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International Security: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2013). Christopher S. Browning.

The subject of international security is never out of the headlines. The subjects of war and peace, military strategy, the proliferation of nuclear weapons and revisionist states remain central to the discussion, but burgeoning concerns such as climate change, migration, poverty, health, and international terrorism have complicated the field. So what really matters? The traditional prioritization of state security or the security needs of individuals, humanity, and the biosphere? And where do the problems lie? Are states themselves as much a part of the problem as the solution for people's security needs? With globalization, the international security environment has become more interdependent than ever before with the establishment of complex networks that make responding to and managing security challenges increasingly difficult, but increasingly necessary.

This Very Short Introduction shows that international security is both vibrant and deeply contested, with stakeholders frequently in disagreement over questions of priority and approach. Christopher S. Browning outlines the nature of the key debates about contemporary international security challenges, and discusses the inherent difficulties that exist in tackling them. He also asks to what extent such debates are infused with questions of power, politics, justice, morality, and responsibility.

For more information, or to order the book, please click the following link to view it on the Oxford University press website: http://bit.ly/CB-IS-book

The slides from the MA Expectations Workshop, presented by Dr James Brassett, have now been uploaded.

To view or download the slideshow, please click on the following link: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/news/expectations-workshop-2013.pdf or find it in the MA Handbook.

The third edition of Political Philosophy: A Beginners' Guide for Students and Politicians by Prof Adam Swift, Professor of Political Theory, has just been published by Polity. This new edition of Prof Swift's highly readable introduction to political philosophy includes new material on global justice, feminism, and method in political theory, as well as updated guides to further reading. This lively and accessible book is ideal for students, but it also brings the insights of the world's leading political philosophers to a wide general audience. Using plenty of examples, it equips readers to think for themselves about the ideas that shape political life.

Read more about the book

On September 16-18 2013, PAIS hosted the Globalisation and American Grand Strategy in a Time of Austerity Conference. It was the largest US foreign policy focused conference in Europe. The conference was funded by the University of Warwick’s Institute for Advanced Studies, PAIS, the US Embassy London, the ESRC, the Institute for the Study of the Americas, and BISA.

It began with an exclusive early career day, followed by a master-class on US policymaking and the creation of the national economic council, delivered by Robert F. Wescott. From 1993-94 Wescott was Chief Economist at the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, and from 1999-2001 he served as Special Assistant to the U.S. President for Economic Policy at the White House. As senior economic advisor to President Clinton, he helped to develop the Administration’s policies towards the G-7, other key emerging markets, and the international financial system.

The keynote speaker was Ambassador John D. Negroponte, introduced by the Vice Chancellor Nigel Thrift. Amb. Negroponte has been US ambassador to Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Nations and Iraq. He has served twice on the National Security Council staff, first as director for Vietnam in the Nixon Administration and then as deputy national security advisor under President Reagan. He has also held a cabinet level position as the first director of national intelligence under President George W. Bush. His most recent position in government was as deputy secretary of state, where he served as the State Department’s chief operating officer. The ambassador provided a highly stimulating discussion and an invigorating question and answer session.

He talked about how President Bush was miss sold intelligence that led to the Iraq War (which he believe Bush now regrets), and how the Bush administration believed oil was important - much more so than it actually is. If there was a slow intelligence day, then intelligence reports on oil would be given to VP Cheney to keep his office interested. In what was an open and candid talk, there were a lot of reveals about the way the intelligence community now works, and about the last few decades of American Foreign Policy.

New book published by Diane Stone: Knowledge Actors and Transnational Governance : The Private-Public Policy Nexus in the Global Agora

A global agora is emerging. The global agora is partly configured by new policy actions and partnerships where the idea of ‘public’ and ‘public sector’ is remade. However, the concept of transnational or ‘global public policy’ is neither an institutionalised nor accepted understanding of governing beyond the nation-state. Accordingly, this volume asks: What is global public policy? Where is it enacted? Who executes such policies? It addresses the meanings of ‘global public policy’ as well as the way in which policy actors in knowledge organisations like universities, research networks, think tanks and philanthropies are responding to transnational policy problems.

For more information, please click here: http://www.palgraveconnect.com/pc/doifinder/10.1057/9781137022912.0005