Contact
Biography
Matthew Rendall is Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham, and holds a PhD in Political Science from Columbia University. His earlier research focused on large-scale war and peace, including such topics as nuclear deterrence, whether there is a 'separate peace' among democracies, and collective security. This work often tested theories of war and peace through historical case studies, often drawing on original historical research. More recently he has also been writing about intergenerational justice, climate change and various topics in moral philosophy.
Expertise Summary
Teaching Summary
In recent years, I've taught classes on climate ethics, environmental philosophy and Russian foreign policy.
Research Summary
My recent work has dealt either with intergenerational ethics or with international relations theory. At present I'm writing a book on the ethics of existential risk, with a focus on worst-case… read more
Recent Publications
PhD Supervision:
All areas of current research interest. More generally, I would be glad to supervise dissertations on the causes of war and peace, climate ethics and intergenerational justice.
PhDs SUPERVISED TO COMPLETION:
Tursun, Özgün, 'Rethinking the Decline of Hegemony: Historical Comparison between British Belle Époque and American Longue Durée' (2019)
Tseng Lan-Shu, 'The Identity of Rising China and India: Peace or Threat' (2016)
Clulow, Zeynep, 'Why Comply With the Global Climate Regime? A Multi-Level Analysis of the Role of Instrumentalist Factors and Worldviews in Climate Policy' (2016)
Shalpykova, Gulnara, 'The Syr Darya River Basin: Riparian Cooperation Unmasked' (2014)
Poberezhskaya, Marianna, 'Contemporary Media and the Construction of Anthropogenic Climate Change Discourse in the Russian Federation' (2013)
Li Hak Yin, 'The Discrepancy of Chinese Non-Intervention Policy and Its Implications Towards the World Order' (2012) Mukherjee, Kunal, 'Islamist Movements, Racism, Cultural Identities and Power Politics in Britain and Pakistan' (2010)
Current Research Students
Genovesi, Marco, 'The Madrid Protocol and the Forthcoming Climate Regime: Intrinsic Value, Persuasion, Monitoring and Enforcement'
Lopez-Benitez, Carlos, 'Aggregate Good and Democratic Theory: The Limits of Deliberative Democracy'
Maitra, Sumantra, 'Neo-Realism and the Return of Russia as a Great Power Under Putin'
Current Research
My recent work has dealt either with intergenerational ethics or with international relations theory. At present I'm writing a book on the ethics of existential risk, with a focus on worst-case climate change scenarios. The goal is to show how indirect consequentialism can justify a prohibition on running existential risks--essentially, Hans Jonas's imperative of responsibility--without implying excessive obligations to future people or paranoid risk-aversion.
Past Research
My dissertation evaluated competing explanations for the long European peace after 1815 through an analysis of Russia's Near Eastern policy, drawing on extensive research in Moscow's archives.''Defensive realism and the Concert of Europe', appearing in The Review of International Studies in 2006, attacks John Mearsheimer's The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, arguing that defensive realism gives a better account of the long peace after 1815. I have also written about the Belgian crisis of 1830-32 and the Anglo-French crisis of 1840, and their implications for collective security and democratic peace theory. I remain interested in the Concert of Europe and Russian foreign policy, and mean to come back to them in future work.
Future Research
My next major project will be a book on realism, intergenerational ethics and nuclear deterrence. Some of the arguments can be found in my papers 'Nuclear Deterrence: Another Perfect Storm' (2021) and 'Nuclear War as a Predictable Surprise' (2022).