The Week at Chatham House: Jeremy Corbyn, What Macron’s Win Means for Europe and Twitter in Diplomacy
The latest international news and analysis this week.
Jeremy Corbyn on Labour’s Defence and Foreign Policy Priorities
Jeremy Corbyn outlined the Labour Party’s key national defence, security and foreign policy positions upon which it will contest the UK general election in June at Chatham House today.
The Labour leader promised that his administration would see ‘no more hand-holding with Donald Trump’ and stressed the need for a political solution to the Syrian conflict. He also discussed why cyberterrorism is one of the greatest threats to national and international security, and the importance for the UK to uphold the Paris climate change agreement.
Is Twitter Transforming Diplomacy?
This month’s issue of International Affairs takes an in-depth look at the use of Twitter in the run-up to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Constance Duncombe argues that the use of social media by Javad Zarif and John Kerry — both of whom were joint recipients of the Chatham House Prize in 2016 — allowed the negotiations to transcend traditional hostility and develop new common ground.
Elsewhere in the issue, there is a special section on the foreign policy of Brazil and the first in a new review forum series where several reviewers are asked to reflect on a single book. This edition features Paul Viotti’s work US national security: new threats, old realities.
French Election
Emmanuel Macron’s win in the French presidential election this week has been greeted with widespread enthusiasm across Europe but Quentin Peel and Georgina Wright examine what the En Marche! leader’s triumph means for the UK.
Macron defeated Marine le Pen with 66 per cent of the vote to become the country’s youngest leader since Napoleon Bonaparte. Lord Ricketts, the former British ambassador to France, explores the implications of Macron’s victory for the UK, Europe and the world in an exclusive interview with Chatham House’s Thomas Farrar.
Energy Post-Brexit
And finally, while the Brexit negotiations is expected to be a long road ahead for the UK, energy policy could offer both the UK and the EU an important opportunity to find common ground, finds a new Chatham House research paper. EU funds and European Investment Bank loans account for around £2.5 billion of the UK’s energy-related infrastructure every year and replacing these sources of finance will be necessary to ensure that the UK’s energy sector remains competitive in Europe and across the world post-Brexit.
