Dr Tara McCormack

Lecturer

• Office: Attenborough Tower 918
• Email: tm155@leicester.ac.uk
• Phone:  0116 252 2795

Personal details

My BA was in Politics from Queen Mary, University of London and my MSc was in International Relations and Government from the London School of Economics. I completed my PhD in international security at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster. Before joining the University of Leicester, I taught European and comparative politics and international relations at the University of Westminster and Brunel University. My research focuses on security, foreign policy and legitimacy.

I contribute regularly to the media including the BBC, LBC, Sky, Al Jazeera, Russia Today, talkRADIO, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, spiked-online and others.

Research

My research falls into three related areas:

•  Security, foreign policy and democratic legitimacy

•  Intervention (including EU)

•  Britain's war powers

Teaching

I currently teach the following:

• International Security Studies (postgraduate campus based and distance learning)
• International Security Studies (undergraduate second year)
• The Changing Character of War (undergraduate final year)

Administrative roles

I am currently the Postgraduate Research Tutor for Politics and IR.

Parliamentary evidence

• 2019 Written and oral evidence, The Role of Parliament in the UK Constitution: Authorising the Use of Military Force Inquiry, Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, 12th March
• 2018  Written evidence submitted to and published, Foreign Policy in a Changed World Conditions Inquiry, report of the House of Lords International Relations Committee, 7th March

• 2017  Written evidence submitted to and cited in Cyber security: UK national strategy in a digital world, report of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy,17th March

Publications

Monographs

• 2019  Britain's War Powers: The Fall and Rise of Executive Authority? (Palgrave Pivot).

• 2009 Critique, Security and Power. The Political Limits to Critical and Emancipatory Approaches (London, Routledge).

Journal articles

• 2016 The Emerging Parliamentary Convention on British Military Action and Warfare by Remote Control, The RUSI Journal, Vol 161, No 2, pp 22 - 29.

• 2015 The British National Security Strategy, Security After Representation, British Journal of Politics and International Relations. Early view online.
• 2011 Human Security and the Separation of Security and Development,  Conflict Security and Development, volume 11,  number 2, pp 235 - 260.
• 2011 The Domestic Limits to American International Leadership After Bush, International Politics, volume 48, issue 2, pp 188 - 206. 
• 2010 The Responsibility to Protect and the End of the Western Century, The Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, volume 4, issue 1, pp 69 – 82.
• 2008 Power and Agency in the Human Security Framework, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, volume 1, issue 21, pp113 – 128.

Chapters

• 2016 Academic Freedom in an Age of Terror in Hudson, C & Williams, J Eds,  Why Academic Freedom Matters (Civitas)

• 2011 From Ethical Foreign Policy to National Security Strategy: Exporting Domestic Incoherence in Daddow, O and Gaskarth, J, Eds,  British Foreign Policy: The New Labour Years (Palgrave).
• 2010 Power and agency in the Human Security Framework in Hynek, N and Chandler, D, Eds, Re-Thinking Human Security (Routledge).
• 2010 The R2P and the End of the Western Century? in Cunliffe, P, Ed, Critical Perspectives on the Responsibility to Protect Doctrine (Lexington).
• 2007 From the State of War to the State of Nature, Human Security and Sovereignty, chapter in Bickerton C, Cunliffe P, & Gourevitch A, Eds, Politics Without Sovereignty: A Critique of Contemporary International Relations (UCL Press)

Media/Public Debate/Opinion

2018

• LBC Radio, Iain Dale programme, discussed Trump's NATO demands and UK defence spending, 11 July

• Russia Today, interviewed about the Amesbury and Skripal poisonings, 5 July
• Sky news, interviewed about the Amesbury and Skripal poisonings with Kay Burley, 5 July
• LSE Brexit Blog, When it comes to defence, Britain is trapped in a Cold War mindset, 2 July
• spiked-online, Review of David Thomson's The Returned, Digging into the domestic roots of Jihad, 29 June
• talkRADIO, discussing the British government's participation in the kidnapping and torture of Abdul Belhaj with Jamie East, 11 May
• Culture on the Offensive, Greg Scorzo and I discuss Syria and other Western military interventions
• BBC Newsnight, interviewed on Syria and 'fake news', 24 April
• Sputnik News Radio, Hard Facts, interview and discussion on The Times, academic freedom and Syria, 24 April
• Al Jazeera, The Listening Post, Red Lines and Military Strikes: Media Coverage of the Syrian War, interviewed, 21st April
• Sky news, debate with Ian Dunt on the legality of the Syrian strikes, 17 April
• LBC Radio, Iain Dale programme, discussed Syria strikes, 16 April

• Radio Leicestershire, morning programme, interviewed about Syria, 13 April

• BBC Radio 2, Jeremy Vine Programme, debated Edward Lucas on the the attempted assassination of a former Russian spy and Corbyn's response, 5 April
• Radio Leicestershire, Martin Ballard programme, interviewed about the attempted assassination of a former Russian spy and UK/Russia relations, 4 April

• Sky News, interview with Rebecca Williams on Syrian conflict, 2 April

• LBC Radio, Nick Ferrari programme, interview on UK/US/Russia reaction to Russian spy scandal, 30 March

• Russia Today, News at 2pm, interview  on UK's reaction to Russian spy scandal, 27 March

• Russia Today, News at 8pm, interview  on UK's reaction to Russian spy scandal, 22 March

• Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Between the Lines, presented by Tom Switzer, debate with Tom Tugendhat MP on spy scandal, 22 March
• Al Jazeera, Newshour 8pm, interview  on UK's reaction to Russian spy scandal, 16 March

• BBC Radio 4, PM programme, debated UK's reaction to Russian spy scandal with Bob Seely MP, 15 March
• LBC Radio, Iain Dale programme, interview on UK's reaction to Russian spy scandal, 15 March

• Sky News, interview with Kay Burley on UK's reaction to Russian spy scandal, 15 March
• Al Jazeera English, Newshour 9pm, interview  on UK's reaction to Russian spy scandal, 15 March
• Russia Today, News at 7pm, interview  on UK's reaction to Russian spy scandal, 15 March
• Radio Leicestershire, Martin Ballard programme, interviewed about the attempted assassination of a former Russian spy and UK/Russia relations, 6 March
• spiked-online, Review of Ivan Krastev's new book, After Europe, 1 March

2017

• spiked-online, Mohammed Bin Salman: A kinder, gentler despot, 18 Dec
• Russia Today, interview on Trump and Russia, 14 Dec
• spiked-online, That's enough of the Russia blame game, 21 Nov

• City University, Panel discussant 'Everything Has Changed? Trump and the Crisis of the Liberal Order', 16 Nov

• University of Edinburgh, Transatlantic Forum, Academics, the media and propaganda, 10 Nov
• spiked-online,  Russia did it! A comforting delusion, 7 Nov

• Panel debate on the New Cold War at the Battle of Ideas at the Barbican, 28/29 October
• Worldbytes Worldwrite, Documentary, 1917 Why The Russian Revolution Matters, interviewed on contemporary Russia, release date 28 Oct
• Voice of Islam Radio, The Breakfast Show, interviewed about Trump and North Korea, 12 Oct
• Sputnik News Radio, Level Talk with John Harrison, Myth of Russia interference in US election is destroying American democracy, 7 Sep
• BBC West Midlands Radio, The Paul Franks Show, interviewed about North Korean crisis, 4 Sep
• BBC Radio 5 Live, Afternoon Edition, interviewed about North Korean crisis, 4 Sep
• RIA Novosti, written commentary on the G20 Trump Putin meeting, 10 July
• spiked-online podcast on Syria, 30 June
• spiked-online, What is the US doing in Syria?, 28 June
• Sputnik News Radio, Level Talk with John Harrison, Are US-Europe relations really on the rocks?, 1 June
• Sputnik News Radio, Brave New World, How Long with the Russia Bashing Game Go On?, 10 March

• BBC The Big Questions, discussant on Russia, Cybersecurity and democracy, 19th Feb
• Occupy IR Theory podcast, discussed the New McCarthism, Russia, Trump and the pro war left, 18 Feb,
• The New European, interview on European Defence, 17 Feb
• BBC Radio 4, 'witness' on The Moral Maze, 8 Feb

2016

• spiked-online, East Aleppo: a catastrophe of the West's making, 1 Dec
• BBC Scotland, Morning Programme, interviewed on European proposals for joint defence, Trump and British security and defence policy, 23 Nov
• LBC Radio, Ian Collins Programme, interviewed on the US/UK ‘special relationship’, 7 Nov
• LBC Radio, Shelagh Fogerty Programme, interviewed on media presentation of the Syrian conflict, 19 Oct
• Remote Control Project, interview on the new Parliamentary convention authorising war and new modes of 'remote control', warfare, 12 Oct
• Radio Leicestershire, Jonathan Lampon programme, interviewed about the attempted coup in Turkey, 18 July
• Radio Leicestershire, Jonathan Lampon programme, interviewed about Brexit vote and implications for Britain in the world, 24 June
• University of Leicester, podcast on Brexit and implications for Britain's role in the world, 23 May
• Radio Leicestershire, Jonathan Lampon programme, interviewed about Brexit, international security and Britain's role in the world, 26 May
• Novosti, Live panel discussion with Moscow experts on Russian policy in Syria, 17 March

2015

• Radio Leicestershire, Jim Davis programme, interviewed about the House of Commons Syria vote and home-grown terrorism, 3 Dec
• Battle of Ideas, panel debate: Shifting sands, understanding the Middle East today 18 October
• spiked, The Western media have lost the plot in Syria, 16 Oct
• Cheltenham Literary Festival, The Sunday Times Debate: A New Cold War? 4 October
• Radio Leicestershire, Jonathan Lampon programme, discussion about the anniversary of Hiroshima and nuclear weapons, 6 August
• The World Weekly, Interview on current crisis in Ukraine
• spiked, Clueless Cameron is playing PR-politics over Ukraine
• spiked, Years of Western meddling has pushed Ukraine over the edge

2014

• Battle of Ideas, Panel debate on Ukraine: Cold War Rebooted?, 19 October, Barbican Centre, London
• Radio Leicestershire, Jonathan Lampon programme, debate on ISIS and intervention, 25 September
• spiked, Podcast on Israel, double standards and anti-Semitism, 22 August
• Russia Today, 6pm News, interviewed on the topic of the current crisis in Ukraine, 4 June
• Radio 4, The Moral Maze, invited ‘witness’ on the topic of intervention, morality and foreign policy, 5 March
• spiked, Bosnia: The Limits to EU Rule
• WorldBytes TV, Discussion on the Sochi Olympics and Western attitudes to Russia, February 9

• I am also a member of the Battle of Ideas committee