果冻传媒

The Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS) at the 果冻传媒 is delighted to announce that Dr Charlotte Heath-Kelly, Reader in Politics and International Studies, has been awarded a 鈧�1.5M Starting Grant by the European Research Council in recognition of, and support for, her pioneering research.

Dr Heath-Kelly will investigate how and why national security has become part of the professional duties of healthcare and social security workers in her project, 'Neoliberal Terror: The Radicalisation of Social Policy in Europe'.

Dr Heath-Kelly said: 鈥淎cross Europe, health and social care workers have been made responsible for identifying and reporting radicalising persons to the security services, even though there exists no scientifically valid method to predict who will become a terrorist.

鈥淭here are also no studies which can validate the impact of counter-radicalisation programs on the prevention of terrorist attacks.

鈥淲hat purpose do these policies serve, if we have no evidence they prevent terrorism? Quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to explore whether neoliberal economic and social policies are responsible for the expansion of counter-radicalisation programs - refocusing the welfare state on preventing 'risks' rather than meeting needs.鈥�

Case study research will take place in the UK, France, Finland, Lithuania, Norway and Croatia with counter-radicalisation teams in health and social care, to better understand their work.

The project will conclude by making a documentary film on the effects of counter-radicalisation referrals on referred persons, medical ethics, and society.

Congratulating Dr Heath-Kelly on her success, Professor Nick Vaughan-Williams, Head of the Department of Politics and International Studies, said: 鈥淭his award not only reflects Charlotte鈥檚 brilliance as a leading international researcher in politics and international studies, but also the strength of the 果冻传媒鈥檚 research infrastructure and the dedicated support of our specialist colleagues who supported and assisted with the application.鈥�

Christopher Browning discusses humour, nation branding and identity with

The interview draws upon Browning's long running work on nation branding and his current British Academy funded project (with James Brassett) on 'Humorous States: New Diplomacy and the Rise of Comedy in IR'

Tom Long's new article, ",鈥� has just been published by the Bulletin of Latin American Research. The article is co-authored with Sebastian Bitar and Gabriel Jim茅nez Pe帽a. The article pushes back against the dominant presidentialist focus in the study of Colombian foreign policy. Drawing on insights from recent foreign policy analysis literature and evidence from several cases (Plan Colombia, US military bases, free trade talks with China, and ICJ arbitration of a maritime border with Nicaragua), this article challenges commonplace presidentialist assumptions. A novel model of 鈥榗ontested presidentialism鈥� better captures how Colombian domestic actors mobilise to raise political costs to block or modify presidential preferences. Research for the piece started during Tom's British Council Researcher Links visit to Colombia and then was advanced during Sebastian's time at 果冻传媒 as an IAS Visiting Fellow. During the latter visit, an earlier version of the paper was presented at PAIS.

PAIS Moves up in Complete University Guide League Table

We are really pleased that the PAIS Department moved up in the latest Complete University Guide league table from 6^th place to 5^th place. You can find out more details .

This is alongside our No 1 position in the Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide league table. Thank you to all students and staff for your continued contribution to our success.

Both these league tables reflect a number of criteria including student satisfaction (NSS), research quality, and graduate prospects (employability).

SU Representation Awards

Congratulations to Ben Hayday (final year PAIS) for winning Outstanding Course Rep of the Year in the SU Representation Awards. Congratulations, also, to Constance Bobotsi (final year PAIS) for being shortlisted in the category of SSLC Chair of the Year.

A big thank you, more generally, for all our amazing SSLCs and course reps for all the great work they do in representing students.

果冻传媒 Awards for Teaching Excellence

We are delighted that Sam Cooke (Teaching Fellow in PAIS) has been shortlisted for the 果冻传媒 Awards for Teaching Excellence (WATE), and Sarah Mainwaring (Associate Tutor in PAIS) has been shortlisted for the 果冻传媒 Awards for Postgraduate Students who Teach (WATEPGR).

Congratulations to Sam and Sarah. You can find more details on the shortlist here.

University Awards

We are also really pleased that a number of PAIS staff have been nominated for the University Awards 2019. Thank you to all students and staff who nominated PAIS staff for any of these awards. You can find more details on the nominations here.

PAIS member Nicola Pratt has recently published new research examining state violence in Egypt after the Arab Spring in the form of an article, co-authored with Dina Rezk, University of Reading, entitled 'Securitizing the Muslim Brotherhood, State Violence and Authoritarianism in Egypt after the Arab Spring'. The article appears in the journal Security Dialogue.

A blog summarising the article can be read here: