New Perspectives on Diplomacy highlights the importance of diplomacy in political and military crises, featuring details of life as a diplomat, the importance of alliance building, managing failure and diplomatic negotiations with armed groups.

The book features chapters by Inga Kristina Trauthig and Negah Angha, PhD candidates at King’s College London, and Dr Samir Puri, a visiting lecturer in the Department of War Studies at King’s, who will join a roundtable discussion taking place on 28 September.

Dr Claire Yorke, who co-edited the book, will join the panel for the online event and Nicholas Hopton, former UK Ambassador to Libya, will serve as chair.

Negah and Inga will present their chapter, the Middle East and North Africa in the Twenty-First Century: An Analysis of Social Middle Impact and Corresponding Diplomatic Trends, and Dr Puri will present his chapter, Engaging with Proxy Groups and Indirect State Influence in Ukraine and Syria, followed by reflections from Mr Hopton and questions.

PANEL

Nicholas Hopton
Nicholas has just finished his posting as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Libya. Previously he was Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) director for EU External and Security, leading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the future security partnership with the EU after BREXIT.

Mr Hopton joined the FCO in 1989 and has also served as ambassador to Iran, Qatar and Yemen and served at the British embassies in Paris, Rome and Rabat. He has worked on national security issues in the Cabinet Office, led the International Organisations Department in the FCO and was private secretary to the Minister for Europe.

Mr Hopton studied at St Peter’s School, York, and Cambridge University (Magdalene College). He has also studied at La Sapienza University in Rome and ENA in Paris.

Dr Claire Yorke
Claire is an author and academic specializing in empathy and emotions in international relations, politics, leadership and strategy. She is currently leading a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship funding by the European Commission on Empathy and International Security at the University of Southern Denmark.

She was previously a Henry A Kissinger Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University, and gained her PhD from the Department of War Studies at King’s. Prior to academia worked on security and defence at Chatham House and the UK Parliament.

Dr Samir Puri

Samir is Senior Fellow at the IISS-Asia office based in Singapore where he covers hybrid warfare. He is also a Visiting Lecturer in War Studies, having previously taught at KCL from 2015-18. Earlier in his career, Dr Puri served in the Foreign Office (2009-15) where his assignments covered counter terrorism, peace processes, and a secondment to the OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine. He has authored three books: Pakistan’s War on Terrorism (Routledge, 2011); Fighting & Negotiating with Armed Groups (Routledge/IISS, 2016); and The Great Imperial Hangover (Atlantic, 2020), published in the USA as The Shadows of Empire (Pegasus, 2021).

Inga Kristina Trauthig

Inga Kristina Trauthig is a PhD candidate with the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at the War Studies Department of King’s College London. Inga has conducted work with UN-organisations, NGOs and private companies that addressed root causes of civil strife as well as practical and ideological competition between state and non-state actors in the Middle East.

She holds an MLitt in Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asian Security Studies from the University of St Andrews. Her studies have been supported by the German Academic Exchange Service, the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies and the Conflict Research Society. At King’s College, she is convenor of the MENA Research Group within the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies (IMES).

Negah Angha

Negah is the Director for Multilateral Initiatives for the Democracy and Human Rights Directorate at the U.S. National Security Council, White House. Negah spent over 15-years with the U.S. Department of State where she represented the U.S. on complex bilateral and multilateral negotiations; advised on issues related to the G-7 and UN Security Council, peacekeeping, sanctions, counter-terrorism, and anti-corruption; and coordinated international donor and assistance efforts in Middle East and North Africa and South Asia. Originally from California, Negah holds an MA and MBA from American University and is a part-time PhD candidate at King’s College London. Most recently she was a full-time PhD student with the Department of War Studies before returning to America in 2021. During her time in London, she was a GTA with the Department of Security Studies and the Department of Theology and Religious Studies; senior editor with Strife journal; and co-founder of the Middle East Research Group, a PhD working group in the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies.