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Reading scholars win grant to study Security and Liberty – University of Reading

The University of Reading has successfully secured a Leverhulme Trust Programme Award of £610,000 to study Security and Liberty. The Programme title is 'The Liberal Way of War: Strategy, Ideology, Representations' and it will involve fourteen scholars from Politics, Law, History, and Modern Languages. Amongst other things, the money will be used to fund a series of small conferences and fund nine postgraduate students.

The team sets out to understand the way that liberalism – which puts a high value on the rule of law and on the rights of individuals - constrains military strategy in liberal states. The very nature of war threatens rights to liberty, property and life. It can also involve the identification of real or imagined 'enemies within', which may result in the treatment of fellow-citizens as if they were outsiders. This is something which liberal states and individuals find difficult to tolerate, and which can then destroy the will to fight. Because of this, major liberal states find it easier to win battles than win wars.

The research team will be led by Dr Alan Cromartie, who is a historian and political theorist, and the approach will historical. Scholars from a wide range of backgrounds – including Contemporary History, International Relations, and International Law - will work upon three overlapping sub-themes. First, there will be studies by military strategists about the past, present, and future of legal constraints on the behaviour of generals. Secondly, there will be research into the concept of emergency powers and the growth of universal (as opposed to territorial) jurisdiction. Thirdly, there will be a series of case studies of twentieth-century episodes that illustrate the trends we are discussing.

Dr Alan Cromartie said "we are delighted to receive this award. It recognises Reading's strength as an international centre for Strategic Studies and its ability to look at military problems within a larger intellectual context. The Leverhulme Trust's generosity will give us the opportunity to take a hard look at how we reached our present situation, how we could understand it and how we could handle it better in the future."

Notes to editors

For more information, please contact Dr Alan Cromartie on 0118 378 8501 or by email on a.d.t.cromartie@reading.ac.uk

The University of Reading is ranked as one of the UK's top research-intensive universities. The quality and diversity of the University's research and teaching is recognised internationally as one of the top 200 universities in the world. The University is home to more than 50 research centres, many of which are recognised as international centres of excellence such as agriculture, biological and physical sciences, European histories and cultures, and meteorology.

The most recent Research Assessment Exercise confirms our strengths, with 20 departments being awarded top ratings of 5 or above. Of these, Archaeology, English, Italian, Meteorology and Psychology each received a 5** rating in recognition of their high quality sustained over more than a decade. The University takes a real-world perspective to its research and is consistently one of the most popular higher education choices in the UK.

The Leverhulme Trust makes awards for the support of research and education. The Trust emphasises individuals and encompasses all subject areas. With an annual funding of some £40 million, the Trust is amongst the largest all subject providers of research funding in the UK. For more information about the work of the Trust visit

www.leverhulme.ac.uk