War Studies

**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...

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 E...

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 o...

There are an estimated 250,000 child soldiers in the world today in at least 20 countries. “At times I would cry while on the frontline, especially when I thought about my family. When I cried, my friends in the group would lock me up and tell me that I am no longer a child. I should not cry, when I see people dying.” These are the words of Timothy Sunday, a child forcibly recruited into armed con...

We’re only ever one hour away from full scale nuclear war, a war that would be absolutely catastrophic to human welfare, the economy and the environment. With the world’s nine nuclear-armed states and their allies continuing to spend over 70 billion US dollars a year on their nuclear arsenal, where to from here for nuclear disarmament and a more peaceful world? In this episode of the podcast we ta...

The unsung heroes of World War Two risked everything to ensure naval manoeuvres were fulfilled and convoys, sending vital food and supplies to Britain, were safe. Much is left untold of the incredible logistics that were at play - crossing the inhospitable North Sea, escaping under fire and extricating hundreds of thousands of troops from Dunkirk beaches in just a few days. In this episode, Profes...

The UK government's 2021 Integrated Review of security and defence outlines Russia as the "most acute threat to our security". This follows the rise of an increasingly resurgent and highly unpredictable Russia under Putin, with many in the West raising the spectre that Russia’s military actions are leading to a restoration of the former Soviet Union in a new shape and form. But how credible is thi...

Marx called it the 'glorious harbinger of a new society’, the Bolsheviks shrouded Lenin’s body in a Communard flag, and Mao Zedong claimed the events partly inspired the Cultural Revolution. The Paris Commune 1871 was one of the most significant revolutionary uprisings of the 19th century and after, and has captured imaginations for the last 150 years, inspiring communist leaders to the recent Gil...

Are we entering a fifth era of biological warfare? One that does not depend on the existence of a manufactured biological weapon, but rather seeks to weaponise fake news and disinformation to undermine public health efforts? As we move beyond the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, we talk to Rose Bernard, doctoral researcher in global health security, in the Conflict and Health Research Group in...

“The efficiency of the RAF was maintained and often increased [in WW2] because of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, especially in helping to win the Battle of Britain.” In this special episode, celebrating International Women’s Day 2021, we speak to Sarah-Louise Miller, a doctoral candidate in the Department of War Studies, about her research on the incredible intelligence work conducted by the Wom...