This paper will examine the US-UK relationship through the prism of two key military interventions in the Middle East after the Suez debacle; Jordan in 1958 and Kuwait in 1961. It will argue that the 1956 crisis led the UK to acknowledge that its international power was in decline and that future interventions in the region would always require American acquiescence. Having learned these lessons, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan endeavoured to use Jordan and Kuwait as a means to realign US-UK policy in the region, believing that he could use US means for UK ends. 

This paper will investigate the US and UK response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, with a focus on the longer-term adjustment of policies triggered by this event. Numerous scholars have studied the immediate reaction to the invasion, for example focusing on the tough rhetorical criticism of Moscow, the economic sanctions, and the boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games. However, less attention has been devoted to studying the broader significance of the strategic choices made by Washington and London in the aftermath of the Soviet action.

This seminar will held in person as usual and will not be affected by the UCU strike.

Three decades of research have documented substantial cross-cultural variation in the ideal attributes and behaviors that followers expect from their leaders in the domain of politics, business, sports and religion. In the East, employees tend to describe their ideal managers as more paternalistic and authoritarian than in the West, for instance. Furthermore, whereas only 5% of respondents in Sweden believe that men make better political leaders than women, in Egypt this is more than 80% (World Values Survey, 2022).

Sandwiches will be available from 12.40

Though China has arguably the world’s most dynamic lunar exploration programme, it is only one of several countries with ambitious plans to visit the Moon. Over the next decade, numerous international missions are expected to land at just a handful of small sites on the lunar surface, a clustering of activity that portends crowding and interference problems. These challenges in view, several countries are leading efforts to develop international governance institutions and mechanisms to manage activities at these lunar sites. China’s role in these efforts may prove pivotal.

This talk examines how Taiwan’s security has been affected by great power competition between the United States and China. It argues that the geostrategic aspect of great power competition has been a destabilizing factor in the Taiwan Strait, while the geoeconomic aspect has been a stabilizing factor. Against the backdrop of the U.S.-China rivalry, the United States has cooperated more closely with Taiwan at the political and military levels, raising doubts about the unofficial character of U.S.-Taiwan relations and the United States’ non-support for Taiwan’s independence.

Sandwiches will be available from 12.40.

As China opened up its economy over the past four decades, conventional wisdom held that the country’s growing embrace of free markets would lead to a more liberal society. Instead, China’s unprecedented economic growth has positioned state capitalism as a durable foil to the orthodoxy of free markets, to the confusion of many in the West. At the 20th Party Congress in Beijing in October 2022, Xi Jinping was appointed to a third five-year term as China’s supreme leader, and many have commented on his renewed embrace of Maoist principles.