This spring, a number of our experts in the Department of Politics and International Relations took part in workshops, talks, and events hosted by other organisations.
Dr. James Johnson spoke about his new book, The AI Commander (Oxford University Press, 2024), at the Institute of Global Politics at Columbia University and at the Belfer Center at the Kennedy School, Harvard University.
Dr Lynn Bennie spoke at an event hosted by the Electoral Reform Society in Edinburgh. The public event, entitled ‘A Scottish Spring: Building a Democracy fit for the 21st Century’, involved pollsters, politicians and academics reflecting on the state of democracy, devolution and public engagement. The participants highlighted severe public policy challenges facing Scotland and other liberal democracies, and called for bold thinking and consensus-building.
Professor Mervyn Bain participated in the international workshop “Transnational Training, Education and Knowledge Exchange in Revolutionary Cuba” which took place at the University of Cambridge. The workshop was attended by participants from Cuba, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Peru, UK, and the US.
Professor Bain was also invited to London to interact with colleagues from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) concerning Russian engagement with Latin America.
The Department also welcomed Professor Cyril Hovorun to campus for their Politics and International Relations Seminar series. Professor Hovorun, who is a professor of ecclesiology, international relations and ecumenism at Sankt Ignatios College, University College Stockholm, and director of the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, spoke on emerging ideological frameworks: Putinism and Trumpism.