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About Gilbert Ramsay

Gilbert Ramsay is a lecturer in International Relations at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV), University of St Andrews.

Articles by Gilbert Ramsay

This week’s front page editor

Thomas Rowley is editor of oDR.

European integration

Six countries. Six different paths to EU integration.

No to TTIP

The secretive EU-US trade deal explained

Who is observing the occupation in Hebron?

Badia Dwaik and Gilbert Ramsay 22 February 2019

Following the expulsion of international observers from Hebron, settler violence is already escalating.

Theresa May offers a gig-economy approach to counter-terrorism

Gilbert Ramsay 6 June 2017

Regulating the internet won't work. Investing in public services might.

No, the link between terrorism and our foreign policy isn’t simple. But Jeremy Corbyn is basically right.

Gilbert Ramsay 28 May 2017

Look at ISIS's own propaganda and it's clear that Western intervention is a key driver of their violence.

In troubled Hebron, an innovative programme of activism training brings new hope

Badee Dwaik and Gilbert Ramsay 17 March 2017

The organisation that filmed the notorious incident of an Israeli medic shooting a wounded Palestinian teenager in the head, is at the crest of an exciting new wave of creative resistance.

The untold story of how the killing of Abdul Fattah al-Shareef was filmed

Gilbert Ramsay and Badee Dwaik 12 January 2017

The story of the camera, and the campaign that helped reveal the criminal acts perpetrated by Israel's military occupation of the West Bank.

Those who don't like the referendum result should demand more democracy, not less

Gilbert Ramsay 16 July 2016

Britain's referendum shows the need to deepen democracy, and make it truly deliberative.

We can only contemplate leaving the EU because its miracles have become banal

Gilbert Ramsay 14 June 2016

The EU is an astonishing institution, unique in human history, imperfect because of the scale of its ambition. Let's not tear it down.

Authoritarian Britain is made freer by the EU

Gilbert Ramsay and Javier Argomaniz 31 May 2016

The idea that the EU undermines English liberty is nonsense: it has helped curtail the British state's repressive surveillance.

Has a generation of activists given in to surveillance?

Gilbert Ramsay 24 May 2016

Reflections after months poring over interviews with activists about surveillance.

Report: Impacts of surveillance on contemporary British activism

Gilbert Ramsay, Adam Ramsay, and Sarah Marsden 23 May 2016

St Andrews University and openDemocracy interviewed 25 activists, and surveyed more than a hundred, about the impacts of surveillance on activism in the UK. Here are our findings.

IS attacks and not playing their game

Gilbert Ramsay 15 November 2015

For the terrorists, best would be to be left alone to consolidate. Next best would be an epic all-out confrontation with western infidel ground forces. We should not give them what they want.

On the unexplained killing of Raqib Ruhul Amin

Gilbert Ramsay 9 September 2015

British government air strikes killed three IS combatants. It only appears to have tried to justify two of these deaths.

The British constitutional reform crisis: a proposal

Gilbert Ramsay 26 September 2014

The UK needs a framework for federalisation. Here's one suggestion for how this could work.

The security dilemma, the media and the Israeli bombardment

Gilbert Ramsay 12 July 2014

If you care about human life you should be appalled by what is happening in Gaza right now. But you should also be appalled if you are a hardheaded political realist. Or even if you simply love Israel.

The Woolwich attack in Britain demonstrated an evolving and more rational terror

Gilbert Ramsay 7 June 2013

The Woolwich attack can be seen as a more scrupulous, even moral, development within terror tactics. It tells us nothing about the "Muslim community", and reveals the success of the security forces rather than the failure.

Does the government need new internet surveillance powers?

Gilbert Ramsay 21 June 2012

The UK faces a range of cyber threats to its security – including terrorist cells, child pornography and cyber-crime. Are they enough to justify extending the government’s powers of online surveillance?