Western states are increasingly being explicit about their limited faith in the transformative potential of interventions. This reflects their waning belief in the applicability of liberal internationalism since the end of the Cold War. In our recent article in International Affairs we explore how interventions have been gradually reconfigured in response to the West’s unrealized strategy to achieve liberal democratic peace. We argue that the West’s continued drive to shape fragile states through intervention is increasingly conditioned by a desire to introduce distance between intervenor and intervened rather than promote democracy or support the populations they directly effect.

Distancing themselves from the consequences

The West’s…

In a recent speech delivered to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, UK Ambassador Neil Bush argued: ‘We need to listen to survivors. And put survivor-centred, and survivor-led approaches at the heart of our policies’. A day earlier, the EU High Representative, Josep Borrell, and the UN Special Representative on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, Pramila Patten, jointly declared that: ‘The protection of survivors and a survivor-centred approach, including in terms of justice and reparations, is essential, particularly in fragile conflict-affected settings, and when survivors face multiple forms of stigma and discrimination’. …

In 1983, the world came within a phone call of nuclear annihilation. When an alert of incoming ballistic missiles registered at an early warning command centre outside of Moscow, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov had to decide whether or not to confirm the signal to his superior, an action which could have sparked a catastrophic nuclear exchange. Rather than escalate the report up to Soviet leadership, Petrov — who felt he ‘was sitting on a hot frying pan’ — decided the missile alert was a system malfunction.

Later called ‘the man who saved the world’, Petrov demonstrated an astute understanding of…

There are few better ways to spend the summer, whatever the weather, than engrossed in a good book. If you’re looking for something to read this summer on the events shaping world politics then look no further! These hand-picked suggestions taken form books reviewed in IA over the last year have got you covered. From the politics of data in global health, to the climate crisis and the history of disinformation, these 10 books offer fascinating insights on a wide array of topics.

1)The uncounted: politics of data in global health

Contemporary society confronts major global transformations and governance challenges, including pandemics, ecological changes, economic restructuring, financial crises, migration, peacebuilding, cybersecurity and so on. Yet, we are commonly told, current prospects for global governance are grim, hampered by institutional shortcomings, dissatisfaction among emerging powers, the rise of economic nationalism and rejection of globalism by populists. But what is the actual situation, if we consider the attitudes of the people who most directly influence whether and how global governance happens, namely elites? Our recent article in International Affairs sought to find out.

We chose to study elites — defined as people in…

This week 30 countries convened in Brussels, Belgium, for the NATO summit, to discuss the security issues facing European and North American countries. Ahead of the meeting major questions loomed about what the meeting meant for world leaders, and whether coordinated action could be taken towards countries such as China. Here you’ll find five key questions that the NATO summit answered on the United States, Russia and China, and the nature of the organisation itself.

1. Is the US back in town?

Much has been made of Donald Trump’s position towards NATO and, as a result, what the new President Joseph Biden will do differently. Biden’s message…

Insider acts occur when individuals misuse their authorized access to an organization’s assets or data for their own personal gain or to cause harm. Edward Snowden, who used his access to leak classified US government information, committed an insider act, as did Rajib Karim, the British Airways software engineer who passed sensitive data to a terrorist organization. Besides data theft and terrorism, other acts an insider might commit include sabotage, espionage and fraud. Insider acts can cause significant and widespread damage to individuals and organizations.

My research focuses on the insider threat within Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) organizations which provide…

As India grapples with an acute COVID-19 crisis during its BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) presidency, its foreign policy strategy faces a daunting test. Our recent article in International Affairs analysed India’s attempts to maintain its relationships with numerous different partners. India’s main foreign policy strategy has been ‘multi-alignment’: maintaining relations with diverse countries while being in various international bodies and utilizing these different streams to push Indian policy priorities without committing to binding agreements. In the complicated context of 2021, it is vital to ask whether India can still effectively use this strategy.

India has previously effectively used multi-alignment to advance…