War Studies

What drives one person to violence and another to peace? How does experience of trauma lead to radicalisation? Are there interventions that can help deflect people from trajectories of extremism? These are some of the questions that researchers at the Cross-Border Conflict Evidence, Policy and Trends (XCEPT) programme at King’s College London are trying to answer. In this episode Dr Nafees Hamid a...

The HMS Derwent arrived in Freetown harbour, Sierra Leone in March 1808, escorting two captured American ships carrying 167 enslaved people. What made them unusual was that their journey was interrupted — they were not simply captives, but “recaptives.” No longer bound for the Americas, these “liberated Africans” were instead bound to the British Empire: one of the first groups of survivors of the...

Over the winter of 2019 in India, 519 riots took place causing mass casualties and deaths. This in part was a reaction to the introduction of the Citizenship Amendments Act (CAA), government legislation that enabled non-Muslim immigrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh to become Indian citizens. The exclusion of Muslims was seen by many as a fundamental challenge to principles of secular...

The Western Front, that cauldron of war, a bubbling, fermenting experiment in killing that changed the world. The Western Front would become synonymous with stalemate and mass slaughter, with indecisive, attritional struggles, amid a tortured landscape of barbed wire and mud. All the commanders of the First World War, whether leading the British, French or German, struggled in this maelstrom. Yet,...

Globally, there are very few women in leadership positions in healthcare and peacebuilding in areas of armed conflict – but why is this the case? Why are women a key part of healthcare & peacebuilding? What barriers do women face in accessing leadership roles? And what can we do to tackle this? In this episode, we speak with a team of researchers about their recently published policy brief, ‘An un...

Why did the United States become involved in Vietnam? To combat communism, evidently. But just how did a Southeast Asian French colony already devastated by two wars become an existential threat? The Vietnam war is one of the most studied diplomatic and security conundrums of international history, political science, international relations and statecraft. Yet less is known about the actual origin...

“Empty stomachs have no ears…” These were the words of a poacher in Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, when asked why he continued to destroy wildlife in a local forest. It reveals what we often forget: that the degradation of biodiversity doesn't happen in a vacuum. So how are global security, development and conservation related? In what ways do conflict and its many secondary effects,...

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 forens...

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...

**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 worl...

**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...

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 i...

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...

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 t...

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 boo...

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 comp...

“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-sca...

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-seri...

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? Reco...

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 ano...

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? Recor...

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 Maerte...

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 l...

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 c...

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 wee...