In order to overcome major global challenges, especially climate breakdown and the crisis in the international legal order, it is necessary to end the war in Ukraine as quickly as possible. Europe also urgently needs to reimagine its role in the world, beyond its often subordinate role to US interests. To meet both these aims … Continue reading ‘Europe’s Role for Peace in the World’: A Positive Peace Scenario from Sicherheit neu Denken
‘Organised irresponsibility’: How Britain’s defence strategy clings to a bygone world
The UK's new Strategic Defence Review is another example of the government talking tough while failing to make tough choices. Mary Kaldor and Luke Cooper argue that the SDR strategizes for a bygone age, in which the US was a dependable ally rather than a threat to European democracy. The German sociologist, Ulrich Beck, coined … Continue reading ‘Organised irresponsibility’: How Britain’s defence strategy clings to a bygone world
Europe needs a new Nuclear Forces Reduction Treaty rather than a Eurobomb
With huge uncertainties in the relationship between the United States, Russia and NATO, Europe is awash with proposals to share, ‘extend’ or procure nuclear weapons. To avoid further proliferation and the inevitable catastrophic failure of ‘deterrence’, Ian Davis and Paul Ingram argue for an urgent revival of nuclear disarmament between Europe and Russia.
Bridge to Nowhere: UK security strategy in the ruins of Atlantis
As Western security alliances fragment, Richard Reeve charts the implications for the UK’s most fundamental strategic assumptions, and makes the case for ‘thinking beyond the unthinkable’ in the government’s next National Security Strategy.
A Cuckoo in the Nest: Eight ways NATO states can respond to Trump 2.0
February 2025 looks like being a defining month for European security and the eight-decade transatlantic alliance. With European leaders unsure whether the Trump administration identifies more with Putin’s Russia than EU democracies, Ian Davis proposes eight ways in which European security might be rethought and reclaimed, within NATO or beyond it.
Fight Tonight, Blight Tomorrow: NATO consolidates amidst climate breakdown
Two of the many consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have been the release of vast amounts of climate-damaging carbon and the reconsolidation of the NATO alliance. Ian Davis reflects on two recent reports that illustrate how the world’s revived obsession with military ‘deterrence’ and protracted war heightens the risk of more than one type of existential catastrophe.
A Crisis of Exceptionalism: UK military spending and the next election
As elections loom, both the main British political parties have set their sights on another major boost to the UK's military spending. Richard Reeve analyses what capabilities this aims to fund and what it might mean for the UK's already exceptional global role.
Scrutinising UK Arms Exports: Dissolving the CAEC is pie in the sky thinking
For 25 years parliamentary scrutiny of UK arms exports was conducted by a unique and often dysfunctional combination of departmental select committees: the CAEC. Suddenly, it’s only a matter for Business and Trade. Anna Stavrianakis analyses what’s gone wrong with parliamentary oversight and how, when it is most needed, it can be put right.
The Urgent Need to Reclaim Security – Join the discussion next week
As Rethinking Security enters the final stages of the Alternative Security Review and we look towards the publication of our Human Security Strategy for the UK, we begin a webinar series on Weds 8th Nov to explore why this is necessary and what human security looks like globally, for communities and for individuals. Read on … Continue reading The Urgent Need to Reclaim Security – Join the discussion next week
What if Ukrainians hadn’t fought back?
Ukraine has endured massive destruction, displacement and at least tens of thousands of deaths as its people have fought against Russia’s invasion over the last year. But, asks Alexandre Christoyannopoulos, were there other, nonviolent paths not taken and would such resistance have fared better than warfare?
Bargaining NATO’s tank fixation for peace
As the Ukrainian winter largely freezes positions on both sides of the grinding war there, temperatures in NATO have been rising over the idea that Germany is obstructing critical supply of battle tanks to Kyiv. Ian Davis poses four larger questions around this tank fixation and how it might best support negotiations to end the war.
Arms Control and Confidence-building after the Ukraine War
Arms control regimes have been among the many casualties of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the wider context of collapsing trust between Moscow and the West. Jordan Smith argues that initiatives at multiple levels to restrain, record and verify the development and deployment of weapons by all sides of the conflict are essential to rebuilding confidence and a crucial part of any eventual peace settlement.