War Studies

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...

“Seeing the carnage outside beamed instantly into my living room via satellite TV really drove home the realisation that I was indeed witnessing the first fully mediatised war.” In special episode marking 30 years since the end of the 1990-91 Gulf War, Dr Carool Kersten, Reader in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World at King’s College London, who was based in Saudi Arabia during the conflict, j...

"Only a week earlier I’d been pushing my daughter on a swing in England, within a few days I was also already playing my part in shaping the Balkans’ newest independent country.” In this podcast Ade Clewlow MBE, former British Army Officer and alumnus of the Defence Studies Department at King’s discusses his new book ‘Under a Feathered Sky’, a unique, first-hand account of his work on the ground s...

In just four short years the Trump administration overturned the foundational national narrative of American exceptionalism – the US’ reputation as global exemplar and promoter of democracy. Far from drawing distinctions between the US and authoritarian states like Russia, he tried to show equivalence, marking a start contrast with every one of his predaceous since the end of the Cold War. As Bide...

Who were the shadowy figures and unsung heroes that lay behind the extraordinary story of the Norwegian resistance during World War II? What were the extreme conditions they worked under? And how did they contribute to major allied intelligence-gathering operations, including helping to stall German efforts in producing atomic bombs? In this episode we speak to Dr Tony Insall, Senior Visiting Rese...

‘We are telling a story as great as that of the Bible’, wrote Tony Essex to Gordon Watkins in 1964. These television producers had been given the opportunity of a lifetime - to bring to life the first major multi-episode television documentary on the Great War for the 50th anniversary. In this episode, we talk to Dr Peter Busch, historian and expert in propaganda and strategic communication, about...

In the final episode of our special three-part series celebrating 20 years since resolution 1325 was passed by the UN Security Council on Women, Peace and Security, we take a look at how we can help shape reform in moving Global North policy, dominating WPS, to more grassroots and how we can push the agenda in communities of the Global South. Although the WPS agenda has led to significant changes...

How do secular Jewish Israeli millennials feel about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? How has coming of age during a series of wars, in which many of them fought, and the shadow of the failed Oslo Peace Process impacted this generation? Why have their attitudes changed so significantly since their parents’ youth, that they no longer believe in a two state solution and see Occupation as ‘reasonabl...

In the second episode of our three-part series celebrating 20 years of Women, Peace and Security (WPS), we look at the escalating threat that private companies, hired to provide military and security services, pose to the rights of women and minorities in conflict settings. This privatisation of war can have incredibly damaging consequences. Private companies often occupy a murky territory outside...

In 2001 Tony Blair introduced what would become a controversial, expensive and ultimately disastrous policy programme to stamp out the drugs trade in Afghanistan in just ten years. Dr Philip Berry, Lecturer in War Studies, joins us to discuss his new book, ’The War on Drugs and Anglo-American Relations: Lessons from Afghanistan’, which reveals the inside story on the Blair Government's mission to...

31 October 2020 marks 20 years since resolution 1325 was passed by the UN Security Council on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). In a special three-part podcast series, we’re celebrating this landmark achievement by looking at how the WPS agenda can support women’s struggle for better inclusion and representation in matters relating to international conflict and peace, over the next 20 years. In thi...

Cold War Moscow was a place like no other. The eyes and ears of the Soviet secret police, the KGB, were everywhere; the only place that was really safe, one political prisoner would later write, was in your dreams... Professor Mike Goodman, Head of the Department of War Studies, and expert in the history of intelligence joins us for the first episode in our new series. We discuss who were the indi...

This is the part 2 of a 2 part special podcast series produced by BA IR students Julia Thommessen and Adam Beswick. In these podcasts King's students discuss different perspectives on COVID-19 and share their experiences. And as an Easter bonus: Sally shares her blueberry muffin recipe. Hosted by Adam Beswick, Peter Busch and Sally Horspool.

This is the part 1 of a 2 part special podcast series produced by BA IR students Julia Thommessen and Adam Beswick. In these podcasts King's students discuss different perspectives on COVID-19 and share their experiences. And as an Easter bonus: Sally shares her blueberry muffin recipe. Hosted by Adam Beswick, Peter Busch and Sally Horspool.

Dr Rudra Chaudhuri, Director of Carnegie India and Senior Lecturer in the department joins us from Delhi and gives his insights on the COVID-19 crisis in India. Find out more on https://carnegieindia.org And third-year students Kleber and Cassy talk about a student trip to Second World War battlefields in Italy earlier this year. Presented by Adam Beswick, Peter Busch and Sally Horspool.

In this episode of our War Studies 'at home' series we talk to IR student Aanvi who organised a visit to the EU and January (see also her blogpost: https://kingsthinktank.com/2020/02/07/eu-brussels-visit/#more-2951 Dr Matt Moran, co-director of the Department's Centre for Science and Security talks about his research on Open Source Intelligence and Big Data (his article: with C Hobbs and C Eldridg...

We have a report on right-wing 'radicalisation' on platforms like 4chan with insights from our colleague Dr Thomas Colley. We also talk to Sanjana Balu, the department's student experience and outreach officer. Adam caught up with two students and asked them about adapting to study from home. Presented by Adam Beswick, Dr Peter Busch and Sally Horspool.