Cyril Foster Lecture 2025: 'How to End Wars: Pragmatic Approaches to Peacebuilding'

Over the past 50 years, the Cyril Foster Lecture series has delivered engaging lectures from some of the world's most influential policymakers and academics. This year's lecture will be given by Christine Ahn and Lt Gen (Ret) Dan Leaf, US Air Force, bringing together two leading, internationally renowned speakers on peace activism and peacekeeping. The lecture will be introduced by Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lord Tarassenko, and chaired by Cyril Foster Lecture Chair, Professor Neta Crawford.

The Cyril Foster Lecture 2025:

Reflections on Italy - Roundtable and Panel Discussion hosted by Lord Patten

“Authoritarianism, nationalism, centralization, demagogy: surely these are evils from which we may expect to be cured” - Alessandro Passerin D’Entrèves, 1947.

In 1947, Alessandro Passerin D’Entrèves gave his inaugural lecture as Serena Professor of Italian at the University of Oxford. A scholar and Italian resistance fighter, he delivered the lecture less than two years after the end of the second World War. Passerin D’Entrèves saw his appointment as a chance to “cement the bonds of friendship and mutual understanding between England and Italy”.

Prof. Neta Crawford's Inaugural Lecture as the Montague Burton Chair in International Relations: The 'Fierce Urgency of Now': war, climate, and change in the deep time of world politics

Join us for the Montague Burton Chair in International Relations Inaugural Lecture, which will mark the appointment of Professor Neta Crawford to this highly prestigious position.

Professor Crawford will deliver the Lecture: The ‘Fierce Urgency of Now': war, climate, and change in the deep time of world politics. The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception

Nuclear Terrorism: What is the Threat? (Oxford Cyril Foster Lecture 2023)

Nuclear terrorism remains a low probability, high consequence threat. Lack of access and capability will likely continue to inhibit most non-state-sponsored terrorism scenarios; and nuclear forensics, and the risk that a state-sponsor’s identity would be discovered, will likely inhibit proxy attacks. But several developments appear to be changing the nature of the threat. One of these is that non-state groups likely to be motivated to try to use radiological or improvised nuclear devices are changing and growing in number.

Oxford Spring School in Advanced Research Methods

Our hybrid Oxford Spring School in Advanced Research Methods offers graduate students and researchers from universities across the UK and abroad a unique opportunity to learn cutting-edge methods in Social Science.

The week-long Spring School is now in its 20th year and consists of five core courses in quantitative and qualitative methods. Participants who choose to attend one of these courses will also be invited to attend additional research methodology classes along with the full Spring School cohort in the mornings.

The course options are:

Democracy, Votes, and Participation

In recent decades, liberal democracies have considerably expanded the scope for citizen participation, calling their citizens to vote in a growing number of popular votes. This research investigates the effects of the rising election frequency on electoral participation. It theorizes which, when, and how past votes affect current voter turnout. We argue that all election types contribute to a common factor of election frequency, whose high values depress voter turnout and reduce the effectiveness of party mobilization even in the most important elections.

The Way Out: Justice in the Queer Search for Refuge - Book Launch

The global refugee regime has shifted under our feet. Over the last forty years, international asylum practices have expanded to include the queer and trans displaced. At least thirty-seven countries now recognize LGBTIQ refugees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, with some states providing specialized support. Yet amid this expansion, backlash has intensified against refugee protection as well as the hard-earned rights of LGBTIQ people. In this disquieting context, the protection of LGBTIQ refugees remains partial and exclusionary.

The Hardest Bridge

You are warmly invited to the showing of a new documentary film, ‘The Hardest Bridge’, on a real example of post-conflict reconciliation in Britain and Northern Ireland, with discussion led by the film’s subjects Jo Berry and Pat Magee:

'The Hardest Bridge' Tuesday 3 February [Third Week]
7.30pm – 10.00 pm, in the Auditorium, St John’s College.

The Logic of Provocative Propaganda in the Shadow of Democratic Uprisings: Evidence from Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Movement

Where democratic uprisings have gained momentum, some autocracies respond by disseminating propaganda that taunts and mocks their political opponents. Instead of diverting citizens’ attention away from opposition voices, such propaganda directs its rhetoric and public attention toward the anti-regime movement. What is the logic behind it? Dr Yueng proposes a theory of propaganda as provocation. By using provocative propaganda to radicalize protesters in social movements, autocrats can discredit regime opponents and dissuade others from joining forces with the opposition.

From AI Sovereignty to AI Agency: assessing national capability, power, and strategic choices in a connected world

Across the world, governments are invoking AI sovereignty as they confront rising geopolitical tension, strategic competition, and deepening technological interdependence. Yet sovereignty, in a globalised AI ecosystem dominated by a small number of firms and nations, may not be the most meaningful lens to apply.
Subscribe to

QS WORLD RANKINGS FOR POLITICS & INT’L STUDIES: 2

BEST UK UNIVERSITIES FOR POLITICS – THE GUARDIAN: 1

THE WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS FOR POLITICS AND INT’L STUDIES: 1 IN THE UK