Research
You will find a complete range of our monographs, muti-authored and edited works including peer-reviewed, original scholarly research across the social sciences and aligned disciplines. We publish long and short form research and you can browse the complete Bristol University Press and Policy Press archive.
Policy Press also publishes policy reviews and polemic work which aim to challenge policy and practice in certain fields. These books have a practitioner in mind and are practical, accessible in style, as well as being academically sound and referenced.
Books: Research
Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe (CoE) after 26 years following the invasion of Ukraine.
This timely and in-depth analysis explores Russia's tumultuous relationship with the CoE/ECHR institutions. It examines Russia’s membership record and the profound impacts of its expulsion for Europe’s human rights system. The authors provide valuable insights for future policy to safeguard the integrity of international human rights institutions.
The book fills an important gap in legal scholarship by exploring the legality and legitimacy of its membership and expulsion, and represents a key reference in understanding the challenge of protecting human rights in the face of rising authoritarianism.
In this book, a former US Department of State senior arms control official critically analyses two pivotal nuclear arms control treaties: the established Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the rising Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
The book offers a concise and critical analysis of the two, illuminating both their strengths and shortcomings. The author acknowledges the idealistic goal of the TPNW but argues that its immediate abolitionist stance lacks a roadmap for achievement. Instead, the book advocates realistic progress within the NPT framework. It provides twelve key negotiation topics for fostering meaningful dialogue among nuclear-weapon states, while emphasizing the urgency of concrete action in a world facing growing nuclear threats.
Available Open Access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence
This book examines what happens when states and other authorities use detention to abuse their power, deter dissent and maintain social hierarchies.
Written by an author with decades of practical experience in the human rights field, the book examines a variety of scenarios where individuals are unlawfully detained in violation of their most basic rights to personal liberty and exposes the many fallacies associated with arbitrary detention.
Proposing solutions for future policy to scrutinise processes, this is a call for greater respect for the rule of law and human rights.
EPUB and EPDF available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.
What is feminist peace? How can we advocate for peace from patriarchy? What do women, globally, advocate for when they use the term 'peace'? This edited collection brings together conversations across borders and boundaries to explore plural, intersectional and interdisciplinary concepts of feminist peace.
The book includes contributions from a geographically diverse range of scholars, judges, practitioners and activists, and the chapters cut across themes of movement building and resistance and explore the limits of institutionalised peacebuilding. The chapters deal with a range of issues, such as environmental degradation, militarization, online violence and arms spending.
Offering a resource to advance theoretical development and to advocate for policy change, this book transcends traditional approaches to the study of peace and security and embraces diverse voices and perspectives which are absent in both academic and policy spaces.
Amid a global health crisis, the process for declaring a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) is at a crossroads.
As a formal declaration by the World Health Organization, a PHEIC is governed by clear legislation as to what is, and what is not, deemed a global health security threat. However, it has become increasingly politicized, and the legal criteria now appear to be secondary to the political motivation or outcome of the announcement. Addressing multiple empirical case studies, including COVID-19, this multidisciplinary book explores the relationship between international law and international relations to interrogate how a PHEIC is declared and its role in how we collectively respond to outbreaks.
This volume brings together international experts to provide fresh perspectives on geopolitical concerns in the South China Sea.
The book considers the interests and security strategies of each of the nations with a claim to ownership and jurisdiction in the Sea. Examining contexts including the region’s natural resources and China’s behaviour, the book also assesses the motivations and approaches of other states in Asia and further afield.
This is an accessible, even-handed and comprehensive examination of current and future rivalries and challenges in one of the most strategically important and militarized maritime regions of the world.
Written by international practitioners and scholars, this pioneering work offers important insights into peace mediation practice today and the role of third parties in the resolution of armed conflicts.
The authors reveal how peace mediation has developed into a complex arena and how multifaceted assistance has become an indispensable part of it. Offering unique reflections on the new frameworks set out by the UN, they look at the challenges and opportunities of third-party involvement.
With its policy focus and real-world examples from across the globe, this is essential reading for researchers of peace and conflict studies, and a go-to reference point for advisors involved in peace processes.
