By the end of 2024, significant elections will have taken place in the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK) and at the European Parliament. Meanwhile, Irish citizens will go to the polls no later than March 2025 for a general election. The collective outcomes of these elections will undoubtedly have an impact on an already fraught global landscape and the extent to which these countries individually, or collectively, ...

Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) have proliferated globally, often deployed by those trying to shut down investigations into corruption. These abusive legal actions can stop stories in their tracks, punish journalists/activists and delay or prevent wrongdoing from coming to light. This workshop will highlight SLAPP cases, as well as profile the work of UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition and the Coalition against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE), which has already resulted in ...

The results of the June 2024 European Parliament elections may have far-reaching impacts upon the EU, its neighbourhood and globally, as the Parliament will shape EU policies on topics from the economy and climate to defence. They are also an important barometer of public opinion, with the performance of right-wing, populist parties in particular being closely watched.   This webinar, co-organised by the Foreign Policy Centre and Aston University, provided ...

  The ‘special relationship’ between the United States and United Kingdom has often been lauded by successive Presidents and Prime Ministers, keen to underscore a closely fostered partnership. The two countries have shared significant ties, militarily, economically and culturally, and have often acted in lock-step on the international stage.   Yet in recent years, the special relationship has been tested by numerous global crises and diverging domestic political landscapes. Upcoming ...

Six months out from the United States Presidential Elections, with Parliamentary elections also imminent in the United Kingdom, join us for an evening of discussion as to what the transatlantic partnership between these two countries means today.   What will be the likely impact of the potential outcomes of the US/UK elections, and how are relations already shifting in a time of conflict and changing world order? Will the ‘special ...

The PR business in the UK has grown significantly over the last several decades, becoming an industry generating billions annually. But what are the dangers and dilemmas that face PR firms and communication agencies when their clients are from kleptocratic jurisdictions?   PR can be used constructively, encompassing, in the words of the Chartered Institute for Public Relations, the “planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual ...

SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) are a powerful weapon against freedom of expression. These types of abusive lawsuits – or the threat of them – are used by a private party with the purpose of silencing critical speech, in an effort to evade scrutiny of an issue in the public interest.   It’s not just journalists who are at risk; anybody, including those publicly reporting cases of sexual assault ...

  The Foreign Policy Centre (FPC), the Justice for Journalists Foundation (JFJ) and the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) are delighted to announce the third edition of the UK Anti-SLAPP Conference to be held on Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 November 2023, both online and in-person in London.   We are pleased that we will also be joined this year by the Thomson Reuters Foundation as a supporting ...

One year on from the International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB), hosted in London, this timely discussion outlines the lessons UK foreign policy can learn from global approaches to the promotion of religious freedom and the protection of religious minorities.  This event, organised by the Foreign Policy Centre and Aston Centre for Europe, will look at the outcomes from other international approaches, following on from the ...

This webinar, hosted by the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) and the Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies (CREES) at the University of Birmingham, in cooperation with the OSCE Network of Think Tanks and Academic Institutions, will explore one of the ‘under-appreciated’ impacts of the war in Ukraine: the disruption of overland connectivity through the Northern Corridor and the potential opportunities this has created for other routes, particularly the so-called ...