Where: King’s College London
When: 18 June 2025, 13:30 BST
In what has been widely described as an age of great power rivalry and systemic competition, the subject of individual rights – once a mainstay of the foreign policy discourse – has been increasingly ignored. But Britain’s and the West’s future approach to this question will have grave implications for populations across the world, and it will shape the international system of the future.
Ahead of publication of the UK’s new national security strategy, the Centre for Statecraft and National Security, in collaboration with Protection Approaches, will host a public event at King’s College London on the 18th of June. This event will examine the changing role and capabilities of the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office and reflect on Labour’s first year of foreign policy. Speakers will explore how adversaries like Russia have mastered the weaponisation of rights and grievance politics as a cornerstone of their statecraft, and how the UK can best confront these tactics in its own strategy.
Speakers:
- Dr Kate Ferguson, Co-Executive Director and Head of Policy and Research at Protection Approaches
- Lord Peter Ricketts, former National Security Advisor and former Permanent Under-Secretary at the FCDO
- Prof John Bew (chair), Professor of History & Foreign Policy at King’s College London
This event is for policymakers, civil servants, academics, students, and civil society leaders concerned with UK internationalism, national security, and the future of rights-based governance.
If you would like to attend, please RSVP here. Registrants will receive an email with further details once their place is confirmed.
