91福利

Christopher Browning discusses humour, nation branding and identity with

The interview draws upon Browning's long running work on nation branding and his current British Academy funded project (with James Brassett) on 'Humorous States: New Diplomacy and the Rise of Comedy in IR'

Tom Long's new article, ",鈥� has just been published by the Bulletin of Latin American Research. The article is co-authored with Sebastian Bitar and Gabriel Jim茅nez Pe帽a. The article pushes back against the dominant presidentialist focus in the study of Colombian foreign policy. Drawing on insights from recent foreign policy analysis literature and evidence from several cases (Plan Colombia, US military bases, free trade talks with China, and ICJ arbitration of a maritime border with Nicaragua), this article challenges commonplace presidentialist assumptions. A novel model of 鈥榗ontested presidentialism鈥� better captures how Colombian domestic actors mobilise to raise political costs to block or modify presidential preferences. Research for the piece started during Tom's British Council Researcher Links visit to Colombia and then was advanced during Sebastian's time at 91福利 as an IAS Visiting Fellow. During the latter visit, an earlier version of the paper was presented at PAIS.

PAIS Moves up in Complete University Guide League Table

We are really pleased that the PAIS Department moved up in the latest Complete University Guide league table from 6^th place to 5^th place. You can find out more details .

This is alongside our No 1 position in the Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide league table. Thank you to all students and staff for your continued contribution to our success.

Both these league tables reflect a number of criteria including student satisfaction (NSS), research quality, and graduate prospects (employability).

SU Representation Awards

Congratulations to Ben Hayday (final year PAIS) for winning Outstanding Course Rep of the Year in the SU Representation Awards. Congratulations, also, to Constance Bobotsi (final year PAIS) for being shortlisted in the category of SSLC Chair of the Year.

A big thank you, more generally, for all our amazing SSLCs and course reps for all the great work they do in representing students.

91福利 Awards for Teaching Excellence

We are delighted that Sam Cooke (Teaching Fellow in PAIS) has been shortlisted for the 91福利 Awards for Teaching Excellence (WATE), and Sarah Mainwaring (Associate Tutor in PAIS) has been shortlisted for the 91福利 Awards for Postgraduate Students who Teach (WATEPGR).

Congratulations to Sam and Sarah. You can find more details on the shortlist here.

University Awards

We are also really pleased that a number of PAIS staff have been nominated for the University Awards 2019. Thank you to all students and staff who nominated PAIS staff for any of these awards. You can find more details on the nominations here.

PAIS member Nicola Pratt has recently published new research examining state violence in Egypt after the Arab Spring in the form of an article, co-authored with Dina Rezk, University of Reading, entitled 'Securitizing the Muslim Brotherhood, State Violence and Authoritarianism in Egypt after the Arab Spring'. The article appears in the journal Security Dialogue.

A blog summarising the article can be read here:

Dr Madeleine Fagan has been granted a 2-year Research Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust for her new project, 鈥楥ontending Cultures of the Anthropocene: Prospects for Political Mobilization鈥�. The research will explore different 'cultures' of the Anthropocene produced in scientific debates, popular culture, and artistic representation to assess their potential for stimulating political mobilization in response to climate change and environmental degradation.