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Richard Aldrich recently appeared on BBC Booktalk, alongside co-author Rory Cormac, talking to Mark D'Arcy about their new book The Black Door: Spies, Secret Intelligence and British Prime Ministers, on the relationships between prime ministers and the intelligence agencies.

You can watch the video here.

The Black Door: Spies, Secret Intelligence and British Prime Ministers can be purchased here.

In an article for openDemocracy, PAIS PhD researcher Ragnar Weilandt explains three very Austrian causes that explain why the country almost elected a fascist president.

Vincenzo Bove has recently given a seminar on "International Migration and the Security Environment" at the European Commission - Joint Research Centre (JRC).

Seminar Abstract:

The recent decades have seen a substantial increase in global migration. This phenomenon critically challenges the territorial state as a bounded entity and it is a key issue on the security agenda of many countries. We explore two consequences of migration on national and international security: terrorism and military intervention. On one hand, migration inflows can lead to the diffusion of policies, ideologies and behavior, including terrorism. Using spatial-econometric analyses, we find that terrorism “at home” increases with a larger number of immigrants from countries with terrorism, suggesting that migrants can be an important vehicle through which terrorism diffuses. Yet, our results also indicate that migrant inflows per se actually lead to a lower level of terrorist attacks. On the other hand, migrants can be a bridge between homeland and hostland and shape foreign policies of the host country. Using a nearly-exhaustive dataset on civil wars and military interventions since 1945, we find that migrants act a conduit for foreign military intervention across country pairs.

Congratulations all of our Undergraduate Research Support Scheme (URSS) winners!

The Undergraduate Research Support Scheme (URSS) is a scheme to provide a bursary and skills development training to support undergraduate students who wish to carry out a summer research project as an addition to a degree course.

Please click here to read more

On 6 June, PAIS hosted a lively EU Referendum Debate. At the beginning of the evening, a show of hands indicated a landslide majority in favour of remaining in the EU.

Speaking for ‘Remain’:

Wyn Grant, Emeritus Professor of Politics, University of Warwick

Lucy Hatton, Researcher, Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick

Mike Smith, Professor in European Politics, University of Warwick

Speaking for ‘Leave’:

Lincoln Allison, Emeritus Reader in Politics, University of Warwick and freelance writer and broadcaster

Dave Nellist, National Chair of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC)

Following short presentations by the five panel members, audience members were invited to make comments and ask questions. The question of migration was, perhaps unsurprisingly, the most contentious issue of the evening. Other subjects that were discussed included whether the EU has a democratic deficit, what would happen the day after a BREXIT and whether remaining or leaving the EU is the best way to tackle environmental challenges and to build a social Europe.

Many audience members as well as pro-remain panellists were concerned about the negative economic impact of a BREXIT as well as the threats to employment rights posed by a Conservative government with no EU oversight.

The pro-exit panellists were divided between a conservative and a leftist position. The conservative position was sceptical of the economic feasibility of a European project, given the vast differences between the national economies of current member states. The left-exit position argued that the EU is a project for deepening the neoliberal agenda and accused the remain campaign of failing to discuss the negative impacts of austerity on working class families.

At the end of the evening, a show of hands indicated that no audience members had changed their minds!

Listen to the debate here: