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Thought Leadership

The Arctic Council at 25 – regional governance in changing times

Our Durham Arctic Research Centre for Training and Interdisciplinary Collaboration (DurhamARCTIC) and the Embassy of Iceland are celebrating 25 years of the signing of the Ottawa Declaration that led to the creation of the Arctic Council. Here Romain Chuffart, a PhD student in Durham Law School and chair of an event to mark the milestone anniversary, tells us more about the important work of the Arctic Council in changing times for the region.
Polar bear roaring on ice cap

Susanne Braun, Professor in Leadership, discusses narcissistic leadership in a post-pandemic world:

COVID-19 has put our working lives under the microscope: Does my job make a difference? Does it bring me joy?
King piece glowing on a chess board

The little-known story of how slavery infiltrated California and the American west

Dr Kevin Waite, from our Department of History, comments on how the original narrative of American slavery misses a huge swath of the North American map and a crucial chapter in US history.
Black & white photo of african american miner 1800s

Why changes to abortion laws during the pandemic should remain

Dr Elizabeth Chloe Romanis, from our Durham Law School, Jordan Parsons, PhD candidate from University of Bristol and Thomas Hampton, Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellow from University of Liverpool, comment on the changes to abortion laws during the pandemic.
Woman taking a tablet

MPs use emotive rhetoric to sway voters in high-profile debates

Covering two million parliamentary speeches held in the UK House of Commons and the Irish Parliament, Professor Sara B. Hobolt (LSE), Dr Moritz Osnabrügge (SGIA), and Dr Toni Rodon (UPF) use a dictionary-based method to measure emotive rhetoric. They show that emotive rhetoric is more pronounced in high-profile legislative debates, such as Prime Minister’s Questions, illustrating that emotive rhetoric is one of the tools politicians can use strategically to appeal to voters.
Red text list of highly emotive words used in the House of Commons

What a landmark court victory for B.C. First Nation means for Indigenous rights and resource development

Giuseppe Amatulli, from our Department of Anthropology, comments on The British Columbia Supreme Court finding that the B.C. government infringed the Blueberry River First Nation’s treaty rights by allowing decades of industrial development in their traditional territory.
Group of demonstrators on road, young people from different culture and race fight for climate change - Global warming and environment concept - Focus on banners

Tokyo Olympics: why the stories of elite athletes make for such great childrens’ books

Dr Eleanor Spencer-Regan, Vice-Principal and Senior Tutor of St Chad's College and member of the Department of English Studies, comments on how empowering and inspirational sporting figures can be in childrens' literature.
Child reading a book

Boycotting the Olympic Games is not enough

Professor Barbara Keys, from our Department of History, looks back on the history of human rights efforts around the Olympic Games and on the rising calls to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to human rights concerns.
Statue of women running with olympic torches in beijing

By Our Own Hands and by Theirs: Africans and the Nervousness to Belong

In this article, Dr Benjamin Maiangwa, from our School of Government and International Affairs and Christiane Ndedi Essombe, who holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of Montreal, comment on colonisation and reclaiming African identity.
Group smiling for photo

We studied the world’s top airlines and hospitality firms – many are still poor at reporting risks around climate and pandemics

Professor Carol Adams, from our Business School, and Subhash Abhayawansa, Associate Professor in Accounting at the Swinburne University of Technology, comment on the new proposals being put forward by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) which will require UK companies to report on the risks of climate change to their businesses.
Underneath airplane in flight

What drives the Indigenous People of Biafra’s relentless efforts for secession

In this article, Dr Benjamin Maiangwa, from our School of Government and International Affairs, comments on the Nigerian-Biafran war and the recent arrest of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.
Biafra territory in Nigeria protest in London

Five lessons on bringing truth back to politics from Britain’s first female philosophy professor

In this article, Dr Peter West, from our Department of Philosophy, comments on Susan Stebbing, the first woman in the UK appointed to a full professorship in philosophy in 1933 and her lessons on the use of tools of philosophical logic to engage in healthy public discourse.
Reading a book photographed from above