News and Events
The Institute Announces a 3-Year ESRC PhD Studentship
The David Davies Memorial Institute of International Studies is pleased to announce a
3-year studentship to undertake a PhD. This will be funded as part of
an ESRC/AHRC 3-year Fellowship on 'The Challenges to Trust-Building in Nuclear Worlds'. The
grant is under the 'RCUK Global Uncertainties: Security for all in a Changing World' Programme
and is held by Professor Nicholas Wheeler at Aberystwyth (PI) who will be the Primary
Supervisor for this studentship.
The central research question to be addressed by the linked studentship
is: "What role has trust played and can play in the nuclear relationship between the United
States and USSR (1983-1991) and the United States and Russia (1991-2010)"? For more
information, please consult the summary statement of the PhD
studentship or the full advertisement of the position.
Research Opportunity - The Institute Calls for Interns on South Africa and Trust and/or Canada and Climate Change
The David Davies Memorial Institute of International Studies has issued a
call for interns: we will be taking on persons interested in unpaid
research internships on one or both of the following projects: "South
Africa and nuclear weapons - was the decision to renounce a 'leap of
trust'?" and/or "The Climate Change Challenge in Canadian Foreign Policy
for the 21st Century"
Interns need not be based in Aberystwyth. Interns will be asked to work
for up to three days a week (hours negotiable) for three month blocks
since the jobs will likely not be completed in less time. The DDMI will
keep arrangements on file and regularly review them with the intern.
Interns are entitled to repayment of reasonable out of pocket expenses.
Their name, photograph and the nature of their research will be posted to
the DDMI website and Facebook group.
The Institute has consulted CAVO guildelines on volunteering and has
attempted to follow them to the best of its ability.
Nicholas Wheeler: Trust Building and Nuclear Abolition
Professor Wheeler has released a paper entitled "Nuclear Abolition: Trust-Building's Greatest Challenge."
This paper is a commissioned background research paper for the International Commission on Nuclear
Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, a joint initiative of the Australian and Japanese Governments that aims to reinvigorate
international efforts on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, in the context of both the
2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference and beyond. The following is the
first paragraph of the executive summary of the paper:
The concept of trust has been marginalised in the theory and practice of International
Relations, and this has had negative consequences for exploring viable alternatives to a
nuclear-armed world. For the most part, the mainstream has conceded the view that because of
the inescapable uncertainties that confront governments about the motives and intentions of
others - the security dilemma - it is dangerous to trust in the peaceful intentions of states
that have the capabilities to inflict great harm. The paper challenges this position by arguing
that while trust can never be separated from the condition of uncertainty, this does not
prevent governments and societies from developing the political conditions that can mitigate
and even eliminate interstate security competition. Building trust at the international level
is particularly demanding because it is the sphere of politics where the safety nets are at
their flimsiest, and the costs of misplaced trust are at their most expensive. This has never
been more the case than with nuclear weapons. This is why the internationalisation of trust
will be so difficult to achieve in such a high-stakes arena, but also why trust-building is so
urgently needed if the logic of fear and mistrust is not to feed further nuclear proliferation.
November 6 - DDMI Conference on Climate Change
Professor Robyn Eckersley |
The David Davies Memorial Institute of International Studies hosted a symposium on climate change entitled Copenhagen and Climate Change: The Stakes; The Politics in the Main Hall of the International Politics Building at Aberystwyth University on 6 November 2009.
For complete information, please download the programme.
A videocast of this conference is now available:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
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November 5 - Marek Kohn Gives Seminar on Trust Building
Dr. Marek Kohn |
Dr. Marek Kohn, Fellow of the Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics at the University of Brighton, gave a talk entitled "Trust & Distrust in Yesterday's & Tomorrow's Europe" on 5 November 2009 from 13:00 to 15:00 in the Main Hall of the International Politics Building at Aberystwyth University. The following is a summary of the talk:
During the First World War, many soldiers on the Western Front responded to the unprecedented conditions of modern warfare by establishing covert truces across the lines. Trust grew between enemies who had decided, against all the beliefs that had brought them to the front, that their interests lay in co-operation. The war changed the map of Europe - and the next war changed it again. Nations that gained and then lost their independence have been left with a deep existential anxiety about their continued survival, and deep scepticism that the old Europe of rival powers really has changed for good. Today, defence anxieties revolve around guided missiles rather than barbed wire and tanks, and the challenge is not how to achieve trust between adversaries in a crisis, but how to develop trust among neighbours in the absence of crisis.
His published works include As We Know It: Coming to Terms with an Evolved Mind, A Reason For Everything: Natural Selection and the English Imagination and most recently, Trust: Self- Interest and the Common Good. A collection of his works can be found on his website. An audio recording of the seminar is now available to be downloaded (mp3, 25.8MB). |
Joint Talk with the Foreign and Commenwealth Office
The David Davies Memorial Institute of International Studies hosted a joint talk with speakers from the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office on the 22nd of October.
Professor Wheeler and Paul Bentall
This talk featured two speakers from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office:
Paul Bentall - part of the International Security and Institutions
Research Group in the Research Analysts section of the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office spoke on "Recent Trends in the UN Security Council"
Greg Quinn - Head of the UN Political Team in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office spoke on "UN Security Council Reform - Why, When, and How"
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