Blog

By Dr James Johnson, Lecturer in Strategic Studies, University of Aberdeen

In a recent article published with The Washington Quarterly I describe the significant (and growing) gap between the expectations and fears of public opinion, policymakers, and global defense communities about artificial intelligence (AI) and its actual military capabilities, particularly in the nuclear…

The SNP and Scottish Greens have published an agreement that outlines the terms of their collaboration in government. This is not a coalition but a governing partnership – and one that is unique in the history of Scottish and UK politics.

It’s the first time the Greens will enter a national government…

In September 2019, I joined the staff of the Department as Anthropology as the first Lecturer in Museum Studies. Previously, I was a Teaching Fellow at the School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester, where I inaugurated a collective focused on the development of Museum Studies pedagogy; PRISM.

A US Presidential Election isn’t a single day event.  Well, it is – in that voters have one day in which to cast their ballot for the president.  But the contest begins well in advance of the November election, and this year is no exception.  No sooner had Donald Trump…

Brexit and Belonging: An interview with Katharine Tyler (Associate Professor in Anthropology, University of Exeter) and Cathrine Degnen (Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Newcastle University) about their anthropological research into Brexit, by Andrew Whitehouse (Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Aberdeen).

I recently interviewed Katharine Tyler (Principal Investigator) and Cathrine…

Brexit and Belonging: An interview with Katharine Tyler (Associate Professor in Anthropology, University of Exeter) and Cathrine Degnen (Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Newcastle University) about their anthropological research into Brexit, by Andrew Whitehouse (Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Aberdeen).

I recently interviewed Katharine Tyler (Principal Investigator) and Cathrine…

The SNP’s opponents portray it as separatist and divisive.  Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack, has described the SNP’s politics as ‘narrow, angry nationalism’  akin to extremist movements in Europe. The leader of Scottish Labour, Richard Leonard, is fond of comparing the Scottish independence debate with that of Brexit,…

The twentieth anniversary of devolution provides an obvious opportunity for reflection.  Twenty years of the Scottish Parliament has seen five first ministers, three acts pertaining to devolution, three commissions, a ‘national conversation’ and a referendum on Scotland’s place in the Union.  Before his death in 1994, Labour leader John Smith…

The British constitution has long been admired around the world for stability and consensus. Forged in the civil wars across the three kingdoms in the seventeenth century, it has often been presented as an effective balance between executive and legislative power. Originally the instrument of oligarchy, it gradually adapted to…

French president Emmanuel Macron recently spoke out against Turkey exploring for natural gas in waters claimed by Cyprus, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish leader, was quick to rebuke him: “We are one of the guarantor countries in Cyprus. Greece and the United Kingdom are also the guarantor countries. What…