Handling Uncertainty and Ambiguity in the COVID-19 Pandemic

The 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak is unprecedented. Yet some look to ready-made models to addressit. This creates confusion about more adaptive responses that reflect an uncertain and ambiguous context.Those assessing associated mental health challenges must be wary of overdiagnosis. Handling thepandemic well, requires engaging the public as mature partners

The Hollow Flag:The gulf between EU security rhetoric and real security

This paper argues that EU security policy suffers from an intrinsic, gnawing weakness. This weakness, the hollowness in the flag, is the absence of the public. In contrast to endless bureaucracies, meetings between elites, nice-sounding strategies or fine aspirations, real security comes from engaging the public in a serious, national conversation about the past, present and future of the nation, of Europe, and of the World. Implicitly, the EU recognises this. The EU flag, after all, symbolises a region, points to a shared history and set of values, and makes plain the central role of the peoples of Europe. Sadly, in practice, the people are missing. The flag is hollow. This paper seeks to illustrate the way in which the theory and practise of security in the EU leaves the people out of the conversation. Without a secure anchor in the hopes, fears and aspirations of real people – democratically constituted into the nation-states that make up the Union – security can only ever be an abstract concept.Whilst the dreams and plans of elites – for peace in Europe, for the protection of rights and democracy, for the expansion of the framework of the EU to new nations – may be praiseworthy, until and unless they are grounded in the demos, they remain only that: dreams. What’s more, failure to engage the people in a genuine discussion about security makes the world a more dangerous place. Despite the fears of EU elites and despite the founding myths of post-1945 Europe, militarism, the nation-state, and the masses are not intrinsically connected. It is in fact the opposite. Without the people, there is no real security

Scientists advise, ministers decide?:The role of scientific expertise in UK policymaking during the coronavirus pandemic

COVID-19 has been a transformational crisis, uprooting everyday lives and causing some of the most significant health, social, and economic challenges in recent memory. Similarly, coronavirus has also forced significant political change, refocusing attention on politics and policymaking structures during a time of crisis. This shift is exemplified by scientific advisers’ role at the forefront of governmental decision-making. Scientific advice has provided vital knowledge and insight into the government’s pandemic responses.However, the coronavirus pandemic has also highlighted the complex nature of combining science with politics, as well as the difficulties involved in distinguishing between expert advice and political or moral choices. Such complexity warrants a reconsideration of science’s impact on policymaking. Namely, from a long-term view, the growth of governmental experts started well before the coronavirus pandemic. Partly, this proliferation is driven by a desire to improve policymaking, given that there is a clear need to effectively consult, consider, and act on the advice of experts in all fields of government.Nevertheless, societal changes like a declining trust in government also mean that expert advice can increasingly be used as a tool to legitimate or depoliticise debates. Considering the complexity of fighting a global pandemic, this belies that advice must be effectively scrutinised within broader contextual or operational considerations – a government cannot simply ‘follow the science’. Coronavirus highlights the need for a renewed focus on the interplay of expertise and policymaking, considering who, why, and on what basis governments are advised – as well as what lessons they draw from it

Securitising education to prevent terrorism or losing direction?

This article examines the growing relationship between security and education, particularly in the light of the UK government’s Prevent Duty that seeks to tackle radicalisation in a variety of milieus, including universities. However, rather than seeing this process as being merely one-way, through a so-called securitisation of education (in the parlance of the Copenhagen School of International Relations), what is explored here is the dialectic between these two spheres. It is suggested that a heightened sensitivity to the supposed consequences of inflammatory rhetoric on the well-being of supposedly suggestible or vulnerable students has been in existence within education for quite some time. In that regards, the securitising efforts of politicians and officials are pushing against an open door. What’s more, it is proposed that the inability of the authorities to hold the line in support of absolute freedom of expression, within academia and beyond, tacitly encourages the very people the government would hope to detract

Brexit is on: Britain votes to leave the EU – experts respond

First paragraph: The United Kingdom has voted in a referendum to leave the European Union. It is a result which will have dramatic implications for the future of the global economy, international relations and the European continent. The UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, has given notice of his intention to resign. Here, leading experts offering explanations and opinions on what is an unprecedented geopolitical and economic situation. This article will update through the day. Access this article on The Conversation website: https://theconversation.com/brexit-is-on-britain-votes-to-leave-the-eu-experts-respond-6157

The forgotten role of government

Governments today prioritise the safety of citizens over inspiring them. But people everywhere and at all times have sought more to life than merely more of it. The power of belief in a cause or a project may be a more effective way of ensuring social resilience than merely focusing on security

Why Mumbai?

A blame-game for the Mumbai attacks between two of the world's nuclear powers - India and Pakistan -- is not in anyone's interest. The target Mumbai -- the Indian city that best captures the sub-continent's aspiration for change and development -- suggests the perpetrators to have been more influenced by Western nihilism and pessimism than by anything else, no matter where they coame from.Accepted versio

Is internet radicalization possible?

Ideas on the Internet do not independently transform people. The Internet is but a medium for communicating ideas that refelects society. If the content of the Internet is to be changed, it will be necessary to address the particular problems in society that the Internet mirrors.Accepted versio

Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies Year in Review 2010

Throughout 2010, there were several notable developments which had an impact on non-traditional security (NTS) concerns. These developments informed cooperation between states and societies across the Asia-Pacific at the local, national, regional and international levels. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) made important strides in 2010 with the convening of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) and the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus Eight (ADMM Plus Eight). The establishment of these institutions reflects ASEAN’s focus on the development of responsive regional mechanisms. In order to effectively enhance national institutions as well as the region’s capacity to respond to the many NTS challenges, it is important to understand, learn from and share what social resilience Year means in the various community and social settings in the region – these institutions can facilitate that process. NTS challenges in 2010 encompassed issues of human rights and democracy, principles enshrined in the ASEAN Charter. The political crisis in Thailand and the controversial national elections in Myanmar brought these issues to the fore. It has been continually noted that there are numerous inter-linkages among the policy areas of internal conflict, health, climate change, energy and food covered in this Year in Review. During the year there were several significant international conferences which brought together policymakers, practitioners and academics to address these policy concerns. Through this Year in Review, we bring you highlights of major NTS events and issues which have taken place across the Asia-Pacific in 2010, with particular focus on Southeast Asia