Date: 11 March 2026
Time: 17:00 – 18:30 GMT
Location: Bush House (S) 4.04 Lecture Theatre 2, King’s College London Strand Campus, 30 Aldwych, London, WC2B 4BG
There is growing concern that the rules‑based international order is no longer functioning as intended. Events including the dramatic capture of Venezuela’s president and rising tensions over Greenland illustrate a shift towards more transactional and coercive state behaviour. As global conflict intensifies, international politics appears to be moving into a phase defined less by norms and institutions and more by power, bargaining and fragile relationships. This raises deeper questions about whether the rules‑based order was ever sustainable, or whether it rested on mistaken assumptions about human behaviour.
In this fireside chat, Dr Nafees Hamid will speak with Lord John Alderdice about how and why international politics is changing, and what an interdisciplinary perspective can reveal about this shift. Together, they will examine what undermined the rules‑based system, what may emerge in its place, and the pitfalls policymakers should avoid. Drawing on insights from psychology, political philosophy and conflict resolution, the discussion will explore how a more human‑centred analysis could help shape a more realistic and durable global order.
This event is hosted by The Center for Statecraft and National Security at King’s College London and will be followed by a drinks reception.
Speakers:
Lord John Alderdice (guest)
A psychiatrist, UK trade envoy to Azerbaijan and Central Asia, and internationally respected expert on conflict resolution and peacebuilding. As Leader of the Alliance Party he was a central figure in the Northern Ireland peace process, and he then served as the first Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly following the Good Friday Agreement. As a member of the House of Lords, Lord Alderdice has worked on dialogue, leadership, and reconciliation across deeply divided societies worldwide, uniquely combining clinical insight with decades of political experience.
Dr Nafees Hamid (moderator)
Co-PI / Research & Policy Director of the XCEPT research programme at King’s College London, based out of the Centre for Statecraft and National Security (CSNS). He is a cognitive scientist of political violence and peace-making. He conducts neuroscience, psychology, and qualitative fieldwork with armed actors and civilians. The research he has collaborated on has spanned Western Europe, the Balkans, Morocco, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, South Sudan, and Colombia. His work has informed policies and practices in counter-terrorism; countering violent extremism; strategic communication; Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration; and peace mediation and negotiation practices. He has advised and briefed on these policies to many organisations including the US State and Defense Departments, the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Home Office, UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, the Global Coalition, NATO, USIP, the EU Commission, and the French Prime Minister’s office.