Melis Laebens
Philippa Goodman
Pippa read for an MPhil in International Relations, as a member of Balliol College and as a Clarendon scholar, and completed her studies in June 2024. She is now working as a Senior Strategy Consultant at Deloitte.
Her research interests lie at the intersection of international security, conflict, violence and development. Specifically, she seeks to interrogate the dynamics of insecurity in "fragile states" and uncover the linkages between transnational organised crime, rebel governance and regional security interventions.
'The Transformation of Iraq since the 2003 Invasion: From "The Dodgy Dossier", to Human Security, Gender, and the Nation's Future in the Face of Climate Change'
Russian sieges of Kars in the 19th century
Mercenaries, Modernity, and the International: Re-evaluating the 19th century 'shift away from mercenary use'
Rumours of bio-wars: Typhoid and terrorism in Palestine in 1948
IRAQ: The Political Economy of Institutional Decay and Government Dysfunction
Ali Allawi is an Iraqi politician and author. From 2003-2004 he served as Minister of Trade and Minister of Defence in the cabinet appointed by the Interim Iraq Governing Council. Subsequently, he was Minister of Finance between 2005-2006 in the Iraqi Transitional Government. He has since authored several books on Iraq and the region: The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace, as well as The Crisis of Islamic Civilization and most recently Faisal I of Iraq.
Book talk: 'Ideology and Mass Killing: The Radicalized Security Politics of Genocides and Deadly Atrocities' with Dr Jonathan Leader Maynard
In research on 'mass killings' such as genocides and campaigns of state terror, the role of ideology is hotly debated. For some scholars, ideologies are crucial in providing the extremist goals and hatreds that motivate ideologically committed people to kill. But many other scholars are skeptical: contending that perpetrators of mass killing rarely seem ideologically committed, and that rational self-interest or powerful forms of social pressure are more important drivers of violence than ideology.