Comment, analysis, news

At particular risk: women and girls in the military

02/08/2021
The Women in the Armed Forces report evidences abuse and harassment on a systemic scale. Can the gap between good intentions and bad practice ever be bridged in a military culture? As the army launches its recruitment advert aimed at women, what are the particular implications for girl recruits under 18.  

Checking in with the neocons

26/07/2021
The recent visit to the US by the Secretary of State for Defence provided the opportunity for a speech to the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute, laying out the UK's new strategy for defence and foreign policy.

Embedding the Covenant

26/06/2021
Over the last decade, local authorities and thousands of private and public organisations across the UK have pledged to promote the military through events such as Armed Forces Day. We explore how the Armed Forces Covenant enables this and how plans to further embed it in law are more widely problematic.

Stop recruiting children, rights groups tell MoD

23/06/2021
Twenty major children’s and human rights organisations have written to the UK government today, calling for an end to the recruitment of children by the UK armed forces.

Pinkwashing War: Pride and Militarism

16/06/2021
With June's Pride events underway we look at their sponsorship by the armed forces and defence industry and how activists have challenged this.

The Armed Forces Bill: lost opportunities and some dubious proposals

26/04/2021
The Armed Forces Bill proposes important changes to the military justice system and will make civil society obligations under the Armed Forces Covenant a legal duty. We look at these and other matters of interest that have come up in the process.

The Integrated Review: enmeshing and strengthening the military

24/03/2021
The government’s new defence and foreign policy review prioritises military thinking and interests at the expense of other international approaches and vital human security goals. Here we look at some of the Review's key elements and the implications of this new vision.

A tough year but business as usual

24/12/2020
‘Tough year’ doesn't quite capture the extent to which our lives have been shaped by crises in 2020. Militarism, however, has not been locked down. Here is some of what we have been keeping an eye on this year as we look towards 2021.

Creating barriers to justice

02/11/2020
We take a look at the extensive criticism that the controversial Overseas Operations Bill is gathering as it makes its way through Parliament and how, without serious challenge, this self interested legislation will create barriers to justice for all those caught up in warfare.

The Overseas Operations Bill: A Tale Of Two Militarisms? 

27/08/2020
The Labour party is finally engaging with a bill that could rewrite the law around prosecutions for actions in war and the derogation from the European Convention on Human Rights in relation to overseas operations.