SPIN

In this final episode of the latest series of the SPIN Podcast, Dr Elspeth Van Veeren and Dr Peter Finn discuss how secrecy impacts democracy through an analysis of official government records in countries such as the US, UK, and Canada. Dr. Finn shares research from his recent book including the complexity of official records and how they are not neutral documents, examples of classified information leaking from records, questions around technology's role in both creating and maintaining records going forward, and tensions between transparency and secrecy in government. They also discuss the complexities of balancing individual privacy and national security in the digital age.
View Peter's academic profile: https://www.kingston.ac.uk/staff/profile/dr-peter-finn-643/
Browse and purchase Peter's latest book, The official record: oversight, national security and democracy: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526174321/

In this episode of the SPIN Podcast series, Lewis Bush shares details of what led him into his visual and archival work on security and secrecy, sharing details of his latest projects: Depravity's Rainbow and Trading Secrets. In Depravity's Rainbow, he explored the 'secret' and controversial histories of US space exploration using archival work, site visits and cyanotype printing. In his work in progress, Trading Zones, Lewis looks at the concentration of power and wealth, and the secrecy and ignorance politics of offshore finance centres.
Browse Lewis' work here: https://www.lewisbush.com/
For more on Trading Zones see: https://secrecyresearch.com/2023/07/12/introducing-lewis-bush-spin-research-fellow-2023/

In this next episode of the SPIN Podcast series, Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren provides an overview of the concept of 'secrecy games' that is at the heart of the paper recently published in Review of International Studies, co-authored with Dr. Clare Stevens (Cardiff) and Dr. Amaha Senu.

You can also download and read the paper at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/review-of-international-studies/article/secrecy-games-power-and-resistance-in-global-politics/A9F2834F169D66304FD5F39722CFAA0C?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=bookmark

You can also watch a video of a SPIN Talk on the paper here: https://wp.me/pb19Tu-Rw

In this week's episode of the SPIN Podcast, Professor Brian Rappert is in conversation with Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren on revelations, secrecy, and his new book project. Inspired by a longstanding interest in thinking through revelation, Brian outlines some of its complex features -- its relationship with secrecy, its involvement in state security special ops, the nuances of revelation associated with authenticity, for example in memoirs and political exposés, at the heard of stage magic to the design of museum spaces. Brian's new book on revelation will be published in the new year, with a SPIN book launch in January 2025.

In the next in our new series of SPIN podcast episodes, Dr. Luca Trenta discusses the history of US government involvement in assassinations and targeted killings from the Cold War era to today. Dr Trenta shares insights from his research and latest book including the evolving justifications around labels like "assassination" versus "targeted killing", the expanding legal interpretations of self-defense to include imminent and continuing threats, and the role of secrecy in both carrying out operations and publicly legitimizing certain covert actions over time. The discussion provides useful context for understanding the normalisation of practices like targeted killings and how this intersects with issues of secrecy, legal precedents, and international relations.
Further details about Luca's work at: https://www.swansea.ac.uk/staff/l.trenta/
Read Luca's recently released book, The President's Kill List: Assassination in US foreign policy since 1945: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-president-s-kill-list.html
Browse Luca's recent activities: https://secrecyresearch.com/2024/10/29/what-has-spin-ster-luca-trenta-been-up-to/
Stream Luca's book launch, hosted by SPIN: https://youtu.be/tO_mS_I8TtQ
SPIN website: https://secrecyresearch.com