Gather together in Lecture room 6 at New College and celebrate the launch of our termly journal, the Lighthouse! This term we have gathered together a myriad of fascinating articles which ask fundamental questions about progress. Does progess even exist? If it does is that a good or bad thing? To what extent is the study of International Relations founded on misguided notions of progress? 

Please join us for some discussions on all things IR as well as for the completemenatry alcohol provided by the society! If you've contributed to the journal do come to collect your praises and , if you're looking to be more involved in the editorial side of the International Relations Society ,come along and have a chat with the editorial team. We hope to see as many of you there as possible!

Also please note that this event will take place immediately after the talk by Dr. Jonathan Leader-Maynard at 7:30 in Lecture Room 6, New College, on 'Ideology and Genocide'. You are warmly invited to attend both or to simply come to the launch.

Dr Idler is the Director of Studies of the Changing Character of War Programme, Senior Research Fellow at Pembroke College, and Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford University. She is also Research Associate at the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, Graduate Institute Geneva. Her research interests lie at the interface of security, conflict and transnational organised crime and she has conducted extensive fieldwork in the war-torn and crisis-affected borderlands of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, analysing the relationships among rebels, criminals and paramilitary groups. Alongside her experience of working for the UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery and the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, she is regularly invited to give expert briefings to governments and international organisations including the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, the UN Department of Political Affairs and EUROPOL, among others.

She will be presenting on the topic: 'The Convergence of Conflict & Organised Crime'.

There will be a complimentary drinks reception after the talk, plus the opportunity to have dinner with Dr Idler before. If you wish to have dinner with the speaker, please follow the link below: https://goo.gl/forms/hos3O6xxtulXCxI92 

This event is FREE for members and £3 for non-members, with a special offer of £20 for lifetime membership of the Society available for a limited time.

Details to be announced, follow us on Facebook for the most up-to-date information or subscribe to our mailing list to get weekly updates about our events and publications.  

Details to be announced, follow us on Facebook for the most up-to-date information or subscribe to our mailing list to get weekly updates about our events and publications.  

Details to be announced, follow us on Facebook for the most up-to-date information or subscribe to our mailing list to get weekly updates about our events and publications.  

Details to be announced, follow us on Facebook for the most up-to-date information or subscribe to our mailing list to get weekly updates about our events and publications.  

Details to be announced, follow us on Facebook for the most up-to-date information or subscribe to our mailing list to get weekly updates about our events and publications.  

Details to be announced, follow us on Facebook for the most up-to-date information or subscribe to our mailing list to get weekly updates about our events and publications.  

Details to be announced, follow us on Facebook for the most up-to-date information or subscribe to our mailing list to get weekly updates about our events and publications.  

Zoya Phan is a political activist from Burma and the Campaigns Manager for the human rights organisation, Burma Campaign UK. She was an outspoken critic of the Burmese government when it was under direct military rule, repeatedly calling for democratic reform, as well as economic sanctions from both the British government and the United Nations. 

Following political changes in the country from 2011, she has continued to campaign for international action to end ongoing human rights violations, especially regarding the use of rape and sexual violence against ethnic women by the Burmese Army.

She will be speaking to us on the current situation in Burma, with a focus on human rights and ethnic minorities.

This event will be FREE for all IRSoc members and £3 for non-members. As with all our speaker events, the talk will be followed by a drinks reception for all attendees. The event will be held in the Danson room in Trinity College. 

For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the world is becoming less democratic. With Donald Trump a major contender for the White House and the Brexit referendum flying in the face of expert recommendations, the value of democracy is now being questioned. And the world’s despots are thriving. Why?

Dr. Brian Klaas will discuss his new book, explaining why we find ourselves in a global crisis of democracy -- and how the West is partly to blame. The Despot’s Accomplice draws on years of extensive interviews on the frontlines of the global struggle for democracy, from a poetry-reading, politician-kidnapping general in Madagascar to Islamist torture victims in Tunisia, Belarusian opposition activists tailed by the KGB, West African rebels, and tea-sipping members of the Thai junta. Cumulatively, their stories weave together a tale of a broken system at the root of democracy’s global retreat.

The event will be held at the Nissan Lecture Theatre at St. Antony's College and is also sponsored by the International Relations Society.

Oxford International Relations Society welcomes Ji-hyun Park, a North Korean defector who defected twice from the DPRK. Life in the ‘darkest place on earth’ was far from easy: Ji-hyun could no longer tolerate the suffering - a plan to escape had to be sought. Ji-hyun currently works for the European Alliance on North Korean Human Rights in developing their outreach programme. Come and hear her fascinating story.

This event is not to be missed. Entry will be £4 for non-members and the event will be followed by a drinks reception. Entry is free for members - membership can be purchased at the door, with life membership also available at a special discounted rate for this event. Location to be announced.

Follow this event on Facebook. 

Call for Submissions for Lighthouse (Oxford International Relations Society Journal) 

Formerly known as Sir, Lighthouse is launched as the new title for IRSoc’s journal! Right now we are accepting pitches (a paragraph / abstract describing your article idea) for Lighthouse’s Michaelmas 2016 issue. Send us your pitch and a writing sample to irsoclighthouseeditors@gmail.com by October 16th. 

Do you think that the behaviour of fans at the Euros says something about European relations at large, or maybe you think Eurovision is a better reflection? Do you think hummus plays a big role in Middle Eastern politics? Does the history of the spice trade have lasting repercussions today? 
In this term’s edition of Lighthouse we will be looking at how PEOPLE, our culture, our traditions, our art and our behaviour affect international politics, and we’d love to hear your ideas. We want Lighthouse to focus on the more artistic, the more alternative and the more human aspects of global relations.

Our symposium this year will be a collection of articles based on the theme of The Arts and IR. 

Art and creative expression has long been used as a key means of state power and political projection – consider the importance of Soviet art and architecture. However, art has also been used as a means of communicating dissent and resistance against top-down authority. We want to know about how exciting artistic projects across the world are bringing big change to their communities and promoting a better future for our world. How is a theatre project in Jordan bringing refugees together? How is a street art project in South America inspiring a new generation? Or how is a new fashion label in Liberia is empowering women economically?

If you think you have a great idea, send us a paragraph outlining your article idea and a writing/ art sample to irsoclighthouseeditors@gmail.com by October 16th. 

We’re not just looking for written pieces, but also artwork and creative design!
Artwork
Articles
Photo essays
Interviews
Cartoons
Note: Final written pieces are usually 800-1,500 words in length.

We are delighted to invite you to our first event of term, in which we will be hosting a cocktail party in Christ Church's JCR. Come along for the opportunity to find out more about Oxford's 2nd largest society and why we are known for leading the foreign affairs debate at Oxford University and beyond... 

- We will be offering FREE DRINKS to all members. Entry £4 for non-members. 
- We will also be offering DISCOUNTED MEMBERSHIP.
- Life membership will be available for £10 instead of the usual £20.
- If you sign up using Cashew with our promo code you will get a free £3, making membership only £7! 

If you're interested in international affairs, you should definitely come along and meet us. If you're only there for the free drinks we'll welcome you just the same...

Prof. Tickner has taught at the University of Southern California, and American University where her research has included international theory, peace, and feminist approaches to IR.  She served as President of the International Studies Association from 2006-7.  She will be addressing the society on the contributions made to the study of IR by analysing it from an feminist perspective, and incorporating gender theory into models of international behaviour.

The event will be FREE to IR Soc members, and followed by a drinks reception.

To celebrate the launch of its latest issue, 'Winners and Losers in International Relations', Sir, the journal of the Oxford International Relations Society, will be holding a party. Entry will be £1, with free drinks. We look forward to seeing you there!

Dominick Chilcott CMG is a British diplomat, currently the UK Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland. He spent a year in the Navy as a midshipman before studying Philosophy and Theology at Greyfriars. After graduating he joined the Foreign Office, spending eight years in Brussels and eventually working both as the Ambassador to Iran for just six weeks and now, currently, Ireland. He will be giving the society his insight into the life of British diplomats.

The event will be FREE to IR Soc members, and followed by the launch party for our journal Sir.

Dr Death is a senior lecturer in international political economy at the University of Manchester.  He co-edits the journal African Affairs.  Prof. Cornelissen is currently at Stellenbosch University in South Africa and specialises in international relations including those between Africa and the wider world.  They shall be discussing how the influence of the continent in the global sphere is increasing, and reflect on the trends we can expect in the coming decades.

The event will be FREE to IR Soc members, and followed by a drinks reception.

Philanthropist and model Noella Coursaris Musunka is the founder of Malaika, a nonprofit organisation that works to educate and empower girls and communities in her native country, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Educated in Switzerland, she studied business management, and worked as a model, including for Vanity Fair and Essence.

Coursaris has appeared alongside Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meetings and given a TED talk. In 2014, Coursaris was named one of the most influential Africans by New African magazine. She continues to model, using her profile to raise awareness for causes she believes in as a mother, a feminist and a believer in the basic human right to education, health and opportunity.

The event will be FREE to IR Soc members, and followed by a drinks reception.

Director of Survival International, Stephen Corry, has spent his whole career working for the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights. He will address the society on how forced development and conservation projects are destroying tribal peoples around the world. He exposes many of the truths that the big conservation organisations don’t want you to know, and demonstrates how fighting these abuses and putting tribal peoples at the forefront of the environmental movement is in the best interest of all humanity.

The event will be FREE to IR Soc members, and followed by a drinks reception.

The current director of the British Institute of Human Rights, Stephen Bowen has held senior posts within the UN, Amnesty International, and the UN Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Currently he holds the post of Visiting Professor of Human Rights Law at Queen Mary, London.  He shall be talking about when internal decisions made by states become the concern of the international community, and what intervention is justified in such cases.

The event will be FREE to IR Soc members, and followed by a drinks reception.

Kilian Kleinschmidt worked as a senior official at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and manager of the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, the population of which peaked at 156,000. He worked for the UNHCR for over 20 years, having previously worked for other humanitarian organisations such as the World Bank and World Food Programme, and now advises the German government. He will be discussing his experiences managing the Zaatari camp with the society. 

The event will be FREE to IR Soc members, and followed by a drinks reception.

Join Oxford International Relations Society for drinks at Trinity College this Friday 13 May! We've hired out the Danson Room and a bar tab so have a drink on us - it'll be a great opportunity to chat about IR and anything else.

Manuel Hassassian is a Palestinian-Armenian professor of political science who has been the Palestinian Authority's diplomatic representative to the UK after being appointed to the position by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

He will be coming to address the society on Thursday 12th May. He will be addressing the current state of the PLO, Israeli government and the viability of a two state solution in advance of the Paris Peace conference on the Middle East later this month.

The event will be open to all: FREE to IR Soc members and £2 for non members, and followed by a drinks reception.

Vickie Hawkins studied international relations at university, then moved into the third sector after graduating. She first worked at Oxfam and then as a financial coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières, moving between the UK and abroad, most recently for two years as Head of Mission in Myanmar. She became UK Executive Director in May 2014. She will be addressing the society on the subject of "Impartial Aid? Tackling the Challenges to Contemporary Humanitarian Action".

The event will be FREE to IR Soc members, and followed by a drinks reception.

Rafaello Pantucci, Director of International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute, will address the society on the history of Britain's engagement with the Middle East over the last 15 years and how this has influenced domestic terrorism and the position of the UK internationally.

As our first event of term, this will be FREE and will be followed by a short Q&A and drinks reception.