War Studies

Britain, the Iraq War and legal investigations of War Crimes: We talked about this with Dr Thomas Obel Hansen, Lecturer in Law at the University of Ulster after he gave a paper here in London in March 2019.

What is fake News? And how can it influence war and conflict? We talked about this with Dr Martin Moore, Senior Lecturer in Political Communication and Director of the Centre for the Study of Media, Communication and Power at King’s College London. The interview was recorded in March 2019.

In episode 4 of our ‘Experts’ series, we explore the use of new and social media in the so-called ‘Jasmine Revolution’ protests in China in 2011 and talk to Professor Kerry Brown, the Director of King’s College’s Lau China Institute. The interview was recorded in March 2019.

On 9 November 1989 the Berlin Wall was torn down by crowds from both East and West Germany, defining the end of an era not only for Germans but for the world. This week on the War Studies Podcast, we sit down with Dr Barbara Zanchetta, a Cold War historian in the War Studies Department, to discuss the significance of this anniversary. Event highlight: Africa Week at King's College London https://w...

In the second episode of our new podcast series called ‘experts’, we investigate how so-called ‘Islamic State’ uses music as propaganda. Our expert Charlie Winter is Senior Research Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation. Like all podcasts in this series, this episode is produced by Department of War Studies students who took the module ‘New Wars, New Media, New Journal...

In the second episode of our new podcast series called ‘experts’, we investigate new media technology affect open source intelligence gathering and we ask what the (ethical) limitations should be. Our expert on this is Dr Huw Dylan who is a senior lecturer in the Department of War Studies. Like all podcasts in this series, this episode is produced by Department of War Studies students who took the...

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...

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....

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'...

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 individua...

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 perspec...

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 re...

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 a...

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 Col...

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 th...

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...

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, foll...

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 pod...

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 i...

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: Securi...

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 lates...

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 nu...

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 overl...

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 oppose...