Press & Media

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Press, Clips, Interviews

Our cross-university, cross-discipline team are regularly quoted and interviewed, and below you’ll see various links to recent pieces (go here to learn more about the SCGA team).

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Peter Jackson

Chair, Global Security, University of Glasgow
Link to Bio

The Scottish Council constitutes the ever first pan-Scotland international affairs institute. It will provide a hub for collaborative policy-relevant research and a forum for evidence-based debate on all areas of global affairs, from human rights, foreign policy and security to trade, governance, public health and the environment.

INFORMED debate on world affairs has never been more important. The past decade has witnessed a gathering crisis over climate change, increasing migration, the rise of populism and seemingly unending cycles of conflict and humanitarian crises around the world.

Both sides have suffered tens of thousands of military and civilian dead and the fighting has caused wholesale destruction in many of Ukraine’s largest cities.

At this point two things are clear. First, Russia cannot obtain its initial objective of regime change. Second, prospects for destroying Russian armed forces in Ukraine or evicting them entirely from Ukrainian territory remain remote for the foreseeable future. The war must eventually end in a negotiated settlement.

AS the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its second month it is worth reflecting on its origins and speculating on Russia’s fundamental aims.

Information on the conflict has been disseminated in unprecedented volume and intensity by outlets ranging from the Ukrainian Government and British Ministry of Defence to the world’s media and social media channels.

Professor Juliet Kaarbo, Professor Peter Jackson and Professor Phillips O’Brien discuss the potential of a Scottish Council on Global Affairs:- what it is, what it would do and the level of cross-party support for the initiative.

With a careful reading of the 2021 election manifestos of several Scottish political parties, you will find support for a Scottish Council on Global Affairs. Remarkably, the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish Labour Party, and the Scottish National Party have all signalled their intention to support this initiative. What is this Council and why has it garnered cross-party promotion?

“America is back!” proclaimed newly elected US President Joe Biden when he succeed Donald Trump in January.

Biden returned to this theme repeatedly over the first six months of his presidency as he sought to convince America’s allies that the US was once again ready to provide global leadership.

An image of Philips P. O'Brien

Philips P. O’Brien

Chair in Strategic Studies, University of St Andrews
Link to Bio

In an address to the National Army Museum earlier this month, the Defence Secretary Ben Wallace gave a fascinating view of the present state, and possible future, of military power. Though he focused on Ukraine, he also gave some tantalising hints about where the UK might be moving next.

On May 2, the daily Pentagon briefing on the state of the war in Ukraine started with a rather extraordinary story about the behaviour of Russian forces during the ongoing Battle of the Donbas.

Sometimes history is closer than it seems. Russian soldiers who have been wounded, captured or lost friends and colleagues in Ukraine have learned that very painful lesson over the last six weeks.

With the Russian army making some gains in the east in recent weeks, albeit incremental ones, commentators are asking whether — or even claiming — President Putin’s forces have changed the course of the war and are now on track to “win”.

Russia’s botched invasion has illustrated the diminishing power of heavy and expensive military power.

Russia has failed to understand the importance of airpower.

Ahead of Russia’s annual Victory Day celebration on 9 May – which marks the date the Soviet Union defeated Nazi Germany – the world is once again playing a will he, won’t he game with Vladimir Putin.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia unleashed a string of attacks Monday against rail and fuel installations deep inside Ukraine, far from the front lines of Moscow’s new eastern offensive, as Russia’s top diplomat warned against provoking World War III and said the threat of a nuclear conflict “should not be underestimated.”

Ukraine’s success illuminates a strategy that has allowed a smaller state to—so far—outlast a larger and much more powerful one.

We face a serious dilemma as the Battle of the Donbas begins.

The idea that the Russian army remains a powerful, effective force capable of breaking through Ukrainian lines and encircling forces in the Donbas remains widespread.

Good equipment and clever doctrine reveal little about how an army will perform in a war.

The sinking of the Russian guided missile cruiser Moskva is both a reminder of the past and a marker for the future. It harkens back to a lesson learned forty years ago. It was in 1982, in the waters around the Falkland Islands, that the ability of anti-ship missiles to destroy modern warships was brought home to much of the world.

The Battle of the Donbas, if that is what we are to witness, may be Russia’s last throw of the dice with this army.

Sometimes history is closer than it seems. Russian soldiers who have been wounded, captured or lost friends and colleagues in Ukraine have learned that very painful lesson over the last six weeks …

So much had been written about the Russian armed forces’ modernisation and improvement over the last decade that that it was widely believed that the Russians possessed one of the largest and most powerful armies in the world until a few weeks ago. The army might not be on par with the US or China, but it was certainly capable of conquering a military minnow like Ukraine – or so the logic went.

The received wisdom that the country’s greater size makes victory over Ukraine inevitable is misguided.

Fighting a war is really difficult – as we constantly find out every time a new one is started. Though they may begin with hopes of lightning invasions and victory parades, they often end in protracted, bloody catastrophes. This is the situation facing Russia’s leaders today.

Phillips O’Brien, Strategic Studies Professor at the University of St. Andrews, joins Lawrence O’Donnell with his assessment of what’s going wrong for Russian troops invading Ukraine, saying they started a campaign with “no idea what they were taking on” and says Russia needs to reconsider everything they’re doing to win this war, “but what we don’t see is them understanding that.”

In times of peace we often glamorise the military potential of nations by discussing their capabilities using the crudest but easiest of measures — weapons. There can be lots of talk about hypersonic missiles, aircraft carriers, the latest fighter-bombers and the heaviest tanks with the biggest guns.

It certainly makes for good copy and provides a real testosterone-laden charge to the many who get a kick from that sort of thing.

Vladimir Putin fancies himself a great student of Russian history. He couched his justification for the invasion of Ukraine in a vision of Russia and the Soviet Union’s history that was paranoid, grandiose and incoherent, all at the same time.

Ukraine needed to be subjugated by Russia because it was acting as a stalking horse for NATO and the West.

An image of Juliet Kaarbo

Juliet Kaarbo

Chair in Foreign Policy, University of Edinburgh
Link to Bio

Research has shown that an analysis of political leaders’ personalities can help to make sense of their approach to political decision-making.
With the UK facing a range of significant domestic and international challenges, Consuelo ThiersJuliet Kaarbo and Ryan Beasley apply a framework to understand the personality characteristics of new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, describing what their findings could mean for policy directions.

While there is much debate around an independent Scotland’s membership in the EU (would it be accepted by EU member states, how long would this take?), there would be few barriers to Scotland’s membership in many other international organisations.

Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine — surprising to many Russia-watchers, dangerous and risky to most observers, and condemned by a broad range of international actors — has prompted many questions, including: Why did Putin choose this option? And why now?

Professor Juliet Kaarbo, Professor Peter Jackson and Professor Phillips O’Brien discuss the potential of a Scottish Council on Global Affairs:- what it is, what it would do and the level of cross-party support for the initiative.

With a careful reading of the 2021 election manifestos of several Scottish political parties, you will find support for a Scottish Council on Global Affairs. Remarkably, the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish Labour Party, and the Scottish National Party have all signalled their intention to support this initiative. What is this Council and why has it garnered cross-party promotion?

UK foreign policy is afoot. As Brexit works to untangle the woven web of more than 40 years of membership in the EU, the UK is labouring to find a new role to play within the international system. It is reading for several parts: the leading role of Global Britain, the lucrative role of Merchant of Brussels, and the supporting role of Faithful Ally to the US, among others.

In our third episode, we talked with Prof. Juliet Kaarbo on Foreign Policy Analysis.

Professor Julie Kaarbo (U. of Edinburgh) discusses role theory, the relationship between FPA and IR theory, and a new project she is calling Breaking Bad.

An image of Stephen Gethins

Stephen Gethins

Professor in Practice at the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews
Link to Bio

An image showing a protest against Vladimir Putin
Photo: AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

STEPHEN GETHINS: The Ukraine invasion was utterly predictable and its people deserved better.

The invasion of Ukraine is devastating, says Stephen Gethins, but it comes as no surprise to anyone who has been watching Vladimir Putin.

Making their voices heard: Relations between the UK’s nations and regions and the EU post-Brexit.

This event, co-organised by the Aston Centre for Europe (ACE) and the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) will explore the practice and scope of Britain’s new ‘paradiplomacy’ towards the EU in the wake of Brexit.

A Debate on Scotland’s Place in the World is Long Overdue.

In this guest blog, Stephen Gethins provides an overview of his new book ‘Nation to Nation: Scotland’s Place in the World’ exploring Scotland’s “foreign policy footprint”. 

An image of Christian J. Tams

Christian J. Tams

Chair, International Law, University of Glasgow
Link to Bio

“The major football associations exclude Russia. But do they even have the right to punish teams and players for the actions of the state and its political leadership in violation of international law?”. 

GCILS Director, Professor Christian J Tams signed a declaration, sponsored by former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown, and his wife, Sarah Brown, calling for the creation of a special tribunal for the punishment of the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

Statement by Members of the International Law Association Committee on the Use of Force.

Statement by the President and the Board of the European Society of International Law on the Russian Aggression against Ukraine.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the most widely used document in international law, we are publishing a special new Working Paper, ’The ILC Articles at 20′, bringing together contributions to an @ejiltalk symposium published in August: