David Dunn - My research interests in security studies are wide ranging and I have written on British, American and European security policy as well as arms control, defence economics and energy security. My main work, however, concerns American foreign and security policy. I am particularly interested in the history of ideas and the influence of political culture and the political process on threat perception and thus foreign and security policy. I have also written a number of articles and book chapters on various aspects of “the war on terror.” I am currently completing a single authored book in Palgrave’s “Rethinking” series, edited by the LSE’s Prof. Mick Cox. This book, Rethinking Transatlanticism, is a major reassessment of the nature of the transatlantic relationship in the wake of the end of the Cold War, September 11th and the 2003 Iraq war. It analyses whether “the West” was entirely a Cold War construct and whether the idea of a transatlantic community can survive the construction of a greater European identity and the growing unilateralism of the United States.
Richard Lock-Pullan - My main focus of research has been on traditional security issues, particularly strategic issues. I have done a lot of work on military innovation and strategic culture as an outgrowth of my research on the US Army after the Vietnam War and how their changes influenced national intervention policy. From this I have an interest in how militaries learn and innovate. I have written various pieces looking at this and the specific issue of how Iraq relates to the Vietnam experience. I am under contract to write a book examining modern warfare and the nation state. My current research is looking at the issue of religion and security, but rather than examining Islam I am analysing Christianity’s understanding of security and how this influences US foreign policy in particular.
Cerwyn Moore - I work within the field of critical International Relations theory and security studies. My main areas of expertise focus upon political violence and terrorism. I have published widely on forms of political violence in the North Caucasus, such as suicide attacks, mass hostage-taking with suicidal intent and security issues drawing on Chechnya. I have received a number of research awards to further my work in these areas.
Edward Newman - My interests include civil war and political violence; multilateral approaches to peace and security; human security and critical security studies; peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction. Before joining POLSIS in September I worked for almost 10 years at the United Nations University. Currently I am finishing off a few UNU research projects.
Michelle Pace - My interests include critical approaches in International Relations Theory, European Union Studies, Euro-Mediterranean Politics, Perceptions of democratisation in the Arab-Mediterranean world, EU democracy promotion efforts in the Middle East and North Africa, Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, European Neighbourhood Policy, the Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean, Israeli-Palestinian relations, politics of identity, conflict management, European integration theories, discourse analysis, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Egypt. In my current ESRC project (First Grant Scheme large research project RES-061-25-0075) I am particularly focusing on the role of the EU, and other external actors like the US, in the de-democratisation of states / pseudo states in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly the cases of Egypt and Palestine.
Asaf Siniver - My research centres around three key clusters: contemporary US foreign and defence policy, conflict resolution and mediation, and the security and diplomatic history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. I am also very interested in crisis studies and the linkage between structures, processes and outcomes in foreign policy-making during times of international crises.
PhD doctoral researchers:
Linda Ahall
Monsters, Heroines and Victims: Exposing the Myth of Motherhood in Representations of Female Agency in Political Violence.
Andrew Futter
The evolution of US ballistic missile defence policy (1989-2010).
Barbara Morazzani
Constructing Authority: Does International Law Regulate the Foreign Policy Behaviour of States in Decisions to Use Force in Humanitarian Intervention.
Mark McClelland
The Unbridling of Virtue: Neoconservative Foreign Policy Thought between the Cold War and Iraq War
Benjamin Zala
The Correlates of Cooperation: Polarity and Security Cooperation in International Society