Oxford Research Group

The Oxford Research Group is a leading independent think-tank that has been influential for 30 years in pioneering the idea of sustainable approaches to security as an alternative to violent global confrontation, through original research, wide-ranging dialogue, and practical policy recommendations. Read more »

Programmes

Middle East

Our innovative work provides new approaches to the shifting landscape of conflict in the Middle East through the perspectives of human security and conflict resolution.

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Sustainable Security

We analyse the long-term drivers of global insecurity to effect a substantial shift in government and public understandings of the major threats to security in the 21st century.

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Every Casualty

We work to enhance the capacity, clarify the legal framework, and build the political will to record details of every single casualty of armed conflict throughout the world.

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ORG News & Updates

Publication: January 2012

A World Divided - or Coming Together?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warning of a possible world recession came in parallel with fears expressed at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos about the spread of protests across the world. Given that Oxford Research Group (ORG) has long argued that the widening wealth-poverty divide is both damaging to communities and a danger to peace, do the current protests, such as the “Occupy” movement, point to a larger global trend or are they isolated, short-term and probably irrelevant? This briefing looks at the Western protests in relation to more deep-seated problems in countries, such as China and India, and puts this wider view in a broad historical perspective. Read more »

Publication: January 2012

From Davos to Dystopia

Writing for Foreign Policy in Focus, ORG's Ben Zala argues that a new report from the World Economic Forum, which tries to make sense of the wave of protest and unrest sweeping the world, may signal a new approach to global security in Western capitals. Not long ago the World Economic Forum (WEF) found itself in the sights of the global economic justice movement. At the turn of the last century, before anyone was “occupying” public spaces in protest at the growing inequalities between the top strata of society and the rest, a broad global coalition of environment, development, and peace activists were targeting the public meetings of major institutions such as the WTO, the IMF, and the G8. In September 2000... Read more »

News item: Thursday, 22 December 2011

Your Support Makes a Difference

  The ORG team would like to thank all our readers and our supporters this Christmas and New Year!   Your support and contributions are vital in maintaining ORG's ability to understand the causes of insecurity, to promote new approaches to global security and to push for changes in international policy. At a time of continuing global insecurity, as well as financial insecurity, gifts from individuals become ever more important. With your help, over the coming year, ORG will be able to develop its work - advancing new visions of Sustainable Security, addressing alternatives to conflict in the Middle East, and developing its work to make sure Every Casualty of armed violence is recorded. If you would like to help ensure that ORG's unique contribution to alternative security thinking continues, please consider making a one-off donation, becoming a supporter or sustainer, or remembering ORG in your will.   Your help is important in making the world a safer place. Read more »

Publication: December 2011

After Durban - The Big Climate Change Questions

The Durban climate change conference produced a higher level of agreement than many analysts predicted, but its response did not match the scale of the problem. Recent evidence indicates that climate change will be a transforming issue in the coming decades and will require responses that embrace radical changes in our understanding of security. Read more »

News item: Monday, 19 December 2011

Insecurity and Complexity: Navigating the New Security Challenges

Opening a two-day conference on global and regional security in Quito, Ecuador, ORG’s Ben Zala argued that one of the most important lessons of the last decade is that "reacting to the symptoms of global insecurity - once they are deeply manifested, and few options other than military force and containment remain - is a fundamentally flawed strategy for global security".    Read more »

News item: Tuesday, 20 December 2011

New Programme Website Launch: Everycasualty.org

Following the public launch of the 'Charter for the Recognition of Every Casualty of Armed Violence', the Every Casualty team has redeveloped www.everycasualty.org into a more dynamic, purposeful and accessible public platform. The new site highlights the Charter and its signatories, and how others can join them. It also gives prominence to the International Practitioner Network (IPN) of casualty recorders. Other new features include... Read more »

Publication: December 2011

'ORG in Conversation' - Greg Muttitt and Fuel on the Fire

ORG’s Sustainable Security Programme has for some time focused on the role of increased competition over resources as potential driver of global insecurity. As part of our ongoing 'ORG In Conversation' series, Programme Manager, Ben Zala, interviewed Greg Muttitt in London about his new book 'Fuel on the Fire: Oil and Politics in Occupied Iraq'. Read more »

Publication: November 2011

Video Interview with Participants from our 'Recording Every Casualty Conference'

Following the Every Casualty programme’s ‘Recording Every Casualty’ conference this September, filmmaker, Daniel Ridicki, and ORG’s Managing Director, Chris Langdon, interviewed six of the conference participants. The organisations represented by the participants were diverse, and are based in Colombia, Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bosnia, and India. Watch the video from the 'Recording Every Casualty Conference', as well as clips from the public launch event of our 'Charter for the Recording of Every Casualty of Armed Violence', chaired by Sir Adam Roberts at the British Academy. Read more »

Publication: November 2011

After Iraq

The US military withdrawal from Iraq has accelerated and almost all the troops will have left the country by the end of next month. This follows the breakdown in talks between the US and Iraq in October on a continuing military presence. It contrasts hugely with expectations of a substantial long-term military presence as recently as a few months ago. Leaving behind a troubled country, the withdrawal raises questions over its reasons and the future of the US security posture in the region. Above all, it has implications for Iranian influence in the Middle East which, in turn, raises concerns in a number of countries, most notably Saudi Arabia and Israel. Read more »

Publication: October 2011

News Coverage Roundup of the Launch of the Charter for the Recognition of Every Casualty of Armed Violence

Since the September 2011 launch of the Charter for the Recognition of Every Casualty of Armed Violence, several news outlets and blogs have covered the Charter and its core call.  Read more »