The MAIR (Masters in International Relations) Research Seminar Series

Convened by Dr Patrick Holden and Dr Shabnam Holliday.

13 October 2021
Dr Shabnam Holliday, University of Plymouth | ‘Liberal world order’, ‘rogue state’ status, and legitimacy: Iran-US relations and world order’

2 February 2022
Dr Piers Revell, University of Plymouth | COP26 – A Post-Mortem

9 February 2022
Nelson Agbor, University of Plymouth PhD candidate | Researching the Political and Human Rights Crisis in Cameroon?

16 February 2022
Dr Gregorio Bettiza, University of Exeter | Civilisationism and the Ideological Contestation of the Liberal International Order

23 February 2022
Dr Paola Rivetti, Dublin City University (online) | Revolution and Counter-Revolution in the Middle East and North Africa

16 March 2022
Dr Eric Woods, University of Plymouth | The New Nationalism in America and Beyond: Ethnic Nationalism in a Digital Age

Thursday 11 February: A conversation with Marina Litvinenko
An engineer by training, and a former professional ballroom dancer, Marina is the widow of Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian FSB officer who was assassinated in London in 2006. Marina played an active role in seeking justice for her husband, culminating in a British public inquiry, which concluded in 2016 that the FSB probably directed the killing. Marina was interviewed by John Dobson (former UK naval attaché to the Soviet Union/Russia and Chairman of the Plymouth branch of the University of the Third Age) and Dr Patrick Holden (programme leader for the Masters in International Relations degree at the University).

The conversation was open to the audience for a question and answer session.Topics ranged from Marina’s personal story, including her struggle for justice for her husband, to broader political questions including Russian politics, Russian relations with the West and the challenge of ‘fake news’ and disinformation. This event was sponsored by the School of Criminology, Government and Law in partnership with the University of the Third Age.

Wednesday 6 March: Brexit: Where are we now?
Patrick Holden (Reader in International Relations) gave a briefing on the current state of Brexit negotiations and the UK’s departure from the EU with contributions from Jason Lowther (Reader in Law), both from the School of Law, Criminology and Government. This then opened out into an interactive Q&A and discussion format. After the end of the presentation a lively discussion continued outside the lecture theatre with University of Plymouth students and staff form the UK and EU.

Wednesday 13 March: The Chinese People’s Trust in Their Government (speaker: Shuqiao Li, Visiting researcher)
According to the investigation of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, the Chinese people’s trust in their government ranks first. This may reflect the huge improvement of Chinese people’s life since 1978 and this is also related to the culture of China. Chinese people are inclined to trust their government. It is very different from Western. The Western may be inclined to doubt their government and this is the origin of the Democracy. Another interesting phenomenon, compared with the Western, Chinese people trust their central government more than their local government. This is related to the factor of system, culture, the control of mass media, and etc.

Wednesday 20 March: Power and Cyber-diplomacy in the Post-liberal Order (speaker: Dr Andre Barrinha, University of Bath)
It is becoming increasingly consensual that we have or are now transitioning from an international liberal order to a different reality. Whether that reality is different solely in terms of power dynamics, or also in terms of values and institutions is up for discussion. This presentation aimed to explore how that transition applies to cyberspace by focusing on the concept of cyber-diplomacy. As was argued, if cyberspace is a creation of the liberal order, cyber-diplomacy is eminently post-liberal. What role it plays in shaping this new order and what it mean in terms of the future of cyberspace, constituted key points of discussion.

Wednesday 3 April: 40th Anniversary of the Iranian Revolution (speakers: Dr Shabnam Holliday and Dr Christian Emery)
This round table explored the legacy of the 1979 Revolution. This was done in two parts. Dr Emery provided an analysis of Iran’s foreign policy while Dr Holliday explored political identities and political transformation.

Wednesday 14 February: Understanding India’s Partition Using Game Theory (speaker: Atul Mishra, University of Plymouth)
One of the puzzles of modern Indian history is the partition of India in the form it took in 1947. Jinnah accepted a 'moth eaten Pakistan' in 1947 which he had twice rejected before. Using elementary notions from game theory we saw how this became highly likely, if not inevitable.

Wednesday 7 March: The Multidimensional Kurdish Model and Unpredictable Season of Kurdish Geopolitics in the Middle East (speaker: Dr Omer Tekdemir, University of Leicester)
The so-called Kurdish question is an outcome of the imperial and colonised history. The Kurds, as an emerging power, are at a historic crossroads and redrawing the borders of the Sykes-Picot map. However, having a possible 'independent Kurdistan' and radical democratic autonomy in the 'new' Middle East created a hegemonic articulation, power struggle, and antagonism with the region's nation(alist) states (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, and Iran) and beyond.

Wednesday 21 March: Kant's Political Theology of Perpetual Peace (speaker: Dr Sean Molloy, University of Kent)
Sean Molloy argued that Kant should not be read as a forerunner of Cosmopolitanism or Democratic Peace theorists, but as a thinker absolutely determined to square the requirements of political necessity and the commands of the moral law. Molloy stressed that the key to this process lies in Kant's articulation of a specifically theological way of conceiving political existence, one in which the "foul Stain of our species" is redeemed by the sacrifice of knowledge to faith.

Wednesday 16 May: Responding to planetary environmental change: geoengineering, Pachamama and ecopedagogy (speaker: Professor David Humphreys, Open University)
Options for responding to global environmental change range from the highly hubristic and technocentric proposal to control the Earth’s temperature through controversial and unproven geoengineering techniques, to the suggestion that a new jurisprudence be developed in which nature’s rights are central. Planetary change also raises questions about the role that should be played by educators.

June 2018: Keynote address at the Faculty of Business Doctoral Conference
Brexit Opportunities and Challenges for Researchers (Patrick Holden and Mary Farrell).
Watch the keynote address

Wednesday 24 October: Using Turning Technologies/Responseware in large groups (lectures) (speaker: Dr Lorenzo Cladi, University of Plymouth)
With its promise to keep students engaged in an interactive way, the use of Turning Technologies/Responseware is becoming an increasingly common practice in higher education. Lorenzo discussed his experience of using Turning Technologies/Responseware during lectures to large groups of students at stage 2 of their degree at the University of Plymouth. Moreover, Lorenzo shared some of the lessons that he has learnt so far by using Turning Technologies/Responseware in large groups.

Wednesday 31 October: Space warfare and the implications for extended deterrence, capabilities and the character of war in the 21st century (speaker: Dr Simon Smith, University of Staffordshire)
US space policy signifies the resolve to contribute to the defence of allied space systems. Yet, there is little in the literature examining theoretical or policy implications in terms of applying extended deterrence theory to the domain of space and in connection to collective security organisations. This research is a first step into examining the theoretical implications of what space deterrence means at the collective security level.

Wednesday 5 December: The Politics of Healthcare (speaker: Professor Stephen Green, Sheffield Hallam University)
Some, not infrequently politicians, consider health to be of lesser importance than many other matters in the political sphere. However, health is undoubtedly important at both the individual disease level and at population/epidemic levels. A vast number of issues come into the mix, including matters of profit and social responsibility, the private-public debate, cross-border movement of healthcare staff, medical research, maintenance of standards, healthcare tourism, and international co-operation over public health issues (such as Ebola and influenza), biological and chemical warfare, pollution and climate control, and much else. Furthermore different countries do things differently. Health is in fact of great importance to politics and international relations...