War Studies

In the first of our new podcast series called ‘experts’, we investigate how terrorist attacks by lone actors are framed in the media. Our expert on this is Dr Julia Pearce who is a lecturer in the Department of War Studies. Like all podcasts in this series, it is produced by Department of War Studies students who took the module ‘New Wars, New Media, New Journalism’. This module is convened by Dr Peter Busch who is also presented this episode. The interview with Dr Pearce was recorded in March 2019.

This episode brings into conversation Professor Cynthia Enloe, eminent feminist scholar and scholar on militarisation and global politics with Dr Amanda Chisholm, Senior Lecturer on Gender and Security at King's College London (KCL) and Dr Marsha Henry, Assistant Professor in the Gender Department at the London School of Economics (LSE).

For decades women have been involved in terrorism, whether carrying out attacks or supporting organisations. They have been victims of terrorist acts, and many have also been involved in diverse aspects of security, including on the front lines with forces trying to reduce the threat from terrorism. The events of 9/11 triggered years of counter terrorist efforts by the USA and its global partners. However, Dr Joana Cook, Senior Research Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, says women were not adequately considered in the counter terrorist strategies developed since the events of 9/11, and this has created a major gap in how we understand and respond to terrorism today.

Dennis Rodgers is an ethnographer who joined a Nicaraguan gang in the 1990s as part of his PhD research. Now based at the Geneva Graduate Institute, he spoke to War Studies Podcast about his experiences, from being initiated into a gang to seeing how drug distribution proved a good training for a just-in-time warm tortilla service. The podcast also features a discussion with Kieran Mitton of King's College London about his own work on gangs, including the challenges of achieving meaningful policy change.

Religion is an important factor to consider when examining many conflicts around the world, but what about nonreligion? Dr. Stacey Gutkowski, senior lecturer in the DWS and Co-Director of Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network (NSRN) argues that in order to understand conflict, one needs to not only look at individual experiences but also at what religious and nonreligious resources individuals draw on to help inform their ethical understandings and perceptions of the world. Listen to the 2018 NSRN Annual Lecture, 'Secular Powers and Heretic Undercurrents', by Samuli Schielke which originally accompanied this interview here: https://soundcloud.com/warstudies/nonreligion-and-war-studies Dr Stacey Gutkowski is a Senior Lecturer in Conflict Studies and Deputy Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of Divided Societies at King’s College London. Prior to joining King’s she was an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of International Relations, University of

In his first speech as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson once again invited comparisons with his political hero Winston Churchill, suggested that British 'pluck and nerve' were needed to deliver Brexit and mobilised Britain's ports, banks, factories and more on a quasi-war footing. In light of this, here is an interview recorded for the D-Day commemorations which provides a more rounded perspective of British history through a key episode of the Second World War. Dr Jonathan Fennell discusses the frailty and trauma of the British war experience, Churchill’s objections to the Normandy landings, and the importance not just of the great individuals, but of collective effort of millions of ordinary people in winning the war.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York City’s gay district, Greenwich Village on June 28, 1969. This event was monumental in the progression of queer rights being a part of human rights. 50 years on, progress has been made with same sex acts becoming legal and being accepted within most parts of society. However, when it comes to safety and security, very little research and data is in place to accurately represent and more importantly protect the queer community. Dr Jamie J. Hagen, Visiting Fellow of Centre for Women, Peace and Security at the London School of Economics and Politics joined King’s College London’s Senior Lecturer in Security Studies Dr Amanda Chisholm to discuss transgender rights and why we need to queer security studies.

Date of Publication: 28/06/2019 Description: Today, the state of human rights in China appears to be at its worse since the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. According to Human Rights Watch, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to increase its hold over government bureaucracy and has subsumed state bodies in charge of religious, ethnic, and overseas Chinese affairs. Chinese authorities have also significantly increased repression and systematic abuse against religious groups, especially the Turkic Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region, and have continued the arbitrary detention, torture, and enforced disappearance of dissenters and human rights defenders. Human rights abuses on China’s mainland are very concerning, especially when considering this state’s place in global politics and economic relations. China’s growing power in the international system makes it an exporter of human rights abuse and has allowed China to extend its reach to silence many of its critics across the globe. However, dissenter

The TV series Chernobyl has brought nuclear power back to the public's attention, at precisely the same time as concern about climate change is at record levels. Many see nuclear power as key to curbing carbon emissions and preventing climate change. but do we really have to accept its risks in order to get to a carbon free future? And do the nuclear capacity figures stack up? This week King’s College London brought academics and industry figures to discuss nuclear energy and climate security. On the podcast hear Dr Simon Chin-Yee, a researcher at King's, discuss his work on the global impacts of climate change and the choices we must make to mitigate further human costs. After that, Philippe Costs, Senior Advisor at the World Nuclear Association, makes the case for nuclear energy in a speech recorded on 13 June at King's College London.

Date of Publication: 01/06/2019 Description: In this week’s podcast, we are going to learn about a fascinating new book on Military Virtues and how military ethics training can improve decision making in the field. Then, we will change tracks to the domain of art and conflict to explore how art can add to analytical research methodologies used in international relations (IR) with the members of the Truth Tellers Pilot study, which seeks to examine the unspeakable aspects of the response to the 2017 Manchester Arena Attack through newly develop art-IR methodologies. Interviewees: Military Virtues https://www.howgatepublishing.com/product-page/militaryvirtues Professor David Whetham, Professor of Ethics and the Military Profession at the Defence Studies Department and Co-editor of Military Virtues. Learn more about Prof Whetham's work here: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/whetham-dr-david Truth Tellers Project https://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/warstudies/research/groups/arts/truthtellers/index Tom de F

In 2017 Qatar was subjected to a blockade by its neighbours, led by Saudi Arabia, which severely restricted its trading and transport links. Two years on the diplomatic crisis has not been resolved. In this podcast, Dr Andreas Krieg of the Defence Studies Department at King's College London discusses the blockade, in particular the ways that narratives were weaponised by Qatar's rivals to justify and build support for their actions both domestically and overseas. Qatar's reaction to this crisis is also discussed.

Date of Recording: 25/04/2019 Description: Speaker: Michael Talbot, University of Greenwich When we think of the Ottoman Empire, we tend to think of them as a terrestrial empire. Yet as well as being ‘sultan of the two lands’, the Ottoman sovereign was also ‘ruler of the two seas’. In part, the relative lack of attention paid to Ottoman imperial discourses over water stems from a notion that, following key naval defeats in the 16th century, the Ottomans simply withdrew from the Mediterranean, leaving it to the mercy of foreign forces, old and new. This paper will argue that in the eighteenth century, the Ottoman state rejuvenated its approach to empire at sea, and instituted a number of new mechanisms to protect its subjects in the Eastern Mediterranean, often at the request of the inhabitants of its islands and coasts. Using sources from Ottoman, British, and French archives, this paper aims to demonstrate that the Ottoman state utilised a number of rhetorical, legal, and military measures to exert its au

Date of Publication: 26/04/2019 Description: Across the School of Security Studies at KCL, students are given unique opportunities to apply the knowledge and skills that they learn throughout their courses by participating in research projects, conflict simulations, and even journalism. Students of Dr Peter Busch’s BA module ‘New Wars, New Media, New Journalism’ were tasked with producing 5min podcasts, covering events and guest lectures held within the School of Security Studies. In this podcast, we are going to listen to three outstanding student projects from Dr Busch’s BA module. You will hear from Eleanor Fishleigh on last year’s event ‘Art and Reconciliation: a conversation’, Cory Turner on the topic of wargaming in discussion with Prof Philip Sabin, and Robert Adderley on T.V. Paul’s book talk ‘Restraining Great Powers’. ____________________________________________ If you would like to learn more about the topics discussed here and about student opportunities within the School of Security Studies

Date of Publication: 13/04/2019 Description: This podcast is part of the War Studies New Voices series which showcases emerging research from our PhD community. Emily Brown researches the ways in which torture and prisoner abuse narratives in American popular culture have helped to conceptualise the practice of judicial torture. Since the attacks on US soil on September 11th, 2001, it has become increasingly obvious that torture is considered acceptable in fictional representations of American counter-terror practices, even if only in extraordinary circumstances. What has been largely ignored, however, is the part popular culture has played in normalising the extraordinary into ordinary, everyday practice. The way in which we understand torture relies on how we consume popular culture, which presents torture as an unpleasant but unremarkable past occurrence that has been integrated into the ordinary. Helene Olsen studies the relationship between mercenaries and legitimacy. She looks at how mercenaries hav

Date of Publication: 16 March 2019 Description: What is the future of security and development in an uncertain world? On the 7th and 8th of March, students from KCL’s Conflict Security and Development (CSD) MA course in the Dept. of War Studies and students from the International Development Department in the School of Global Affairs held the 2019 student-led CSD titled ‘Building Stability: Security and Development futures in an uncertain world’ to address this very question. For this conference, students brought together rich and diverse panels of practitioners and experts from government, academia, and the private sector to address many topics and key debates around the future of security and development in fragile states, ranging from private investment and resilience building to the functionality of multilateral organisations and the role of state actors. In this edition of the War Studies podcasts we are going to hear from CSD MA candidate and conference co-chair Andrea Naranjo and the CSD programme

Date of Publication: 2/03/2019 Description: What are Extralegal groups in the context of post-conflict societies? How can trade play a role in state building? And how do we define a ‘good’ state? These are just a few questions we discussed with Dr Christine Cheng, Lecturer in the DWS and author of the recent book, Extralegal groups in post-conflict Liberia: How trade makes the state’. In her latest book, Dr Cheng writes, ‘Where the state is weak and political authority is contested, where rule of law is corrupted and government distrust runs deep, extralegal groups can provide order and dispute resolution, forming the basic kernel of the state.’ Drawing on fieldwork and socio-historical analysis, Dr. Cheng explains how extralegal groups were incentivized to provide basic forms of governance as they attempted to form a stable commercial environment during Liberia’s transition from war to peace. Her recent book has highlighted many important questions around state formation and how the West should approach po

Date of publication: 12/02/2019 Description: Researchers and students of war and global security often look to the past to better understand developments in the present. So, how might the history of Nuclear weapons help us understand today’s security challenges?   The advent of nuclear weapons caused a significant shift in the perceived cost of war between great powers due to the sheer power of nuclear arsenals. In turn, the unacceptable risk and danger of nuclear war necessitated the establishment of many international treaties that seek to prevent the use, proliferation and spread of nuclear weapons, along with providing a route to eventual disarmament. Many of the multilateral and bilateral treaties developed during the Cold War era, such as the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which currently has 190 state parties with North Korea’s withdrawal, and the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty between Russia and the US, which has recently been suspended by both parties, are still a

Date of Publication: 02/02/2019 Description: In November 2018 The Marjan-Marsh Prize awarded by the Department of War Studies in partnership with the Marsh Christian Trust was presented to Milan Ruzic, President of the Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia (BPSSS). This award is given annually to someone who has made an invaluable contribution to an area where conflict and conservation overlap. The Marsh Christian Trust was started in 1981 by businessman Brian Marsh to honour ‘unsung heroes’; since then the portfolio of awards has grown to over 70 across a wide spectrum that includes conservation, arts, heritage and social welfare. After the 1990’s Balkan wars, many of the paramilitary groupings morphed into criminal syndicates running everything from guns, humans, drugs, illegal cigarettes and more. A lesser known stream of illegal activity is the trade in wild birds, which are plentiful in the Balkans due to its location as a major fly-way between Africa and Europe. The trade is fuelled mainly in

Date of Publication: 19/01/2019 Description: We are going to kick off 2019 by exploring the development of international criminal law and justice, starting from the year 1919. Following the end of the First World War, the Allied nations of Britain, France and Italy agreed to try the former German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II before an international criminal tribunal, while the US stood largely opposed to such an unprecedented trial. During the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, International lawyers converged to debate on the development and application of international criminal justice for the first time and recommended that the Kaiser should be tried for war crimes. In order to break an impasse in negotiations between the US and the other Allied nations on the trial of the Kaiser, US President Woodrow Wilson would relent, agreeing to try the Kaiser for what he termed as a 'supreme offence against international morality'. This would become a part of the official wording Article 227 of the Treaty of Versailles,

Date of Publication: 07/12/2018 Description: The capabilities and the efficiency displayed by Russia’s military during its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its subsequent air campaign over Syria not only surprised the world but also signalled that Russia was once again a significant military actor. This evidence of an apparent Russian military revival, among other recent events, has increased tensions between Russia and its neighbors as well as NATO and has led many to highlight Russia’s latest military advancements and operations as a major turning point in the post-Cold War era. However, Dr Bettina Renz, associate professor at the University of Nottingham and author of the recent book, ‘Russia’s Military Revival’, argues that although Russia’s recent actions have created serious concerns, this so-called ‘military revival’ may not appear to be as significant of a turning point when put into historical context. So, what is the significance of Russia’s ‘military revival’? On the 16th of November, the DWS an