Adam Roberts is Senior Research Fellow of the Centre for International Studies in Oxford University's Department of Politics and International Relations. He is also Emeritus Professor of International Relations at Oxford University, and Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford.
He is not able to act as supervisor for new graduate students.
He was President of the British Academy (2009-13). He is an Honorary Fellow of the London School of Economics & Political Science (1997- ), of St Antony's College Oxford (2006- ), and of the University of Cumbria (2014- ). He has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by King's College London (2010), Aberdeen University (2012), Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo (2012), and Bath University (2014). He is a Foreign Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2011- ), and a Member of the American Philosophical Society (2013- ). He was a member of the Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London (2002-8); member of the UK Defence Academy Advisory Board (2003-15); and member, Board of Advisers of the Lieber Institute for Law and Land Warfare, at the United States Military Academy, West Point, September 2016– .
He was born in Penrith, England, on 29 August 1940. His first degree was BA in Modern History at Oxford University (1962). His interests include mountaineering and cycling.
Research
Adam's main research interests are in the fields of international security, international organizations, and international law (including the laws of war). He has also worked extensively on the role of civil resistance against authoritarian regimes and foreign rule, and on the history of thought about international relations. His ongoing research activities include work on books and articles related to the following two externally-funded research projects at Oxford University:
- Oxford University Programme on the Changing Character of War, January 2004. (Member of Steering Committee, 2003-9; Honorary Fellow and Member of the Advisory Board, 2017- .) Several publications listed below, including the edited book on The UN Security Council and War (2008), are products of this programme.
- Oxford University Research Project on Civil Resistance and Power Politics, January 2005-. (Chair, Organising Committee, January 2005- .) The jointly-edited books on Civil Resistance and Power Politics (2009), and on Civil Resistance in the Arab Spring: Triumphs and Disasters (2016), are the main products of this research project.
He is also working on a book on Liberal International Order.
Publications
Selective List of Publications (for memoranda to official bodies, scroll down to the end of this list.)
Pandemics and Politics, Survival, London, vol. 62, no. 5, October-November 2020, pp. 7–40.
Foundational Myths in the Laws of War: The 1863 Lieber Code, and the 1864 Geneva Convention, Melbourne Journal of International Law, vol. 20, no. 1, July 2019, pp. 158–96.
The UK and the Use of Force in Iraq: Academics and Policy-makers, China International Strategy Review 2016, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 2018, pp. 378-95.
Balfour Set a Pattern for the West's Ignorant Interventions in the Middle East, part of a series on the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration of 2 November 1917, Haaretz website, Jerusalem, 1 November 2017.
Resistance to Military Occupation: An Enduring Problem in International Law, part of a Symposium on Revisiting Israel’s Settlements in American Journal of International Law, e-supplement, AJIL Unbound, vol. 111, May 2017, pp. 45–50.
The Use of Force: A System of Selective Security, in Sebastian von Einsiedel, David M. Malone and Bruno Stagno Ugarte (eds.), The UN Security Council in the 21st Century, Lynne Rienner, Boulder, Colorado, 2016, pp. 349–71. ISBN 978-1-62637-258-0 (hardback); 978-1-62637-259-7 (paperback).
(edited with Michael J. Willis, Rory McCarthy & Timothy Garton Ash), Civil Resistance in the Arab Spring: Triumphs and Disasters, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2016, xvi + 339 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-874902-8. Information on OUP websites for the USA and the rest of the world, incl. UK. [Arabic translation published by All Prints, Beirut, 2017.]
Terrorism Research: Past, Present and Future, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism (published by Taylor & Francis), vol. 38, no. 1, January 2015 (published online 21 November 2014), pp. 62–74. ISSN 1057-610X (print), 1521-0731 (online).
Addressing Violent Extremism: Lessons from Sri Lanka, Strategic Analysis (journal of Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, published by Taylor & Francis), vol. 38, no. 4, July 2014, pp. 409-15. ISSN 0970-0161 (Print), 1754-0054 (Online).
(editor) Democracy, Sovereignty and Terror: Lakshman Kadirgamar on the Foundations of International Order, I.B. Tauris, London, 2012. ISBN 978 1 84885 307 2.
The Long Peace Getting Longer, Survival, London, vol. 54, no. 1, February-March 2012, pp. 175-83. (Review essay on Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of our Nature.)
Memoir of Professor Fred Halliday, Proceedings of the British Academy, 172: Biographical Memoirs of Fellows, X, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011, pp. 143-69.
(edited with Timothy Garton Ash) Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present, paperback edition with a new foreword on the Arab Spring, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011, xxv + 407 pp. (Hardback edition published in 2009.) ISBN 978-0-19-9691456.
Foreword to Gene Sharp, Sharp's Dictionary of Power and Struggle: Language of Civil Resistance in Conflicts, Oxford University Press, New York, 2011, pp. ix-x. ISBN 978-0-19-982989-7 (hardback); 978-0-19-982988-0 (paperback).
Refugees and Military Intervention, in Alexander Betts and Gil Loescher (eds.), Refugees in International Relations, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011, pp. 213-35. ISBN 978-0-19-958074-3 (hardback); 978-0-19-959562-4 (paperback).
The Civilian in Modern War, in Hew Strachan and Sibylle Scheipers (ed.), The Changing Character of War, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011, pp. 357-80. ISBN 978-0-19-959673-7 (hardback).
Detainees: Misfits in Peace and War, in Sibylle Scheipers (ed.), Prisoners in War, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2010, pp. 263-80. ISBN 978-0-19-957757-6.
Lives and Statistics: Are 90% of War Victims Civilians?, Survival, London, vol. 52, no. 3, June-July 2010, pp. 115-35.
An Incredibly Swift Transition: Reflections on the End of the Cold War, in Melvyn Leffler and Odd Arne Westad (eds.), The Cambridge History of the Cold War, vol. III, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2010, pp. 513-34.
People Power: Berlin to Burma, The World Today, London, vol. 65, no. 11, November 2009.
Changing War, Changing Law (on 60th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions), The World Today, London, vol. 65, no. 89, August/September 2009.
Afghanistan and International Security, in Michael N. Schmitt (ed.), The War in Afghanistan: A Legal Analysis (US Naval War College, International Law Studies, vol. 85), Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, 2009, pp. 3-42.
Doctrine and Reality in Afghanistan, Survival, London, vol. 51, no. 1, February-March 2009, pp. 29-60.
The Equal Application of the Laws of War: A Principle under Pressure, International Review of the Red Cross, Cambridge, no. 872, December 2008, pp. 931-62.
(with Dominik Zaum) Selective Security: War and the United Nations Security Council since 1945 (Adelphi Paper no. 395 of International Institute for Strategic Studies, London), Routledge, Abingdon, July 2008.
(edited with Vaughan Lowe, Jennifer Welsh and Dominik Zaum), The United Nations Security Council and War: The Evolution of Thought and Practice since 1945, Oxford University Press, June 2008. (Paperback edition April 2010.)
International Relations after the Cold War, International Affairs, London, vol. 84, no. 2, March 2008, pp. 335-50. This article is extracted and adapted from valedictory lecture delivered at St Antony's College, Oxford, 23 October 2007.
Torture and Incompetence in the War on Terror, Survival, London, vol. 49, no. 1, Spring 2007, pp. 199-212. (Review essay.)
Air Power, Accuracy, and the Law of Targeting: Why No Brave New World?, in Richard B. Jaques (ed.), Issues in International Law and Military Operations (US Naval War College, International Law Studies, vol. 80), Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, 2006, pp. 133-50.
Transformative Military Occupation: Applying the Laws of War and Human Rights, American Journal of International Law, Washington DC, vol. 100, no. 3, July 2006, pp. 580-622.
The War on Terror in Historical Perspective, Survival, London, vol. 47, no. 2, Summer 2005, pp. 101-30.
The End of Occupation: Iraq 2004, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, London, vol. 54, no. 1, January 2005, pp. 27-48.
Law and the Use of Force After Iraq, Survival, London, vol. 45, no. 2, Summer 2003, pp. 31-56.
The Laws of War in the War on Terror, in Fred L. Borch and Paul S. Wilson (eds.), International Law and the War on Terror (US Naval War College, International Law Studies, vol. 79), Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, 2003, pp. 175-230. [Also published in Israel Yearbook on Human Rights, vol. 32.]
The Laws of War after Kosovo, in Andru E. Wall (ed.), Legal and Ethical Lessons of NATO's Kosovo Campaign (US Naval War College, International Law Studies, vol. 78), Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, 2002, pp. 401-32. [Also published in Israel Yearbook on Human Rights, vol. 31.]
The So-called Right of Humanitarian Intervention, Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, vol. 3, 2000, T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague, 2002, pp. 3-51.
(edited with Richard Guelff) Documents on the Laws of War, 3rd rev. edn., Oxford University Press, 2000. [First published 1982, 2nd rev. edn, 1989.]
Implementation of the Laws of War in Late-Twentieth-Century Conflicts, in Michael N. Schmitt and Leslie C. Green (eds.), The Law of Armed Conflict: Into the Next Millennium (US Naval War College, International Law Studies, vol. 71), Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, 1998, pp. 359-88. [Also published in two parts in Security Dialogue, Oslo, vol. 29, nos. 2 and 3, June and September 1998.]
Humanitarian Action in War: Aid, Protection and Impartiality in a Policy Vacuum (Adelphi Paper no. 305 of International Institute for Strategic Studies, London), Oxford University Press, December 1996.
Environmental Issues in International Armed Conflict: The Experience of the 1991 Gulf War, in Richard J. Grunawalt, John E. King and Ronald S. McClain (eds.), Protection of the Environment During Armed Conflict (US Naval War College, International Law Studies, vol. 69), Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, 1996, pp. 222-77.
(edited with Benedict Kingsbury) United Nations, Divided World: The UN's Roles in International Relations, 2nd edn., Oxford University Press, 1993. [First published 1988.]
Humanitarian War: Military Intervention and Human Rights, International Affairs, London, vol. 69, no. 3, July 1993.
Civil Resistance in the East European and Soviet Revolutions (Einstein Institution Monograph Series no. 4), The Albert Einstein Institution, Cambridge, Mass., 1991.
(edited with Hedley Bull and Benedict Kingsbury) Hugo Grotius and International Relations, Oxford University Press, 1990. [Chinese translation published by China Social Sciences Press, Beijing, December 2014.]
Prolonged Military Occupation: The Israeli-occupied Territories since 1967, American Journal of International Law, Washington DC, vol. 84, no. 1, January 1990, pp. 44-103.
(joint author) Terrorism and International Order, Routledge & Kegan Paul for Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, 1986.
Nations in Arms: The Theory and Practice of Territorial Defence, 2nd rev. edn., Macmillan for International Institute for Strategic Studies, London, 1986. [First published 1976.]
What is a Military Occupation?, The British Year Book of International Law 1984, Oxford University Press, 1985, pp. 249-305.
Civil Resistance to Military Coups, Journal of Peace Research, Oslo, vol. 12, no. 1, March 1975, pp. 19-36.
(with Philip Windsor) Czechoslovakia 1968: Reform, Repression and Resistance, Chatto & Windus for Institute for Strategic Studies, London, 1969.
(editor) The Strategy of Civilian Defence: Non-violent Resistance to Aggression, Faber, London, 1967. [Translations into Norwegian, Swedish and German published in Oslo 1969, Stockholm 1970, and Gottingen 1971.]
Numerous articles published in Survival, International Affairs, The World Today, The Times Literary Supplement,International and Comparative Law Quarterly, International Security, Internationale Politik, Israel Yearbook on Human Rights, Arab Affairs and other journals.
Selective list of memoranda to official bodies
Written submission (27 October 2014) to House of Commons Defence Committee, Inquiry into the Situation in Iraq and Syria and the threat posed by Islamic State in Iraq and The Levant. Also oral evidence to the Defence Committee, 29 October 2014. The Committee’s report was published as The Situation in Iraq and Syria and the response to al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq al-Sham (DAESH), Stationery Office, London, 5 February 2015 (HC 690).
Written submission (6 December 2013) to House of Commons Defence Committee, Inquiry into UK Armed Forces Personnel and the Legal Framework for Future Operations. The Committee’s report was published as UK Armed Forces Personnel and the Legal Framework for Future Operations: Twelfth Report of Session 2013–14, Stationery Office Ltd., London, 2 April 2014 (HC 931).
‘Report by Adam Roberts to the Baha Mousa Public Inquiry’, September 2010. (This ‘expert witness’ statement about the provisions made for detention and interrogation operations by UK armed forces since 2003 was followed up by oral evidence to the Inquiry, 12 October 2010.) See The Baha Mousa Public Inquiry Report, 3 vols., Stationery Office, London, 8 September 2011 (HC 1452-1).
‘Afghanistan and International Security’, written evidence (23 January 2009) for the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Inquiry into Global Security: Afghanistan. The Committee’s report was published as Global Security: Afghanistan and Pakistan: Eighth Report of Session 2008–09, Stationery Office Ltd., London, 2 August 2009 (HC 302).
‘The “War on Terror” in Historical Perspective’, written evidence (6 December 2004) for the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Inquiry into Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism. The Committee’s report was published as Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism, Sixth Report of Session 2004-05, 2 vols., Stationery Office Ltd., London, 5 April 2005 (HC 36-I and 36-II).
‘International Law and the Iraq War 2003’, memorandum (24 June 2003) for the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Inquiry into Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism. The Committee’s report was published as Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism, Tenth Report of Session 2002–03, Stationery Office Ltd., London, 31 July 2003 (HC 405). (My evidence to it was also published in Survival.)
‘The New Chapter: Strategic and International Legal Issues’, memorandum (28 October 2002) for the House of Commons Defence Committee Inquiry into the New Chapter to the Strategic Defence Review. Also supplementary memoranda submitted in December 2002 and March 2003. The Committee’s report was published as A New Chapter to the Strategic Defence Review: Sixth Report of Session 2002–03, 2 vols., Stationery Office, London, 15 May 2003 (HC 93 I and II).
‘Application of Laws of War’, memorandum (4 December 2001) for the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Inquiry into Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism. The Committee’s report was published as Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism, Seventh Report of Session 2001–02, Stationery Office Ltd., London, 20 June 2002 (HC 384).
