Global Conversations, from Scotland – Details, episodes & analysis

We are joined by Dr Ilia Xypolia, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Aberdeen; and Dr Zana Gul, Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Stirling.

They discuss their SCGA-funded project on the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, the first negotiated peace settlement post-World War One, its aftermath and its lessons for the greater Middle East.

Considered by some as the introduction of partition as a policy, and as the “birth certificate” of modern Turkey, the Treaty created a legacy that persists today.

While the Treaty also marked the beginning of the end of British foreign policy predominance, this episode discusses the UK’s persistent and discrete role in the greater Middle East today, the place of Turkey at the hinge of regional affairs, and touches upon aspects of gender. It also looks at how the Treaty prefigures the reconfiguration of power and influence that continues in global affairs today - with lessons and opportunities for Scotland’s role too.

Also mentioned: United States Institute of Peace and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recorded live at the Glasgow Human Rights Network’s Early Career Researcher event, Dr David Scott talks with Dr Elaine Webster (Strathclyde University), Prof Bruce Adamson (University of Glasgow), and Mhairi Snowden (Human Rights Consortium Scotland) on how to bring academia and practice together to work on human rights in Scotland.

 On 13 June 2024, the Glasgow Human Rights Network hosted its first Early Career Work-in-Progress Workshop at Strathclyde University, bringing together PhD students from the Universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde, Glasgow Caledonian University, and the University of the West of Scotland to present their work and make new connections with other early career academics.

On this episode of the SCGA podcast, the Network presents the workshop’s keynote panel on Human Rights Work in Practice, with Dr David Scott (Postdoctoral Research Associate in International Law and Governance at the Glasgow Centre for International Law and Security, University of Glasgow, and the Scottish Council on Global Affairs) joined by Dr Elaine Webster (Reader in Law at Strathclyde University), Prof Bruce Adamson (former Professor of Legal Practice at University of Glasgow and former Children and Young People’s Commissioner for Scotland), and Mhairi Snowden (Director at the Human Rights Consortium Scotland) to discuss their careers in human rights, the successful collaborations they have seen between academics and civil society, and the challenges and obstacles that can be encountered when trying to work together.

Supported by a SCGA Connections Award, this Early Career Workshop was the third and final relaunch event for the Glasgow Human Rights Network, which aims to foster new connections between academics, civil society organisations, and community and activist groups working on human rights issues across Scotland. You can learn more about the Glasgow Human Rights Network at https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/glasgowhumanrightsnetwork/ and on Twitter/X at @GlasgowHumRts. You can also join the Network’s mailing list by contacting GHRN@glasgow.ac.uk.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr David Scott talks with Laura Pasternak from Who Cares? Scotland and Mhairi Snowden from the Human Rights Consortium Scotland about the Scottish Government’s plans to write international human rights into Scots law.

On 15 June 2023, the Scottish Government published the long-awaited consultation on its plans to incorporate various UN human rights treaties into Scots law, subject to the limits of the devolved competence of the Scottish Parliament. Alongside putting rights like the right to housing and the right to a healthy environment into Scots law, the Bill proposes wide-sweeping changes for public authorities in Scotland, including enhanced human rights reporting and outcome monitoring and increased access to the courts for legal accountability.

On this episode of the SCGA podcast, Dr David Scott (Postdoctoral Research Associate in International Law and Governance at the Glasgow Centre for International Law and Security, University of Glasgow, and the Scottish Council on Global Affairs) is joined by Laura Pasternak (Policy & Public Affairs Manager at Who Cares? Scotland) and Mhairi Snowden (Director of the Human Rights Consortium Scotland) to discuss a new report on the Scottish Government’s human rights plans and the need to include Care Experienced people in its implementation.

The full report, ‘Incorporating International Human Rights: The protection of Care Experienced People’s Rights in the Scottish Human Rights Bill’.

The Human Rights Consortium Scotland’s response to the Consultation: https://hrcscotland.org/2023/10/09/consortium-publishes-scottish-human-rights-bill-consultation-responses/

Who Cares? Scotland’s response to the Consultation: https://www.whocaresscotland.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/WCS-Scottish-Human-Rights-Bill-consultation-response-Oct-2023-Final.pdf

Human Rights Consortium Scotland - @HRCScotland

Who Cares? Scotland - @whocaresscot

Dr David Scott - @David_M_Scott_

SCGA - @scga_scot

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Professor Rebecca Kay talks to John Edward on her research on migration and depopulation, prepared for the SCGA. This is at the same time that Migration Policy Scotland, where Professor Kay now works, published a key report on Attitudes to Migration: A view from Scotland; and the Scottish Census 2022 results were released.

The population of Scotland was estimated to be 5,436,600 on Census Day 2022, according to new data released by National Records of Scotland. This is the largest population ever recorded by Scotland’s Census and shows that without migration the population of Scotland would have decreased by around 49,800 since 2011.

Professor Kay, is an expert on migration issues in Scotland. She has over 25 years’ experience of social research and is particularly skilled in qualitative research including participatory and action research. She designed and led a large 5-year study of migration from Eastern Europe to Scotland, has been involved in research on issues relating to language learning and migrant integration in Scotland, and is chair of the Scottish Government’s Expert Advisory Group on Migration and Population which provides advice to government on Scotland’s migration needs and challenges and presents policy options and analysis through a series of regular reports.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SCGA Co-Director Phillips O'Brien speaks with Minna Ålander of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs on the implications of the Russo-Ukraine War for the Security in the “Wider North” of Europe.

They consider:

• The Russian security challenge/threat now in the Wider North and in the near future
• The integration of Finland and Sweden and changing security equation for NATO
• Wider North regional resilience and how it can be improved
• The most pressing issues now and in the near future that require cooperation with Russia in the Wider North - such a nuclear waste-clean-up and climate change/ice melt.

Professor Phillips O'Brien is Head of the School of International Relations and Professor of Strategic Studies at the University of St Andrews. He is a Co-Director of the Scottish Council on Global Affairs.

Minna Ålander is research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. Her research focuses on Northern European security and Nordic defence cooperation, as well as Finnish and German foreign and security policy.

See also the SCGA website.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our first podcast, SCGA Head of Operations John Edward talks with Professor Peter Jackson, SCGA Executive Director. The episode covers what the Council is, how it works, what its priorities are, and what lies ahead.

"There is a pressing need to marshal Scotland’s formidable expertise on international affairs to support the formulation of public policy and to lift the level of debate over international questions in the public sphere."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On 16 January 2024, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 entered into law, ending a multi-year push by civil society to see international children’s rights written into Scots law.

On this episode of the SCGA podcast, Dr David Scott (Postdoctoral Research Associate in International Law and Governance at the Glasgow Centre for International Law and Security, University of Glasgow, and the Scottish Council on Global Affairs) is joined by Professor Bruce Adamson (Professor in Practice at the School of Law, University of Glasgow and former Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland) and Josh Kennedy (former Chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament) to discuss the long road leading up to the Act’s passage, the obstacles the Act faced – including a successful challenge to a previous draft of the Act before the UK Supreme Court - and the hopes they have for the future of children’s rights in Scotland.

For more on Scotland’s human rights plans, you can find a previous episode of the SCGA podcast on the Scottish Human Rights Bill at https://scga.scot/2023/10/24/human-rights-scots-law/. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this podcast, John Edward speaks to Prof. Tom Scotto and Dr Claire Duncanson of the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh respectively, on their work on public attitudes in Scotland.

In the first detailed study of its kind, they have looked at attitudes across nationalist and unionist persuasions to key international issues of today – wellbeing, global justice, colonial legacies, military force and development spending. In particular they have looked at attitudes to the feminist approach to foreign policy supported by the Scottish Government, among others. A full report “Good Global Citizens”, and open-source data set and code book are available at scga.scot.

Further reading:

The structure of foreign policy attitudes in transatlantic perspective: Comparing the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany

Scotland the Brave? An authentic, ambitious and accountable Feminist Foreign Policy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Four years on since the pandemic broke across the world SCGA looks at the prospects for a new Pandemic Treaty. John Edward speaks to Dr Stephanie Switzer of the University of Strathclyde and Dr Mark Eccleston-Turner of King’s College London.

Equity has been sorely lacking in pandemic preparedness and response, and COVID-19 is the latest example. The World Health Assembly of the WHO is due to finalise a Pandemic Treaty negotiated by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body in May/June 2024. We look at how far apart countries of the Global North and South still are, and what this intergovernmental response tells us about preparedness and the search for equity ahead of whatever pandemic may come next.

An SCGA Insight paper on this project is also available, with the contribution of Abbie Rose-Hampton and Michelle Rourke.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the last edition of 2023 Dr. Tyler White, Associate Professor of Practice and the Director of the National Security Program at the University of Nebraska talks to John Edward about deterrence and assurance. Since warfare entered the atomic and nuclear age, deterrence and assurance have highlighted the perils and sought success in keeping the world safe.

• Where did the 1980's fear of nuclear weapon go?
• Has success in deterrence been undone by new forms of peril?
• How do you engage the right people to study these issues?
• Should we all now consider ourselves our own intelligence analysts?

Tyler is one of the members of the US Strategic Command's Academic Alliance. The most recent DAAA conference, organised in Edinburgh by the UK's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory was in partnership with the SCoGA.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.