糖心TV

Dr Charlotte Heath-Kelly has recently been cited in an article in The Guardian. The article, titled "Take it from an airport security agent: it's OK to laugh at toothpaste terror threats," can be viewed here:

Dr Heath-Kelly's citation can also be read below:

In 2012, the international relations scholar Charlotte Heath-Kelly that the War on Terror can be viewed as the lovechild of Franz Kafka and Monty Python as much as that of any vice president and foreign minister.

“The War on Terror undermines itself by narrating a liminal space where its claims of security appear ridiculous,” Heath-Kelly writes. “A failure to laugh consolidates the War on Terror discourse and the joke it is playing on us by taking it seriously.”

China Plate Theatre, Caroline Horton & Co and The Bush Theatre. are developing a brand new piece of theatre (commissioned by 糖心TV Arts Centre and Harlow Playhouse) about tax havens, offshore finance and tax justice. Islands will confront (one of the first pieces of theatre to do so) this terrifying and little understood world with a show that will entertain and educate the general public on a national scale.

The production will be developed across the autumn, including a preview tour to South Street Reading, 糖心TV Arts Centre, Cambridge Junction and Live Theatre, before it opens for a 5- week run at the Bush Theatre in London.

Islands has been developed in consultation with specialist economic advisers including John Christensen of The Tax Justice Network. Alongside the performances at The Bush, there will be an interactive foyer installation made in collaboration with The Tax Justice Network. The installation will inhabit the theatre foyer, providing a place for audiences to engage and learn about tax havens and international finance and encourage them in contemplating change.

China Plate and Caroline Horton and Co. are currently welcoming applications from PAIS students to play a key role (alongside the Tax Justice Network and creative team) in the development and implementation of the interactive tax justice foyer installation.

Islands is an illuminating, absurd and powerful new show about tax havens, little empires, enormous greed and the few who have it all. Hilarious and unnerving, this ink black comedy with music will plunge audiences into a monstrous, secretive world where it really seems that no-one has to pay.... for anything.

It has been suggested that tax avoidance (after climate change) is the most destabilizing phenomenon to affect the modern world. Oxfam estimate that there is $18.5 trillion siphoned out of the world economy into tax havens by wealthy individuals alone. Christian Aid has calculated that 1,000 children die every day as a result of tax evasion. This is not just a political or social challenge; this is a matter of human rights.

Islands sees multi award-winning and Olivier nominated Caroline Horton (Mess, You’re Not Like The Other Girls Chrissy) re-united with Bush Theatre Associate Director, Omar Elerian (The Mill – City of Dreams, Bradford, Yorkshire; You're Not Like The Other Girls Chrissy).

Please see this PDF for more information.

'', co-authored by (PAIS) and Columba Peoples (University of Bristol), introduces readers to the sub-field through a detailed yet accessible survey of evolving approaches and key issues.

The book is divided into two main parts. The first part, ‘Approaches’, surveys the newly extended and contested theoretical terrain of critical security studies: Critical Theory, Feminism and gender theory, Postcolonialism, Poststructuralism and Securitization theory. The second part, ‘Issues’, then illustrates these various theoretical approaches against the backdrop of a diverse range of issues in contemporary security practices, from environmental, human and homeland security to border security, technology and warfare, and the War against Terrorism.

This new edition contains two new chapters on ‘Constructivism’ and ‘Health’ and has been fully revised and updated.

Reviews of the Second Edition:

"I use Critical Security Studies as a required reading for my courses in Paris and London — it is in my view the best introduction to the topic and this second edition is very welcome" -- Didier Bigo, Sciences-Po, Paris

"Combining breadth and accessibility with cutting-edge contributions, the second edition of this book provides an excellent overview of critical security studies today" -- Michael C. Williams, University of Ottawa

"This second edition gives us a most welcome update of what remains a key introduction to critical security studies. It is great to see the most recent developments in this vibrant field of research included" -- Jef Huysmans, Open University

"The book is more than an introduction to the field - it is an injunction to rethink the political-theoretical underpinnings in critical approaches and take the debates further" -- Claudia Aradau, King's College London

Further information about the book can be accessed from the publisher’s website here:

The Great Transformation, by Karl Polanyi, celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. The economic historian’s great work holds a compelling and alternative understanding of the economic and financial crises affecting the economy today. , and explain why The Great Transformation is a great alternative to the ideas of John Maynard Keynes, Karl Marx or Friedrich Hayek.

Dr. , Program Director for the MA in International Relations here in PAIS, is an editor on the new book Counter-Radicalisation.

This book offers a wide-ranging and critical examination of recent counter-radicalisation policies, using case studies from several countries.

Counter-radicalisation policies, such as the UK ‘Prevent’ strategy, have been highly controversial and increasingly criticised since their introduction. In this edited volume, voices from disciplines including sociology, political science, criminology and International Relations are brought together to address issues across the global roll-out of counter-radicalisation agendas. In so doing, the book critically interrogates: (i) the connections between counter-radicalisation and other governmental programmes and priorities relating to integration and community cohesion; (ii) the questionable dependence of counter-radicalisation initiatives on discourses and assumptions about race, risk and vulnerability to extremism; and, (iii) the limitations of existing counter-radicalisation machineries for addressing relatively new types of extremism including amongst ‘right-wing’ activists.

Through examining these questions, the book draws on a range of contemporary case studies spanning from counter-radicalisation in the UK, Germany and Denmark, through to detailed analyses of specific preventative initiatives in Australia and the United States. Conceptually, the chapters engage with a range of critical approaches, including discourse theory, autoethnography and governmentality.

This book will be of much interest to students of radicalisation, critical terrorism studies, counter-terrorism, sociology, security studies and IR in general.