War Studies

There are around 150 incidents of unauthorised activities involving nuclear and radioactive materials reported each year, including smuggling and theft. Why is this a grave issue of concern? How do we find those responsible? And who’s job is it to stop these materials going outside of regulatory control? David Smith, Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London and an expert in nuclear forensics, answers these questions. He gives us an insight into the life of a nuclear forensic scientist and touches on some of the biggest nuclear security challenges in recent years, such as how the war in Ukraine has impacted the safety of nuclear facilities and undermined the policing of nuclear trafficking in the region, the impact of Covid 19 on nuclear security protocols, and the risks posed by climate change.

What’s happening on the ground in Ukraine? Why has Russia’s hopes of a swift, decisive victory turned into a long, drawn-out, brutal war of attrition? How has Russia revised it’s strategy and tactics, as Putin loses interest in a diplomatic solution with Ukraine? Is a nuclear, chemical or biological attack still likely? Can Putin be put on trial for Russia’s alleged war crimes? Two months on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we’ve gone back to experts in the School of Security Studies to get their take on how the war is unravelling and get answers to the many questions that have arisen since the war began. This episode was taken from a webinar recorded at the end of April. You can watch the full video including questions and answers from the audience on the War Studies Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLAIzmrMZ-U

**World We Got This Podcast: The role of space in modern-day warfare ** Continuing on from last week we’re sharing another episode of the World We Got this podcast, produced the Faculty of Social Sciences and Public Policy at King’s, which features some of our academics from the School of Security Studies. This episode, the second on the changing face of war, looks at how countries around the world and private individuals are expanding their activities into space and how closely these are linked to what is happening on Earth. Dr Sophy Antrobus, Dr Mark Hilborne and Julia Balm, from the School of Security, also explore whether we need to put in safeguards now, how we can learn lessons from the past and why we should encourage international collaboration to ensure space doesn’t become dangerous overcrowded by satellites and space debris. The World We Got This Podcast is produced the Faculty of Social Sciences and Public Policy at King’s College London, and looks at the complex issues we face in the world to

**World We Got This Podcast: How cyber operations, social media & artificial intelligence are changing warfare** Today and next week we’re sharing another podcast series with you, which features some of our academics from the School of Security Studies. The Podcast – 'World We Got This' is produced the Faculty of Social Sciences and Public Policy at King’s College London, and looks at the complex issues we face in the world today, asking those researching and studying these global challenges about the impacts they are having on society – and what we can do to help overcome them. In today’s episode Dr Tim Stevens and Dr Kenneth Payne from the School of Security Studies look at how cyber operations, social media and artificial intelligence are changing the nature of warfare. We hope you enjoy the podcast, and if you want to listen to more episodes and subscribe, just search for the World We Go This Podcast, wherever you listen to podcasts or find out more on the website: kcl.ac.uk/world-we-got-this

Many pundits did not believe Russia was going to attack Ukraine. Yet on 24th February 2022 Vladimir Putin launched a terrestrial invasion entering through the North, South, and East of the country. As we continue to make sense of the evolving situations, so many questions have arisen. So we’re sharing a special episode of the War Studies Podcast, which is based on the recording of a webinar held in mid-March 2022 at the School of Security Studies, King’s College London. It features experts from across the War Studies and Defence Studies Department sharing their insight on the war in Ukraine. They discuss perplexing questions such as, why Putin decided to invade Ukraine, escalating from the grey zone warfare seen in 2014 to a war of attrition? Whether he's taken a reckless gamble? What do we know about his military strategy and how does it inform us on what he might do next? You can watch the full video including questions and answers from the audience on the War Studies Youtube Channel: https://www.youtu

At the end of 2021, the UK government published a report looking into some of the institutional barriers women face within the military. Shockingly, over half of servicewomen surveyed had faced bullying, harassment or discrimination – but the majority had not reported it. Why are women hesitant to report these incidents? What obstacles do women face in these institutions? What can we do to tackle biases and systems that are preventing women from speaking up? In this special edition episode for International Women’s Day, Dr Anna Brinkman-Schwartz and Helene Olsen join us to answer these questions and more. We discuss some of the issues faced by women within the military, security, and academia, and explore what we – and institutions – can do to "break the bias". Further resources: • Journal article: 'Women Academics and Feminism in PME' Brown, Katherine, Syme-Taylor, Victoria. DOI:10.1108/02610151211235460 • Fight Like a Girl, Kater Germano. This is a book written by the woman in charge of the US Marine Co

Up until 2000 it was illegal in Britain to be LGBTQ+ and serve in the armed forces. If suspected of being gay service personnel would be interrogated, imprisoned, dismissed in disgrace and stripped of their livelihoods, medals and ultimately their dignity Over 20 years on what was the impact of this ban on LGBTQ+ people in the armed forces? And what is being done to bring justice and support to those veterans who were suffered criminalisation and shame as a result of their sexuality?  In this special LGBT+ History Month episode we talk to Lieutenant Commander Craig Jones, Joint Chief Executive of Fighting with Pride, a charity that supports the health and wellbeing of LGBT+ veterans, service personnel and their families. Craig discusses the pre-2000 ban on homosexuals in the British Armed Forces and his own experiences as a gay man serving in the Royal Navy. A time filled with anxiety, he grappled with the reality of 'living in the shadows' to avoid being arrested, criminalised and 'dismissed in d

A century ago in 1922, British historian and strategist Sir Julian Corbett died. Sir Julian’s contribution as a historian places him amongst the great scholars and thinkers of military history and strategic studies, alongside the likes of theorist Carl Von Clauzwitz. This episode features Professor Andrew Lambert, Laughton Professor of Naval History in the Department of War Studies, on his new book 'The British Way of War, Julian Corbett and the Battle for a National Strategy'. He talks to guest presenter Dr James W E Smith, a researcher in the Department of War Studies, about why Corbett ranks amongst the greats of military strategic studies, and how he coined the concept of a ‘British way of war’. Lambert discusses how Corbett's ideas were catastrophically ignored in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War, but went on to help shape Britain’s naval successes in the Second World War. Professor Lambert also shares the importance Sir Julian placed on history, as a tool in the intellectual armour of

Once expected to guarantee the ‘salvation of mankind’, by ensuring a peaceful, healthy and prosperous global order, international organisations such as the UN, NATO, the EU have increasingly lost trust and legitimacy over recent decades. They are often accused of corruption, embezzlement, sexual scandals, poor and immoral performance, and their ability to take on pressing global challenges is compromised. Alongside this, a wave of populism, nationalism, and isolationism threatens the stability of the international legal order and the capacity of international organisations to address policy dilemmas. But as we have painfully witnessed with Covid-19, global cooperation and leadership is needed now more than ever, with ever mounting and more serious global policy dilemmas, including the influx of refugees, climate change, global health issues, cyber wars, and growing inequality. So, how do we rehabilitate International organisations to ensure the fulfilment of their missions while respecting integrity and

“The USSR as a geopolitical reality and subject of international law has ceased to exist.” In December 1991, the Presidents of Russia, the Ukraine and Belarus came together in the forests of the Polish-Belarussian border to agree this statement. On Christmas Day two weeks later, the USSR, one of the world’s two super powers as well as a centuries-old Russian Empire was dissolved, with no large-scale violence, civil war or nuclear weapons. But what led to this seismic event in geo-politics? Was the collapse inevitable after the fall of the Berlin Wall? And what were the major consequences of this tidal wave of change for the people of the former Soviet Bloc and Russian relations with the West, that we’re still grappling with today? In this special bumper episode of the War Studies Podcast marking 30 years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Professor Sam Greene, Director of King’s Russia Institute, talks to Dr Ruth Deyermond, Senior Lecturer in Post-Soviet Security, and Dr Natasha Kuhrt, Lecturer

What is climate engineering? How and why are certain shifting geoengineering policies engendering conflict? How do we differentiate between and prioritise the multitude of governance factors? How does funding affect the outcome of policy implementation and how are traditional concepts still being utilised, in tandem with more modern ideas. In the fifth and final episode of this five-part mini-series on Climate Change and National Security focuses on these challenges. Dr Duraid Jalili from the King’s Environmental Security Research Group and Professor Matt McDonald from the University of Queensland, speak to Professor Olaf Corry, Professor of Global Security Challenges at the University of Leeds and expert in international politics and geoengineering, and Dr Naho Mirumachi, Reader in Environmental Politics and Convenor of the King’s Water Hub Research Group. They will discuss the challenges, risks and potential controversy facing proposed solution mitigation and adaptation of implementing large and small sca

Vulnerable nations are really feeling the negative effects and implications of climate change and the associated security repercussions. To what extent is climate change a security issue in vulnerable states? How are the coalitions between under-developed nations helping in the fight against climate change? What are the key issues and divisions in the approaches of the global north and south? Recorded just after COP 26, the fourth episode of this five-part mini-series on Climate Change and National Security focuses on these challenges. Dr Duraid Jalili from the King’s Environmental Security Research Group and Professor Matt McDonald from the University of Queensland, speak to Dr Hillary Briffa, Lecturer in National Security Studies, Assistant Director of the Centre for Defence Studies and Co-founder of the Centre for Grand Strategy at King’s College London and Dr Simon Chin-Yee, Lecturer in International Development at University College London and Research Associate at King’s College London. They will discu

Did British men and women react in the same way to the imminence of the Second World War? How did women feel about the Munich agreement - the notorious false dawn of ‘peace in our time’? Since they had been given the vote in 1928, women’s political power and influence was a matter of concern, coinciding in the 1930s with the deepening anxieties about the potential and increasing probability of another world war. In this episode we talk to Professor Julie Gottlieb, historian of modern British political history, including women's history and gender studies, from the University of Sheffield, about her book Guilty Women’, Foreign Policy, and Appeasement in Inter-War Britain. Casting new light on the gendered representation of appeasement, it looks at the so-called ‘woman’s peace’ – the perception that women were behind the push for appeasement and that their emancipation through the vote had “sown the seeds of national decline”. We discuss whether there’s any truth behind these claims as well as how the rheto

The three major powers at the centre of COP26 - China, India and the USA, have differing perspectives on the link between climate and security. Yet how does this impact their climate policy? What are the drivers behind the ways the different countries think about the relationship between security and the environment? How does this impact the vital cooperation needed to make COP 26 a success? Recorded just as COP 26 was getting underway, the third episode of this five-part mini-series on Climate Change and National Security focuses on these questions. Dr Duraid Jalili from the King’s Environmental Security Research Group and Professor Matt McDonald from the University of Queensland, speak to leading climate security experts including Erin Sikorsky, Director of the Center for Climate and Security and the International Military Council on Climate and Security, Dhanasree Jayaram, Assistant Professor in the department of Geopolitics and International Relations at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education in India,

What's the UN's role in addressing the security risks of climate change? And what are the obstacles faced by UN bodies in meeting these challenges? In the second episode of this five-part mini-series on Climate Change and National Security, Dr Duraid Jalili from the King’s Environmental Security Research Group and Professor Matt McDonald from the University of Queensland, speak to Dr Lucile Maertens, Senior Lecturer at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. As a leading expert on the actions being taken by international organisations relating to climate change and securitisation, Dr Maertens will discuss the ways in which the climate change agenda is being driven at the UN and the obstacles affecting the implementation of these principles. From the fear that bringing climate change at the UN Security Council will give too much power for the UN over national sovereignty, to the ignorance, competition and collaboration of different UN entities, she shares how much the UN is engaging with wider perspecti

What did the British empire, it’s history and legacy mean for Britain’s fascists? And what does this tell us about where the radical right fits into the politics of race in Britain today? From the creation of the pro-Empire British Fascisti by Rotha Lintorn-Orman in the 1920s to Enoch Powell’s ominous Rivers of Blood speech in 1968, the language of white supremacy and imperialism has been on the lips and in the actions of the British Radical Right historically, and still permeates aspects of political discourse on immigration today. Yet our guest, Dr Liam Liburd, Historian in Colonial/Postcolonial British History, argues that the study of British fascism has so far failed to recognise the imperial obsession of British fascists and the Far Right, or to approach it through critical race theory. In this special Black History Month episode of the War Studies podcast, he unpicks the reasons behind this and calls for the excavation of critical black perspectives to understand the motivations and impact of Britain

Throughout October and November we're bringing you the special podcast mini-series ‘Climate Change and National Security’, in the run up to the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), hosted by the Environmental and Security Research Group in the School of the Security Studies. How do different states view the relationship between climate and security? Is there a best practice for climate security and a sense of momentum as we move into COP26? Should we be worried about the securitisation of the climate agenda? In the first of this five part mini-series Climate Change and National Security, Professor Matt McDonald from the University of Queensland and Dr Duraid Jalili from the King's Environmental Security Research Group consider different governmental responses to climate change and national security from '50,000 feet’.

There is widespread agreement that world order is in transition. The Liberal International Order (LIO), established in the aftermath of World War II, is in decline. In the summer of 2008, just 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, China’s lavish opening ceremony at the Olympic Games in Beijing showed the world a ‘glorious civilisation’ with a desire to reconquer what was lost. Just a few weeks later, on 15 September, Lehman Brothers crashed, and the West was thrown into a deep financial crisis. With American hegemony and its interventionist strategy of spreading liberalism around the globe on the back foot, so too is the LIO. But what’s causing these major global shifts and how might they shape global politics going forward? In this episode of the podcast, Dr Zeno Leoni, Teaching Fellow in the Defence Studies Department at King’s, joins us to discuss his new publication, American Grand Strategy from Obama to Trump: Imperialism After Bush and China's Hegemonic Challenge. He shares what it says

Women’s efforts were indispensable in the Second World War effort, yet their stories are often missing from the general narratives. The nature of the job they did, the unabating dangers they faced and how they experienced the ups and downs of professional and personal war life, is still under-researched and under-reported. In this special episode we’re joined by Lucy Fisher, the Deputy Political Editor of the Daily Telegraph and author of a new book 'Women in the War: The Last Heroines of Britain’s Greatest Generation'. Interviewed by War Studies PhD Candidate Sarah-Louise Miller, Lucy shares the poignant and inspiring first-hand stories of ten of the last surviving heroines of the era, who dedicated their young adulthood to the war effort. Whether flying Spitfires to the frontline, aiding code breaking at Bletchley Park, plotting the Battle of the Atlantic or working with Churchill in the Cabinet War Rooms, Lucy recounts their remarkable experiences, shaped by danger and trauma. She explores how the insi

Billions of dollars are spent every year on pacifying conflict zones by international organisations and NGOs. However, the past five years have seen the worst refugee crisis in the world since World War II, and conflicts continue to erupt despite unabated these massive peacekeeping missions. So why is the aid industry failing to deliver lasting peace and what can we instead? In a special episode of the podcast we talk to Professor Séverine Autesserre, professor of political science at Barnard College, Columbia University. An award-winning researcher and author, writing on conflict, peacebuilding and international aid, her research has helped shape the intervention strategies of several United Nations departments, foreign affairs ministries, and non-governmental organisations. Interviewed by guest host, MA student Gizem Yurtseven, Séverine discussed her latest book The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider’s Guide to Changing the World, which across 12 different conflict zones, shares her discovery that pockets