Lecture Abstract

The present period of growing nationalism and great power rivalry forces us to look again at the causes of international as well as non-international armed conflicts. Listing the many causes of war – no less than 33 causes are identified – may help us to answer the big question: can the incidence of war between states remain at the historically low levels of the years since 1945?    

About the Speaker

Adam Roberts is Senior Research Fellow in International Relations at Oxford University and Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College. He was President of the British Academy (the UK national academy for the humanities and social sciences), 2009–13. At Oxford University he was Montague Burton Professor of International Relations, 1986–2007. He has given expert advice to parliamentary committees, governments, public inquiries, and non-governmental bodies in the UK and overseas.

His main academic interests are in the fields of international security, international organizations, and international law (including the laws of war). He has also worked extensively on the history of thought about international relations.

Books he has authored or jointly edited include:

– Nations in Arms: The Theory and Practice of Territorial Defence, 2^nd edition, Chatto & Windus for International Institute for Strategic Studies, London, 1986

– Hugo Grotius and International Relations, Oxford University Press, 1990

– Documents on the Laws of War, 3^rd edition, Oxford University Press, 2000

– The United Nations Security Council and War: The Evolution of Thought and Practice since 1945, Oxford University Press, 2008

– Civil Resistance in the Arab Spring: Triumphs and Disasters, Oxford University Press, 2016