Following a recent simulation of a scenario where there was a ‘failure of deterrence’, Rob Johnson examines the implications of recent geopolitical developments, asking how accurate our analyses are. He examines the challenges of critical evaluation in this period of change in the international situation and how urgent it is for scholars to develop a better understanding of escalation, deterrence, and coercion.

How does Europe plan to defend itself amidst constrained resources and geopolitical uncertainty? This presentation explores the fundamental role of the European Defense Technological Industrial Base (EDTIB) in providing materiel for a sustainable and credible deterrent, analyzing its status and challenges, assessing initiatives in progress, and providing potential options for policymakers.

China Centre Book Talk: Institutional Genes: The Origins of China’s Institutions and Totalitarianism
by Chenggang Xu (Cambridge University Press, 2025)

This book explores the origins and evolution of China’s institutions and communist totalitarianism in general. Contemporary China's fundamental institution is communist totalitarianism. Introducing the concept of Institutional Genes (IGs), the book examines how the IGs of Soviet Russia merged with those of the Chinese imperial system, creating a durable totalitarian regime with Chinese characteristics.

China Centre Book Talk: Governing Digital China by Daniela Stockmann and Ting Luo

"Why I Write" - Natasha Trethewey, United States Poet Laureate (2012-2014) and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, will deliver the 2025 Esmond Harmsworth Lecture in American Arts and Letters. The event will be followed by a drinks reception and book signing.

Kerala has been widely regarded, throughout the latter part of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, as one of the most progressive and egalitarian states of India. Its transformation, from one of the most oppressively hierarchical regions in the nineteenth century, has been facilitated by both radical politics and campaigning religious reform movements. The movement led by Trivandrum-born spiritual leader and social activist Sri Narayana Guru (1854-1928) has been especially influential.