By James Denselow.

Earlier this week the Telegraph's Chief Foreign Correspondent surmised that "the disaster in Syria is getting steadily worse, and no one has any idea what to do about it". I would agree with the first part of his argument but would suggest that the internal dynamics in the country don't reflect a stalemate absent of ideas, but rather the continued erosion of the regime's sovereignty over the country.

Full text 

By Dr Simon Mabon.

FPC Research Associate Dr Simon Mabon gives the background to the political unrest and human rights abuses that took place in Bahrain around the Arab Spring. The briefing sets out the geo-political competition between Saudi Arabia and Iran that forms the backdrop to recent events and critiques the UK government's relations with Bahrain.

Download Bahrain – between Geopolitical and Humanitarian Concerns (310 kilobyte PDF)

By Firdevs Robinson.

FPC Senior Research Associate Firdevs Robinson gives her analysis of the difficulties Turkey is facing with Syrian instability and deteriorating relations with the EU.

Download FPC Briefing: Turkey's Juggling Act (230 kilobyte PDF)

Adam Hug (Ed.)

Hard copy: £4.95, plus £1 p+p.

Download Europe in the World: Can EU foreign policy make an impact? (2.02 megabyte PDF)

The Foreign Policy Centre's new publication, Europe in the World: Can EU foreign policy make an impact?, examines both how Europe is seen on the world stage and the effectiveness of the new External Action Service in delivering on its key objectives: building an effective new diplomatic service, strengthening EU influence in the neighbourhood and developing relations with strategic partners. It explores the institutional and organisational challenges surrounding the creation of the EEAS and considers what tensions remain with other EU institutions and national governments, with particular reference to the UK's difficult relationship with Europe.

Europe in the World is edited by Adam Hug (Foreign Policy Centre). It contains contributions on a range of topics and different perspectives from: Dr. Jozef Batora (Comenius University), Thiago de Aragão (Foreign Policy Centre), William Gumede (Foreign Policy Centre), Jacqueline Hale (Open Society Foundations), Richard Howitt MEP, Stefan Lehne (Carnegie Europe), Dr. Simon Lightfoot and Dr Balazs Szent-Ivanyi (University of Leeds), Prof. Anand Menon (Kings College London), Rt. Hon. Sir Malcolm Rifkind KCMG, QC, MP, Edward Macmillan-Scott MEP, Prof. John Peterson (University of Edinburgh), Dr. Neil Winn (University of Leeds). Rt. Hon. Douglas Alexander MP (Shadow Foreign Secretary) provides the foreword.

• Europe in the world: London launch event
• Europe in the world: Leeds event
• Europe in the world: Edinburgh event

Alex Bigham (Ed.)

July 2007 Hard copy: £2.95, plus £1 p+p.

Download the report (440 kilobyte PDF)

The Foreign Policy Centre, in conjunction with Channel 4, set up an independent, cross-party Commission tasked with producing a blueprint for Britain's future involvement in Iraq.

Correlli Barnett

2005

Download the report (200 kilobyte PDF)

Correlli Barnett, the distinguished military historian, contrasts the success of the Allied military government in Germany in 1945-6 with the relative failure of the Coalition in Iraq in 2003-4.

Further information 

Date: Wednesday 6th March 2013

Time:6pm-7.30pm

Venue: Committee Room 11, Houses of Parliament

The Foreign Policy Centre is hosting a Westminster Seminar, with the kind support of Control Risks, that will discuss some of the key issues in the debate around hostage taking, piracy and the payment of ransoms. The event will enable a wide ranging debate around the public policy response to these issues in the wake of the recent report of the UK-led International Task Force, and earlier Foreign Affairs Select Committee and House of Lords reports.

The event aims to examine the current situation around the world in relation to the taking of hostages. The event will explore the economic, security, political and social factors that drive hostage taking. It will also discuss the mechanisms of hostage negotiation and ransom payment, while debating the feasibility of alternatives to such payments; looking at both ethical and practical issues. Participants would examine the issue of hostage taking by terrorist groups and links between those involved in piracy,extremist political movements and international terrorism.

Speakers:

• Alistair Burt MP, Foreign Office Minister responsible for the International Piracy Ransoms Taskforce
• Richard Fenning , Chief Executive Officer, Control Risks
• Judith and Oliver Tebbutt
• Dr Anja Shortland, Reader in Economics, Brunel University

Chair: Con Coughlin, Associate Editor, Daily Telegraph

The event is free and open to all but will operate under the Chatham House Rule.

Please RSVP to events@fpc.org.uk

Download Hostage taking, piracy and ransom payments (300 kilobyte PDF)

An ODI and FPC event

Speakers:

Baroness Margaret Jay, Co-chair, Iraq Commission

Simon Maxwell, Director, ODI (Chair)

Date:

Thurs 22nd November 2007, 1pm-2.15pm

Venue:

Overseas Development Institute, 111 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7JD

About the Event:

The Foreign Policy Centre (FPC), in partnership with Channel 4, facilitated a UK Iraq Commission – the British equivalent of the US Iraq Study Group. The Iraq Commission was an independent, cross-party Commission that produced a report containing recommendations for the future of Britain's role in Iraq.

At this ODI and Foreign Policy Centre event, Baroness Margaret Jay will outline the process of evidence gathering employed by the Commission and the major findings of the report.

You can register online for the event at http://apps.odi.org.uk/events

At the Labour and Conservative Party conferences last year, the FPC held forums on issues concerning Stability and Democracy in Iraq.

At the Labour meeting in Brighton, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Professor Fred Halliday and Eric Westropp discussed the forthcoming Iraqi elections, the prospects for democracy and the role of the private security sector.

At the Conservative meeting in Bournmouth, Sir Malcolm Rifkind analysed problems with the doctrine of pre-emption in international relations, Andrew Tyrie MP considered which foreign policy best suppresses terrorism and Alan Duncan Mp examined the morality of Western conduct and the nature of terrorism.

Download the report (310 kilobyte PDF)