”. El Sistema Internacional del Siglo XXI, editado por Paloma González del Miño. Tyrant lo Blanch, 2020, pp. 307-333.
García Cantalapiedra, David y Gustavo Palomares Lerma. Imperium. La politica exterior de EEUU del siglo XX al XXI. Tyrant lo Blanch, 2019.