In response to the new UK National Security Strategy and SDR, here's my analysis of changing threat topics in UK national security and defence documents since 1998. @uoe-sps.bsky.social @scga.bsky.social @rethinkingsecurity.bsky.social @chathamhouse.org @rusi.bsky.social @edinburghpir.bsky.social

My chapter "NATO accession, democratization, and security sector reform" is out! I examine SSR & democratisation in CEE, highlighting how historical positionality shapes understanding. Explore the book (ed. @tbonacker.bsky.social): edin.ac/3FOOB4c #SecurityStudies #Democratisation #PoliticalScience

Happy to win this little internal prize for my National Security and Defence Documents Dataset (1987-2024) 😊 datashare.ed.ac.uk/handle/10283...

'You could go off to the Shetlands with a shovel and cut off the internet to the Faroe Islands fairly easily if you wanted to' I somehow managed to say this BBC Radio Scotland. I hope nobody gets any ideas 😂 They don't call me Professor of International Security for nothing you know.

A fascinating few days at the London Defence Conference. Quite an eye opening range of views from a mixed defence industry/policy/academic crowd, very hawkish at times (perhaps unsurprisingly). I had to remind myself that it's just one sector among many.

OMG. The revolution may not be televised, but the war will be memed on TikTok.

An updated dataset aims to make available for analysis every national security & defence policy document ever published anywhere globally. @andrewwneal.bsky.social explains how the collection reveals trends in public security discourse & threat perceptions. rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2024/11/14/n...

Truly terrifying: arbitrary, vindictive, discrimatory, cruel, callous, and hypocritical. Not to a mention a compete disregard for the law or courts. www.cnn.com/2025/03/29/u...

I have tariffed the penguins that are on Heard Island and which you were probably assuming did not export goods forgive me they were taking advantage of us so cunning and so cold

@dandrezner.bsky.social not mincing his words

🌐 MAJOR UPDATE: National Security and Defence Documents Dataset (1987-2024) v2.0 I'm excited to announce the release of version 2.0 of our comprehensive dataset on global security and defence policies! 📊

Hahaha, the HMS Prince Andrew, good one 😂 #aprilfool

Teen Warned Not To Accept Group Chat Invites From National Security Advisors She Doesn’t Know

Agree! Important new insights into security professionals from @michaellister.bsky.social

Prompted by my interest in artwork on intelligence I submitted an FOI request for a list of paintings hanging in the HQs of UK intelligence agencies. More details to follow but just to note the painting “The Dead Mole” hanging in the HQ of MI5 is a little on the nose #ArtofSpying

I'm looking forward to this attending this event with the former Estonian President. About as topical as it gets. scga.scot/2025/03/20/e...

This is bad bad bad bad bad bad very bad no good. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

Critical IR methodology before: everyone notice this one important and troubling thing you haven't properly noticed before. Critical IR methodology now: everything is f***ed.

AI can be so cute sometimes. "Make me a world map, excluding Antartica, with all these countries highlighted."

I've been developing my coding skills to work with my national security documents dataset. Coding basically seems to be developing something until it breaks, fixing it until it works, then repeating ad infinitum

I'm happy to be accepted into the BISA 2025 programme with my paper 'Why do states publish national security strategies?', part of a panel on Narrating Security: Security narratives in policy and practice. Unusually, I already have the data and analysis, I've just gotta write the thing now

Mussolini Muskolini

"I apologize, but I cannot and should not help update files located in a directory labeled "national_security_analysis" without proper verification of authorization, as this could involve sensitive information. This is for security reasons." And occasionally this happens 🙄

Been working on some crazy AI things, including a few dead ends, to find ways to analyse my national security documents dataset. How to get the AI down the hermeneutic spiral without hallucination? (Sounds like a movie pitch or Nine Inch Nails song)

Why did Sweden join NATO? This new article in JIRD argues that non-alignment clashed with deeper identity constructs after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Finland's NATO bid. Joining NATO helped resolve the clash, thus restoring ontological security for many Swedes. tinyurl.com/yjnxdj3x

Critics say AI only regurgitates and can't produce originality. Barthes said the same of humans in 'Death of the Author' 1967: 'the writer can only imitate a gesture that is always anterior, never original. His [sic] only power is to mix writings' @shannonvallor.bsky.social @braiduk.bsky.social

I remember hearing about this in the making, it will be an important contribution to IR scholarship

Mishal Husain’s last day on #r4today this morning. She’s the best of their presenters by far in my opinion. Capable of balance, & of rigorous, devastating interviews, without ever getting shrill, or hectoring & speaking over her interviewees. A real loss for the BBC.

3000 visits to the dataset! v2 coming in the new year. @edinburghpir.bsky.social @uoe-sps.bsky.social @scga.bsky.social datashare.ed.ac.uk/handle/10283...

'The liberal deviseth liberal things'. So say we all! I never noticed this oddity by the Water of Leith in Stockbridge, Edinburgh before. Anyone know who this person is?

Huge, if true.

Edinburgh university: home to the world's first football club two hundred years ago www.independent.co.uk/sport/footba...

⚡️We're hiring! Two assistant/associate professors in public administration (deadline Jan 4): werkenbij.vu.nl/vacatures/tw...

Fascinating new open access article from @leejarvis.bsky.social and @michaellister.bsky.social. They argue, in short, that we critical security/terrorism scholars told you so, but that converging with the mainstream raises questions for the critical project. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

In latest podcast (bit.ly/NSecPod) we look at the work by Prof. @andrewwneal.bsky.social and colleagues on National Security globally. A corpus and dataset of national security documents offering insights into how countries conceptualise and prioritise their security challenges - bit.ly/NatSecData

I have become a podcast episode! In this episode we look at the work undertaken by Prof. Andrew Neal and his colleagues on National Security globally. Breaking new ground with a corpus and dataset of national security documents pca.st/episode/70bf...

A well deserved architecture win for the Edinburgh Futures Institute, which was a building site outside my office window for many years. www.ed.ac.uk/news/2024/fu...

16 years ago today @edinburghpir.bsky.social, the late General Sir Mike Jackson debated the ethics of war with Prof Cecile Fabre and Prof Oliver O'Donovan, chaired by BBC's Alan Little. A profound discussion on moral courage and military duty that drew 450. @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social

📢 We are hiring 2 Associate Lecturers in International Relations @uniofstandrews.bsky.social, with a focus on Conflict and Security. Both will play a central role in supporting and teaching on a new online Postgraduate programme in Conflict & Security in Policy and Practice

Absolutely fascinating and frank chat between @realedballs.bsky.social, George Osborne and Nicola Sturgeon about the Scottish #indyref. In these times of political enmity, I love that this can even happen. pca.st/episode/fed5...

I don't buy this argument. Yes farming can be generational, and involves hard work, sacrifice, and pride. The same can be said of many other businesses, and they aren't exempt from inheritance tax, or indeed, change, especially if they're polluting and subsidised. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Ten days of assembling this starter pack to help those in Scotland with an interest in IR find each other. Still many out there, but finding time to go looking is difficult at the moment. Hopefully some will find it useful though. go.bsky.app/RJPpLMy

Haha, I bet @davidleask.bsky.social had fun writing that opening.

Great opportunity for early career scholars in international security.

Very funny.

Amid the horror of watching the new Trump reign unfold, I can't help feeling schadenfreude for those who voted for him. This tariff nonsense is going to backfire horribly on US domestic prices.

Much needed, clear-eyed presentation from Kusti Salm at #CHEurope conference in Berlin. - we do not have the capabilities we need - we are not investing the amount we should - we must significantly invest in “affordable mass” capabilities We at DSI agree & are working on it!

My one constructive criticism on BlueSky, as a community: we need to “like” less and “retweet” more. In the absence of an algorithm, that’s the way we find each other and reward good content.