This talk discusses the naturalisation of identitarian thinking across the political spectrum and in academic life. It considers the social institutional forces that have enabled its proliferation in many Western societies. Identity politics across much of the political left, alongside ethnonationalism, racism and civilisational discourse on much of the right, are expressions of a broader identitarian logic.

Join us for the launch of Critical Conditions, the debut memoir by Hadi Abdullah, newly translated into English by Alessandro Columbu. Written in the aftermath of revolution, war, and exile, Critical Conditions is both a personal account of survival and a profound meditation on witnessing, resistance, and the politics of memory. Blending the immediacy of frontline reporting with lyrical reflection, Abdullah’s memoir traces his transformation from a teaching assistant in Homs to one of the most recognisable media voices of the Syrian uprising.

Join Kevin Vallier, Professor of Philosophy at the Univeristy of Toledo, and Thomas Simpson, Alfred Landecker Professor of Values and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, for a seminar on agentic capital, intelligence inequalities, and alignment. AI will transform social order, yet we lack a general theory of how it impacts politics and the economy. In this event, Professor Vallier offers such a theory. AI's transformative potential arises from its status as agentic capital: capital that can act and spawn autonomously.

After rising during the early modern age European economic inequality greatly contracted from the 1910s to the 1970s, much as it did in other parts of the world. Even though European mechanisms of pre- and redistribution have held up comparatively well since then, the pressures they face operate on a global scale. While violent levellers have faded and benign influences from homeownership to pensions are losing steam, new technologies such as AI portend further income shifts from labour to capital.

Evans-Pritchard Lecture Series 2026 The Reinvention of Rule: Political Leadership and Legitimacy in the Iron Age Eastern Mediterranean, ca. 1200–600 BC Dr Marco Santini, The University of Edinburgh This series of five lectures proposes an overarching interpretation of key political developments that characterized Greece, Anatolia, and the Levant during the period called the Iron Age (ca. 1200–600 BC).

Evans-Pritchard Lecture Series 2026 The Reinvention of Rule: Political Leadership and Legitimacy in the Iron Age Eastern Mediterranean, ca. 1200–600 BC Dr Marco Santini, The University of Edinburgh This series of five lectures proposes an overarching interpretation of key political developments that characterized Greece, Anatolia, and the Levant during the period called the Iron Age (ca. 1200–600 BC).

Evans-Pritchard Lecture Series 2026 The Reinvention of Rule: Political Leadership and Legitimacy in the Iron Age Eastern Mediterranean, ca. 1200–600 BC Dr Marco Santini, The University of Edinburgh This series of five lectures proposes an overarching interpretation of key political developments that characterized Greece, Anatolia, and the Levant during the period called the Iron Age (ca. 1200–600 BC).

By examining the PMU's self-positioning as a pillar of Iraq's defence infrastructure, this book offers a critical perspective on the prospects for Security Sector Reform (SSR) and highlights the limitations of externally driven Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DDR) efforts. It speaks to scholars of Iraq and the Middle East, as well as diplomats, security actors, and SSR practitioners. The book is also a valuable teaching resource for undergraduate and postgraduate courses on conflict, security, identity politics, terrorism, and peacebuilding.

The Fifth Annual Oxford-Georgia Forum will take place at St Antony's College on 27 May 2026. The annual forum serves as a dynamic platform for exchanging knowledge about Georgia, bringing together scholars, practitioners, and students to share insights, foster dialogue, and deepen understanding of the country’s political, social, and cultural developments. This year’s forum centres on the current political climate in the country, the evolving geopolitical landscape in the region, as well as Georgian cultural and literary studies.

This seminar explores the political and institutional implications of Hungary’s recent election, focusing on both domestic developments and their wider European significance. It brings together leading experts on Hungarian and European politics to assess the drivers behind the electoral outcome, the evolving balance between government and opposition, and the trajectory of democratic governance in Hungary.