Even for those in the know, foreign policy is a broad term. From national defence, to human rights, migration or even trade, it can refer to an enormous range of issues.
To reflect this complexity, we have developed six research programmes, each dedicated to a different area of foreign policy.
The Heads of each programme are experts in their field. Along with a wide network of fantastic contributors and partners, they produce work that aims to break down what’s happening in their space, understand it, and share it with a wider audience.
This Programme is focused on the UK’s role in global military and civilian operations. Amidst new, asymmetric non-state threats, an emerging China-US power struggle, and other state actors challenging the rule-based international system, this topic brings with it a range of evolving challenges.
As the balance of power across the world shifts, topics like voting rights, public engagement, and institutions become even more important. The Democracy & Governance Programme provides a platform to share and discuss such topics, exploring questions like how democracies can be strengthened, what democratic participation looks like, and what makes an effective institution.
From Kyoto and Stockholm, Paris and soon Glasgow – the momentum in the fight against the Climate Crisis is building steam, including in the UK. Our Energy & Environment team analyses the UK’s climate policy, its roadmap to decarbonisation, the dawn of the circular economy and resource and waste issues, green finance, pollution, biodiversity, and more.
Changes in Europe, and its relationship with the UK, will be a defining feature for the continent and a central focus of British foreign policy over the next few years. The Europe Programme is focused on these changes, with a particular focus on upcoming elections and party politics, developments in Europe that impact UK foreign policy, and how the UK’s relationship with Europe may evolve.
The Identities Programme recognises that it is not always sufficient to confine discussions to existing policies, and works to re-imagine conventional policy-making by approaching it through different lenses. By recognising overlapping issues of class, culture and intersectional identities, it aims to bring nuance into topical discussions over identity and what it means to ‘belong’.
Migration to the UK has been pushed to the forefront of the public debate with a highly emotional tone in recent years. The Migration team aims to provide a critical assessment of the debates and policies in place, bringing innovative ideas and new ways of thinking about migration. It focused in particular on questions related to asylum seekers and refugees, European migrants in the UK post-Brexit, and issues pertaining to gender and education.
Do contact our Programme Heads if you want to know more about any of these areas. Their details are on each programme page.