Scholars from City University London, Cambridge University and PAIS have joined together for an online global webinar series. The global webinar runs for six weeks and provides an alternative syllabus on US Foreign policy, connecting scholars from around the world with a global audience:

• America’s Exceptional Imperialism? The enlightenment, modernity and the making of American exceptionalism
• Global Racial Capitalism –violence and the forging of state, nation, and American empire
• America, Britain and White World Order
• The world and the violent American century
• American and a global empire of knowledge
• Imperial threat construction? Yellow peril politics, again?

 The series is open to the public, students and academic staff.

 To register: https://www.city.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/2022/april/us-foreign-policy-deconstructed

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has just issued the Sixth Assessment Report on Climate Change Mitigation.

This research represents a global consensus on climate mitigation, sources of emissions, progress towards meeting targets, and the impact of national climate pledges on long-term emissions goals.

The report cites PAIS scholars, including six papers by Simon Caney and four by Caroline Kuzemko. Their work explores, and highlights the importance of, ethical considerations and political institutions respectively.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Seb Rumsby has written an article for The Conversation, titled "Economic migration: the root problem is not smugglers but global inequality."

This piece is based on his ground-breaking new research on the everyday politics of undocumented Vietnamese migration to the UK, which is being funded by the Independent Social Research Foundation. Seb says: "Ever since the tragic deaths of 27 migrants in the UK-France channel in December 2021, I've been burning to write something in defence of economic migration, which is much maligned in our mainstream media. I want to join the dots between my own research of undocumented migrants with other people's research exposing the massive inequalities of our global economic system. From here, I can show how economic migrants have just as much right to seek a better life as asylum seekers."

"Economic migration is not going to go away - I'm afraid it will only be a matter of time before the next dinghy sinks in the English Channel. On the contrary, it's only going to get bigger with climate change making more of the planet uninhabitable. We can challenge the familiar narratives of 'they're coming to take us over' or 'there's not enough space for them all', but only if we appreciate how our economic system creates such crazy inequalities that makes economic migration inevitable."

You can read Seb's article here.

Oz Hassan has published a piece with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he was previously a Visiting Scholar. Reassessing the European Strategy in Afghanistan analyses the EU’s approach to reconstruction efforts and democracy assistance following the 2001 invasion and shows why the EU approach was deeply flawed. It argues that the EU will now have to accept lower policy ambitions following the 2021 defeat and start adjusting to a post-American world - available here: https://carnegieeurope.eu/2021/11/17/reassessing-european-strategy-in-afghanistan-pub-85776

The Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS) at the University of Warwick is delighted to announce that Professor Shirin Rai, Professor of International Political Economy, has been elected to a Fellowship of the British Academy.

This prestigious award recognises outstanding research across the Humanities and Social Sciences. In 2021, the British Academy elected 52 UK Fellows; the University of Warwick's press release can be accessed here.

On receiving her award, Professor Rai said: “I am delighted to have been elected as a Fellow of the British Academy and look forward to working with colleagues in the Academy - particularly in the Politics and International Relations Section - through my research and impact work to address issues of international development, social (in)equalities and innovative methodologies. I thank colleagues in PAIS and the wider gender and politics community for supporting my work”.

Professor Nick Vaughan-Williams, Head of PAIS, commented: “Professor Rai’s election to a Fellowship of the British Academy reflects her long-standing status as a world-leading researcher in gender, political economy, and development. Her Directorship of the Warwick Interdisciplinary Research Centre for International Development (WICID) – hosted in PAIS – is a beacon of excellence across research, education, and impact in the Social Sciences at-large. Colleagues and I are proud of Professor Rai’s scholarly achievements, but PAIS is also very fortunate to benefit from her academic leadership and warm collegiality. Her tireless efforts to support early career scholars and embed principles of equality, diversity, and inclusion have been transformational in the Department. Very many congratulations, Shirin”.

The PAIS Department is home to two Fellows of the British Academy: Professor Shirin Rai and Professor Stuart Elden.