The Genocide Convention imposes obligations on states and individuals not just to punish the crime of genocide but to actively prevent it. Two years into the war in Gaza and over 20 months since the International Court of Justice found it plausible that Israel's actions there could violate the Convention, Carne Ross investigates the possibility … Continue reading Is our Government Complicit in Genocide?
The Evolution of Peacekeeping: A vision of human security partially fulfilled
For our series of ‘Stories of People- and Planet-Centred Cooperation’ we interviewed David Curran from Coventry University’s Research Centre for Peace and Security about the value and importance of UN peacekeeping, an area with a bold vision but a chequered record of achieving human and sustainable security. Most people are familiar with the blue helmets, … Continue reading The Evolution of Peacekeeping: A vision of human security partially fulfilled
How does the UK public define its own security?
How the British people understand their own security is a question that ought to be central to security policy analysis. Yet public opinion polling on security issues almost always seeks to gauge reaction to and validation of a small range of established security threats and responses. New research by Rethinking Security and Coventry University sought to let people define their own security and how it relates to the UK state and society. The responses were startling.
Drugs, Crime and Conflict: The case against prohibition
The growth and toxic influence of transnational organised crime groups is intimately linked to the prohibition of narcotics. Combined with militarised ‘wars on drugs’ , it is another manifestation of harm and violence perpetrated by the Global North on the Global South. Natalie Sharples argues for legalisation with a focus on producer communities, restorative justice and sustainable peace.
Embodying Peace after War: Yazidi women’s perspectives from Iraq
Four Yazidi women in northern Iraq spent 2022 using photography to give voice to their everyday experiences of embodying peace, (in)security and struggle as their community rebuilt itself after years of war and displacement. Here we present their images and words.
Thinking inside the box: How opinion polls shape security debates and policy in the UK
In a major new report for Rethinking Security, Lillah Fearnley explores how public opinion on security is surveyed in the UK, what questions are asked, by whom and of whom, and what policy responses are included and promoted. The following is the Executive Summary of that report, including recommendations for policy-makers, pollsters and media.
Solidarity and Self-Definition: Can research processes build peace and security?
Understanding the lived experience of marginalised people in situations of violence and insecurity is vital for peace and conflict policy-makers and practitioners, but can being involved in participatory research also contribute to the well-being of conflict-affected people? Four Yezidi women from northern Iraq here reflect on their research into their own experience of and response to insecurity.
Rethinking Energy Security: What we need for a just & peaceful transition Webinar
Discussing the centrality of energy to our human & ecological security, why it's necessary to change the national security approach
Community Energy: Local responses to the 2030 Climate Emergency
The UK has a vast amount to do to secure its energy supplies, cut energy usage and prices and transform its electricity production to all-clean sources. Instead of reviving fossil fuels and nuclear power, community energy entrepreneur Tony McNally argues that the government must support local solutions, including community solar and wind power schemes.
The Long Way Home: Finding a Way Through the Brexit Debacle?
The peace process in Northern Ireland is like a tiny trial run of making interdependence work in a complex world, argues Duncan Morrow. If we obsess with 'taking back control', as many have since the Brexit referendum, we are left with no good options.
Hostile Environments: The Oil Industry, Ecological Crisis and Migration
What has oil extraction got to do with migration to the UK? Birmingham volunteer worker Rosemary Crawley tells the story of one woman driven to leave her home in the Niger Delta, and her experience as she came to seek security in Britain.
Existential Risk and The Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill
Natasha Brian explains the challenges of convincing policy-makers to take future issues seriously and why scores of parliamentarians from across the political spectrum are backing the draft Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill.