TBC

His Majesty the Emperor of Japan said during the State visit to the UK by him and Her Majesty the Empress in 2024: the UK and Japan are “friends like no other”. They both studied at Oxford. Japan adopted the Westminster political system and the modern British social and industrial system. But after the post-war period of economic growth, Japan lost three decades of economic might. The Committee to Examine Japan’s Lost 30 Years has formulated comprehensive proposals for the fundamental reform of national governance, which will be presented at this lecture.

TBC

Recent IR literature suggests that populist ideology, while primarily a domestic phenomenon, has distinct foreign policy implications, as populist leaders reject Western hegemony, transnational elites, and liberal international institutions. Yet how impactful is this stance, given the potential costs of defying the liberal order? This paper argues that populist leaders can pursue more radical foreign policies only when shielded from international economic constraints – most notably through natural resource rents.

The SCORE Hub is honored to invite you to a talk given by Lord John Alderdice, member of the House of Lords, Senior Research Fellow, Harris Manchester College and Director, Conference on the Resolution of Intractable Conflict (CRIC). Lord Alderdice will share his insights on the interplay between psychology, politics, and religion and how, and why, this sometimes leads to conflict and on other occasions to its prevention or resolution.

In a few generations, innovations in technology, industry, and the state brought us tremendous prosperity and progress. Now, amid the challenges of AI, autonomous weapons, and globe-spanning tech companies, and more, are humans losing control of their creations? Could the machines suppress our humanity, spirituality, and even replace the higher power? Join the Oxford Political Review to launch 18th issue, entitled 'Ghost in the Machine', with a panel discussion featuring experts on artificial intelligence, governance, media and religion.

Cost: £5 students, £10 non-students. If possible pay online on registering, otherwise at the door by cash, bank transfer, or card. Walk-ins welcome, but registration and pre-payment are warmly encouraged. You are warmly invited to the eighteenth annual OxPeace Day-conference, which takes place in the 80th year since the inaugural meeting of the UN General Assembly, held in the Methodist Central Hall, London in January-February 1946. That first meeting designed how the UN would operate to fulfil its Charter. Now in 2026 the UN exists in a world context that has undergone deep changes.

Ayşe Zarakol is a Professor of International Relations at the University of Cambridge and a Politics Fellow at Emmanuel College. She grew up in Istanbul, Turkey and moved to the US to attend Middlebury College, Vermont (BA in Political Science and Classical Studies).

In the recent Sky News and Tortoise Wargame podcast, Rob Johnson and Deborah Haynes asked our communities 'our enemies know our weaknesses, do you?'. This talk will aim to broaden that question set by using the evidence on societal resilience to ask our leaders, policy makers and decision makers 'our communities know their strengths, do you?'.

Week Eight (13 March, Old Library) Primary: Marge Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time, Chapters 19-20 Supplementary: Sara Ahmed, ‘A Killjoy Manifesto’ (2017)