Atrocities committed against Israeli civilians by Palestinian militants from Gaza shocked Israel and the world. But, argues Israeli activist Amos Gvirtz, they were also a blow to Israel’s fundamental strategy of power over Palestinians and Arab neighbours. An urgent rethink of strategy is vital for the life and peace of all.
Why do we not know if US nuclear weapons are returning to Lakenheath?
Why do we not know if US nuclear weapons are about to return to the UK? Because British sovereignty over military-decision making has been surrendered to the United States and NATO, argues Ian Davis.
Fair Deal Security: Centring people and planet in Lib Dem strategy
Rethinking Security presented its case for a Human Security Strategy at the Lib Dems conference in Bournemouth in September. Richard Reeve here advances five evidenced arguments that should inform Lib Dem policy before the next general election.
Ready for the Storm? Labour’s foreign and security thinking
Last week's shadow cabinet reshuffle reaffirmed David Lammy as the UK's apparent Foreign Secretary in waiting. Larry Attree assesses how Labour’s foreign and security policy offer is shaping up.
Ireland’s Consultative Forum on International Security Policy
This summer Ireland has held its own public national debates on its security context and the potential future direction of Irish international security policy. Andrew Cottey discusses what Ireland did and the potential for any change to its tradition of military neutrality.
The Worries Box: What really makes people feel insecure?
A group of activists in Bath spent the winter collecting the ‘worries’ of their fellow citizens about the future. Their indicative findings suggest a country deeply concerned about the viability of its planet, the misdeeds of its politicians, and a failing and divisive economic system.
The Meaning of the Jenin Raid
The recent Israeli military operation in the Jenin camp marks a change and escalation in Israel’s tactics in the West Bank as it tries to control Palestinian responses to the recent rapid expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied territory, writes Paul Rogers.
Weaponising Sheep: Israeli settler colonialism in the South Hebron Hills
While media attention has focused on devastating Israeli military raids on Jenin and Nablus and land expropriations in East Jerusalem, a slower burning form of violence is being perpetrated by settlers against Palestinian herders in the West Bank, seeking to gain control of their land and livelihoods. Andrew Rigby reports from the South Hebron Hills.
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.
Reclaiming peace from patriarchal frameworks of security
Can talking about 'peace and security' be a tool of oppression? What if peace were taken to be a process that begins and ends in the body? Sofya Shahab and Chloe Skinner report on their work with women researchers in Palestine and Iraq to disentangle 'peace' from patriarchal framings of security and relocate it in bodily sensation.
Security and the Politics of Exclusion
If security is such a broad concept, why does security policy so often seek to exclude the most vulnerable from protection? Leonie Mills-Woanya looks at the UK’s approach to international development, border control and policing and finds it consciously polarising and exclusive, not so much from a lack of resources as a lack of political will.
Stick and Twist: The UK bets big on existential competition
The UK has revealed its hand for its new national security strategy, released on 13 March. Or has it? In this new long read, Richard Reeve argues that the UK is placing three big, long bets in its Integrated Review Refresh with major consequences and opportunity costs for tackling the environmental and social crises that threaten us all