Mary Kaldor is the Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Governance and a Professor of Global Governance at the London School of Economics. An expert on security and civil society, she has researched and written exclusively about these topics, and has written for openDemocracy on Iraq and the issue of terrorism.

Kaldor is also the co-chair of the Helsinki Citizens Assembly and the Governor of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. She has published a number of books, including Global Civil Society: An Answer to War (2003), New & Old Wars (1999) and The Imaginary War: Understanding the East-West Conflict (1990).

After graduating with a B.A. in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University, Mary Kaldor was a Scholar at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Since then she has held positions as the Jean Monnet Reader in Contemporary European Studies, and as a Research Fellow, Associate Fellow and Senior Fellow at the University of Sussex.

Recent articles

Arguments for and against independence should be judged pragmatically, against a criterion of safety and end to violence. This humanitarian perspective releases us from the dilemmas of sovereignty and status-based approaches, argues Mary Kaldor.

The search for a political solution to the decades-old Cyprus problem is at a delicate stage. It needs a push, says Mient Jan Faber & Mary Kaldor.

The risks of instability in 2008 in a range of lands between Bosnia and Georgia require a new focus from Europe, says Mary Kaldor.

The seizure, and sometimes killing, of civilian hostages is not random violence but part of a deliberate strategy that is changing the relationship between war and politics, says Mary Kaldor. How should citizens, and their governments, respond?

(This article was first published on 29 September 2004)

The dignity of Palestinians, along with their hopes of a political settlement, is being crushed by conflict, economic degradation, and the world's neglect. Mient Jan Faber & Mary Kaldor's visit to Gaza highlights the problems and suggests an essential ingredient of progress.