University of St Andrews

A central theme in the field of International Relations has always been how we should understand and think about conflict, peace and security.

At St Andrews, this includes research on political violence and terrorism, international security, conflict between (and within) state and non-state actors, institutional responses to conflict, post-war reconstruction, normative theories of war and peace, human rights, regional tensions, the social construction of conflict, and the political economy of peace and violence.

Research staff: 

• Dr Javier Argomaniz: terrorism and political violence in Europe with a focus on international cooperation against terrorism and the European Union's response to transnational threats.
• Dr Ryan Beasley: the foreign policies of coalition governments, problem representation in foreign policy decision making, and cognitive consistency theories and foreign policy.
• Dr Roddy Brett:  international, regional and national socio-political, legal and cultural factors determining and shaping armed conflict, war and authoritarian regimes, and the transformation and resolution of said contexts.
• Dr Hazel Cameron: state crime, global elite bystanders, state and corporate complicity in political violence, torture, genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
• Professor Rick Fawn: international security, with a geographic concentration on the former communist space.
• Dr Caron Gentry: feminist theory and gender studies, political violence, women as agents of political violence, feminist political theology, aesthetics.
• Dr Peter Lehr: maritime safety and security in the Indian Ocean and Asia-Pacific, political violence and terrorism in South and Southeast Asia, organised crime in South and Southeast Asia, and critical infrastructure protection with a focus on air and seaport security.
• Dr Jaremey McMullin: internal conflict and the process of post-conflict transition, particularly in relation to the states in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Dr Jeffrey Murer: the psycho-social processes associated with collective and individual identity formation in the context of conflict and through violence.
• Dr Gilbert Ramsay: the notion of so-called ‘violent extremism’ and online communities.
• Dr Gurchathen Sanghera: international relations and UN peace support operations, the politics of race and ethnicity in contemporary Britain, and critical theory, human rights, and globalisation.
• Dr Sibylle Scheipers: irregular fighters, Clausewitz and irregular warfare, military auxiliaries, law of armed conflict, and prisoners in war.
• Professor Ali Watson: activism and resistance in international relations, critiques of the liberal peace, and (neo)colonialism and oppression of non-Western spaces and peoples.
• Professor Andrew Williams: the evolution of global order over the past century, the ways in which the international community deals with the aftermath of major wars, international conflict resolution and transformation, France's relation to 'Anglo-Saxon' powers since 1900, and the relationship between international relations and international history.
• Dr Timothy Wilson: the differing effects political violence can have across different contexts, including terrorism committed by governments and by their opponents.

Research into the evolving character of global and supra-national institutions encompasses work on formal international institutions (for example, the UN or regional associations), on regimes (environment and non-proliferation), on ideas about and practices of global order (the rise of great powers, the possibilities of global constitutionalism and global justice), and the interface between international relations and international law.

Research staff:

• Professor John Anderson: religion and politics, including conservative religious politics in the USA and Russia, and religion and public affairs in Britain.
• Professor Sally Cummings: culture and security; the politics of identity; nation-and state-building in Eastern Europe; international politics with geographic specialisation of Central Asia.
• Dr Marc DeVore: the political economy of the arms trade, civil-military relations and violent non-state actors.
• Dr Jasmine Gani: international relations of the Middle East; Syrian foreign policy and contentious politics; United States foreign policy in the Middle East; ideology; postcolonialism and decoloniality; and religion and politics.
• Dr Kristen Harkness: the intersection of ethnic politics and conflict studies, with a regional focus on Africa.
• Professor Raymond Hinnebusch: Middle East international relations and foreign policy; rural politics and agrarian development, elites, authoritarian regimes political parties; and economic liberalisation in the Middle East.
• Dr Fiona McCallum: the political role of Christian communities in the contemporary Middle East, including identity, minority rights, church-state-societal relations, Christian-Muslim conflict, interfaith dialogue and diaspora politics.
• Dr Chris Ogden: the relationship between national identity, security and domestic politics in South Asia and East Asia, as well as the analytical uses of social psychology in international relations.
• Dr Adham Saouli: historical sociology, state formation, and social movements; politics and international relations of the Middle East; politics and foreign policy of divided states (Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq) and non-state actors (especially Hizbullah); and political violence.
• Dr William Vlcek: offshore financial centres, small states, money laundering, terrorist finance, international political economy, governmentality, casinos, accumulation by dispossession.
• Dr Frederic Volpi: the interaction between Islamism, democratisation and civility, including the construction of political Islam in pseudo-democratic contexts in North Africa and the implication for European foreign and multicultural policy.

The theme of interpenetration of civil societies and international relations encompasses work on religion and politics, debates around trauma and memorialisation, work on the ways in which ‘hidden actors’ are represented and understood in international relations (for example, children), ideas and practices revolving around human rights politics, and the politics of resistance in the global south.