Refugees seek safety in the UK but what they understand by ‘security’ can be different to the understanding of those who have never had to flee. Alice Herve makes the case for putting refugees’ experience of security at the heart of reformed migration policy.
The United States has made a radical change in its approach to climate change since Joe Biden succeeded Donald Trump to the presidency in January. Paul Rogers argues that Washington is still doing too little but its recognition of the urgency of climate breakdown should encourage other leaders and activists to push for accelerated global action, including at UK-hosted G7 and COP26 summits.
The UK’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan went badly wrong, but who was to blame? In response to Simon Akam’s controversial new book The Changing of the Guard, Paul Dixon questions why the military command’s undemocratic political influence in promoting these wars has not been discussed more widely.
War and climate change are intimately linked, argues Brian Larkin. He explains why he and fellow activists from XR Peace blockaded BAE Systems London headquarters in 2019 over its links to the bombing of Yemeni civilians and the UK nuclear weapons programme.
When so-called security agencies operate in secrecy and with impunity, it is predictable that they become flawed and corrupt. Brian Martin argues that the role of whistleblowers is crucial; they need the skills to alert citizens to problems and, if possible, to survive in their jobs.
Peacekeeping is not just the preserve of the military, argues Christine Schweitzer. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) teams can also help to keep civilians and human rights defenders safe in crisis and war zones.
At the heart of human security is freedom from the fear of harm and want, writes Diana Francis. It is something that we owe each other. Yet it is constantly denied to millions by poverty and neglect, war and famine, preventable and treatable diseases, war, oppression, discrimination neglect and individual acts of physical violence.
The UK Government’s Integrated Review sets an ambitious agenda to be a contender in an era of global competition. Unshackled from Europe, everything seems to be a priority. Richard Reeve argues that, for all the talk of its soft and scientific superpowers, the opportunity to save the world and protect and serve its people has been wasted.
Fifteen months on, the COVID-19 pandemic is showing few signs of abating, and is even accelerating in parts of Europe, South America and Asia. In the first of a new series of regular briefings for Rethinking Security, Paul Rogers argues that massive increases in global inequality are as central to this human security crisis as the immediate health impacts.
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.
The UK Government should sign the UN's Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, argues Christopher Cocksworth, the Bishop of Coventry.
Between Covid and climate catastrophe, 2021 is a time of intense human insecurity. With neither Government nor Opposition likely to develop a strategy that addresses this, Richard Reeve argues that it's high time the UK had a human security strategy.
