UK Defence Capability: 'How well is the United Kingdom prepared, in terms of defence & security, for the challenges and threats that lie ahead?'

In January 2017, the House of Lords debate on Defence Capability, initiated by Lord Robertson, revealed a number of areas for the United Kingdom to consider two years after the last Strategic Defence and Security Review in 2015. In this panel discussion, CCW brings together members of the House of Lords who participated in the original debate to engage in a discussion about the threats we face, the issues that concern us from a defence and security point of view, and the implications for future planning.

Opium and Coercive State Formation: Strongmen and Armed Conflicts in Burma’s Shan State (1948-1996)

The predominance of the state is overstated. In Burma and other countries, pockets of territory remain under the control of non-state actors. The processes through which these counter state orders emerge are varied and often not well understood. This paper examines the conditions under which the presence of resources presents opportunities for the emergence of counter state orders led by powerful strongmen. To do so, it looks at the role of opium in Mainland Southeast Asia in the period from 1948 to 1996.

‘Technology, Security, and Regime Survival in North Korea’

While the North Korean regime continues to expand its nuclear weapons program to secure its regime legitimacy and survival, the North Korean people are losing their faith in the government. Drawing from her recently published book, North Korea’s Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground is Transforming a Closed Society (Yale University Press 2016), Jieun Baek will discuss how outside information and media flows covertly into North Korea and how this phenomenon creates fault lines in the country’s attempts to seal its informational borders.

The contested meaning of "Failed States” for international order (SEESOX, CIS and ESC Co-Sponsored Seminar)

In the context of her latest book ‘The Ideology of Failed States: Why Intervention Fails’
In association with the Centre for International Studies (CIS), Oxford
Seminar Room, European Studies Centre, 70 Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6HR
For more information, please contact julie.adams@sant.ox.ac.uk Tel. 01865 274537

Adis Merdzanovic (Discussant)
St Antony’s College, Oxford

Kalypso Nicolaidis (Chair)
St Antony’s College, Oxford

CRIC Public Lecture: Conflict, Complexity and Cooperation

h1. Lecture by Professor, the Lord Alderdice FRCPsych

h2. Conflict, Complexity and Cooperation

It would be difficult to argue that our world is not characterised by the spread of conflict and complexity. But can a better understanding of complexity theories point to the possibilities for cooperation in our diversity, rather than political violence? John Alderdice will explore this challenge and its practical implications.

Time: 6pm – 7.15pm

Date: Wednesday, 27 September 2017

Venue: Harris Manchester College, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TD
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