Other News

A Pinpoint Politics article by Scott Edwards

Since the 2004 coup which ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the UN peacekeeping taskforce has been charged with a multidimensional mandate, with a focus on providing security and a stable environment to Haiti’s civilian population, as well as promoting human rights and contributing to the political process. The division of MINUSTAH into three components – one military and two civilian – demonstrates the broader structural commitment of the mission and, similarly to most contemporary UN missions, its stronger focus on economic and social problems. The combined duration and breadth of the UN presence in Haiti has been dependent on significant resource and personnel mobilisation from a variety of UN member nations. In particular, the involvement of Brazil has been highlighted as indicative of the South American nation’s growing global presence and the country’s attempts to pursue a more active foreign policy.

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Prof Richard Aldrich, Professor of International Security in PAIS, was recently profiled on the Research Councils UK (RCUK)'s website highlighting policy-related case studies on researchers' interaction with government in its project entitled Pathways to Impact. These case studies provide guidance, top tips and best practice for helping researchers to realise the impact of their research.

Prof Aldrich led a project to analyse the public image of the CIA. He has engaged with a number of government and policy makers including the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign Office and the UK’s most secret intelligence agency, GCHQ. He also highlights the impact of developing the early career researchers working on the grant, one of which is now advising the International Spy Museum in Washington.

Read more about Prof Aldrich's research project

A Pinpoint Politics article by Lena-Sophie Demuth and Andrew Kelly

This year marks the 60th anniversary of Indo-German diplomatic relations, which by most accounts has been reliable and stable. This June the Goethe-Institute together with the Indian foreign ministry have organised a circus-esq "StadtRaume-Cityspaces Mela" that traverses the golden quadrilateral of India cities (New Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore, Chennai, Calcutta) with a series of public showings that focuses on all facets of urban development; mobility, migration, water, energy, sustainable development, architecture, engineering, education, cultural infrastructure, social issues and many more. Given India's increasing urbanisation and rural-urban migration, coupled with its emerging power status along with the BRICS, one can begin to understand the pertinence of such issues.

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A KnowledgeCentre article by Dr Ben Richardson

Crisis is often understood in two senses: as an imminent threat requiring immediate intervention, and as the inevitable breakdown of a system resulting in fundamental change. In the case of the Eurozone crisis, we seem to have oscillated between the two. When fragile governments have failed to pass unpopular austerity bills or financial companies refused to write-off some of their loans, the media have invoked an urgent sense of peril.

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Prof Richard Aldrich, Professor of International Security in PAIS, worked on the documentary feature "The Fall of Singapore: The Great Betrayal" this year with Brave New Films and Director/Producer/Editor Paul Elston. The documentary tells the incredible story of how it was the British who gave the Japanese the knowhow to take out Pearl Harbor and capture Singapore. For 19 years before the fall of Singapore to the Japanese, British officers were spying for Japan. Worse still, the Japanese had infiltrated the very heart of the British establishment - through a mole who was a peer of the realm known to Churchill himself.

Watch the premiere of "The Fall of Singapore: The Great Betrayal" on BBC2, 21 May at 21:00.