Current news and forthcoming events  

• St Antony's College was delighted to host Dr Henry Kissinger for an event and dinnner on Friday 16th October 2009. The former Secretary of State was in discussion with the Warden, Professor Margaret MacMillan and his most recent biographer and College Honorary Fellow, Sir Alistair Horne. 

• Dr Eugene Rogan's new book The Arabs: A History, was reviewed recently in The Guardian. 

• Resource Nationalism in Russia - a seminar with Yuri Shafranik, Chairman, Union of Oil & Gas Producers of Russia. Wednesday 25th November at 5pm. For full details, please click here.

• Moral and political ideas of Gandhi: On the 140th anniversary of his birth  - A conference jointly organized by The Asian Studies Centre at St Antony's and Wolfson College takes place on 27/28th November 2009. See this link for more details.

• Ali Allawi, former Iraqi Finance Minister and St Antony's Senior Associate Member was recently awarded the Washington Institute Silver Prize for his book: The Crisis of Islamic Civilization.

• 'Art and War and Terror: Gerhard Richter and the Baader-Meinhof Group'. A lecture by Professor Alex Danchev, the Warden's Fellow, will take place in the Nissan Lecture Theatre on Friday 27th November at 5pm and will be followed by a reception in the Buttery - it celebrates the publication of his new book. It is open to all. Further details are available here. 

• St Antony’s College, Oxford hosted the inaugural Sheikh Zayed Book Award Lecture on the 5th of November. The award is presented every year to outstanding writers, translators, publishers and first-time novelists whose work has made a substantial contribution to Arab culture. Speakers at the event were Dr. Abdulla Al Ghadami, member of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award Advisory Council, and novelist Gamal Al Ghitani, winner of the 2009 Sheikh Zayed Book Award for Literature.

• A service of thanksgiving was held for Lord Dahrendorf of Clare Market at St Margaret's Church, Westminster Abbey at 12pm on Tuesday 3rd November 2009. Sir Patrick Cormack MP and Professor Timothy Garton Ash both gave a memorial address. A transcript is available of Sir Patrick's address at this link and at this link for Professor Garton Ash's.

• Professor Avi Shlaim's new book Israel and Palestine:Reappraisals, Revisions, Refutations, was reviewed recently in The Guardian.

• Dr Faisal Devji was the author of a recent article in The Guardian on the state of Pakistan.

• Dr Ekaterina Hertog has been awarded the 2009 Daiwa Prize for 'the best article by an early career scholar' for her recent work "'The worst abuse against a child is the absence of a parent': how Japanese unwed mothers evaluate their decision to have a child outside of wedlock" 

• Professor Arthur Stockwin was recently awarded the Japan Foundation Award for Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange

• Professor Robert Service's new book on Trotsky was reviewed by the Sunday Times recently and Professor Service was also a recent guest of Andrew Marr on Radio 4's Start the Week.

• The College is sad to announce the death of Dr John Campbell, former Governing Body and Emeritus Fellow, on Saturday 5 September 2009. Dr Campbell was a Senior Research Fellow at St Antony's from 1958 to 1967, a Governing Body Fellow from 1967 to 1990 and a regular visitor to the College as Emeritus Fellow from 1990 onwards.

• The Warden, Margaret MacMillan, has a feature in a recent Guardian: Rebuilding the world after the second world war.

• St Antony's is holding a seminar on Tuesday December 1st to commemorate the life and work of Lord Dahrendorf (Warden 1987-1997). For more details please see here. 

• Honorary Fellow Sir Alistair Horne has published his latest book Kissinger's Year: 1973 and recently wrote a robust defence of the former Secretary of State in The Independent.

• Professor Robert Service was recently a guest on Uncommon Knowledge debating the life of Leon Trotsky with Christopher Hitchens.

• The Warden, Professor Margaret MacMillan, was one of the eminent historians featured on Radio 4's Front Row on 12th August 2009.

• Tariq Ramadan was one of five prominent religious thinkers interviewed on Channel 4's recent programme Revelations: How do you know God exists?

• St Antony's is delighted to report that William Beinart, Governing Body Fellow and Rhodes Professor of Race Relations, has been elected a Fellow of the British Academy.

• Libya: Legacy of the past, prospects for the future - 25th-27th September. The Middle East Centre at St Antony's College brought Libya to the centre stage in an international conference,  which provided a forum to reflect upon Libya's recent history and current politics.    

• Professor Timothy Garton Ash was a guest on Radio 4's Start the Week on 6th July and was also the subject of an interview on Radio 3's Night Waves on 9th July - his book Facts are Subversive: Political Writing from a Decade Without a Name is published by Atlantic Books.

• Professor Paul Collier was interviewed by the Today Programme on Radio 4 on 8th July discussing whether the current system of aid is helping developing countries.   

• Sir Raymond Carr, former Warden of St Antony's who turned 90 in April, was the subject of an appreciative tribute in the Spectator recently. 

• Dr Philip Robins, St Antony's Governing Body Fellow and Junior Proctor has recently published a new book, The Middle East, A Beginner's Guide. 

• 'The Chihuahuas' [St Antony's/Wolfson’s football team] did the College proud on Tuesday 26th May by decisively winning the 5-a-side women's Cuppers tournament to round off a very successful season in the First Division. They won three consecutive matches (6-3, 4-0, 2-0), including beating the 11-a-side Cuppers winners by 4-0. Hard work, and a much deserved victory.

• Professor John Loughlin, Cardiff University and St Antony's SCR member, has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Umea, Sweden in recognition of his work on European politics and territorial governance.

• Emeritus Fellow Professor Archie Brown was one of Antonian Honorary Fellow Bridget Kendall's three guests  on The Forum, the BBC World service Discussion Forum which went out on Sunday 14th June. It can now be accessed on the BBC World Service website. The theme of the broadcast is transformations, starting with 1989. The other guests are Albie Sachs, South African Constitutional Court judge who in 1988 lost his right arm and an eye when, as an active member of the opposition to the apartheid regime, he was the victim of a car bomb, and Princeton literary historian and critic Elaine Showalter. Archie Brown's new book, The Rise and Fall of Communism was reviewed recently in the Daily Telegraph,  Sunday Times, The Guardian and The Independent.

• Dr David Pratten has been awarded the Amaury Talbot Prize for African Anthropology for his book The Man-leopard Murders; history and society in colonial Nigeria

• Professor Timothy Garton Ash was recently featured on the Radio 4 programme Hearts and Minds in relation to the Cold War.

• Professor Robert Service recently reviewed Tristram Hunt's new book on Friedrich Engels in the Sunday Times.

• The Uses and Abuses of History - Margaret MacMillan's new book was reviewed recently in the Sunday Times.

• Network of Power in Modern Greece: Essays in Honor of John Campbell - An exciting new set of perspectives on Greek history and society written by former students of Professor John Campbell, described as "the father" of Greek Studies at St Antony's College. Mark Mazower, (Oxford alumnus now Professor of History at Columbia University) edits the book which also includes contributions from Sir Michael Llewellyn-Smith, former Diplomat and St Antony's Doctoral student and Dr Renee Hirschon who sits on the SEESOX committee.

• Dr Matteo Rizzo - St Antony's Research Fellow and Lecturer in African Studies has published an article entitled - "The Struggle for Alternatives: NGOs' Responses to the World Development Report 2008" - which critically reviews the responses by NGOs to the World Bank's flagship publication. The article is available to download here. 

• Class of '99 Reunion - Antonians who arrived in 1999 returned to St Antony's for a reunion High Table on 30 October 2009. 

• New Middle East Centre Building - Oxford City Council has granted planning permission for the Middle East Centre's new building, the Softbridge, designed by the renowned architect Zaha Hadid. See the Softbridge page for a range of artist's impressions of the new building.

• Ice Hockey - the Oxford Blues featuring three St Antony's students have just won the National Championship for the first time since 1933. This comes just a few weeks after they also completed a memorable victory over Cambridge in the annual varsity match in March. Congratulations to Dan Koldyk, Cal Nicholson and Johanas Sjostrand.

• Journalism award - Maria Repnikova, currently studying for an MPhil in Comparative Government, has been awarded the $2,000 Alexander Kendrick Scholarship by the Overseas Press Club Foundation at its 2009 Annual Scholarship Luncheon held at the Yale Club in New York City. She has also won an OPC Foundation internship and will spend the summer in the Reuters bureau in Beijing.       
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• Award for Sarah Washbrook - Dr Sarah Washbrook, British Academy Post-doctoral Research Fellow working within the Latin American Centre, has been awarded a publishing contract in the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Monograph series.

• Dictionary of National Biography - Sir William Deakin, historian and founder Warden of St Antony's, is amongst the latest additions to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
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• Honours for Emeritus Fellows - St Antony's was delighted to learn of awards for two emeritus fellows. Mrs Rosemary Thorp, Reader Emeritus in the Economics of Latin America and Director of Queen Elizabeth House, the University's Department of International Development, in 2003-2004, is made a CBE. The founding Director of the Nissan Institute for Japanese Studies, Professor Arthur Stockwin, receives an OBE for services to academic excellence and the promotion of UK-Japanese understanding.
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• Grant for the MEC Archive - The Anglo Omani Society has awarded the Middle East Centre Archive a grant for the Charles Butt Project. This aims to preserve and digitise the outstanding photographic collection acquired by Charles Butt during his service in the Middle East, notably in Oman.
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• Appointments for Paul Collier - Professor Paul Collier, Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies, has been appointed co-director of a new International Growth Centre, which has been launched by International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander MP with the aim of providing practical help to promote economic growth in developing countries. A recording of the launch event is available as a podcast. Professor Collier has also joined the new senior advisory board of Critical Resource, an advisory firm specialising in sustainability and stakeholder issues.  
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• Award for Paul Collier - Professor Paul Collier, Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies, has won the Corine International Book Award 2008, business section, for his book The Bottom Billion. This award recognises books published in German.
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• New Chair in Contemporary Islamic Studies - The Qatar Foundation has announced the endowment of the HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani Chair in Contemporary Islamic Studies. The post-holder will be a fellow of St Antony's and a member of the Middle East Centre based in the College as well as being a member of the Faculty of Oriental Studies. Funding will also be provided for conferences, lecture series, seminars and joint publications. The announcement was made during the visit of Prime Minister Gordon Brown to Doha. Press coverage includes The Gulf Times.
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• Honorary Doctorate - Mrs Rosemary Thorp, Emeritus Fellow, has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the Catholic University of Peru. She has no thoughts of retirement as yet, with a research grant to continue her work at Queen Elizabeth House until at least 2010.
• British Academy elections - Professor Vivienne Shue (right), Director of the Contemporary China Studies Programme, has been elected a Fellow of the British Academy. Professor Sir Adam Roberts, Honorary Fellow of St Antony's, was elected for a four-year term as President starting in 2009.
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• EU 'Group of Wise Men' - Professor Kalypso Nicolaïdis, Director of the European Studies Centre, has been invited to join a 12-member group headed by former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez tasked with reflecting on how best to deal with Europe's future challenges. Further details are in the press release from the EU Observer, Brussels. 
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• Professor William Beinart, Rhodes Professor of Race Relations, has become President of the African Studies Association of the UK. During his two-year tenure, Oxford will host the Association's biennial conference in September 2010.