Sir Adam RobertsKCMG FBA (born 29 August 1940^[1]) is Emeritus Professor of International Relations at theUniversity of Oxford, a senior research fellow in Oxford University's Department of Politics and International Relations, and anemeritus fellow ofBalliol College, Oxford.

Roberts was born inPenrith, Cumbria, the son of the poet and teacherMichael Roberts and the writer and editorJanet Adam Smith. He went toWestminster School, London, 1953–8. He studied modern history at the University of Oxford (Magdalen College), 1959–62, winning theStanhope essay prize, 1961.

Assistant Editor,Peace News, London, 1962–5. Noel Buxton Student in International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), 1965–8. Lecturer in International Relations at theLondon School of Economics and Political Science, 1968–81. Alastair Buchan Reader in International Relations at University of Oxford, 1981–6.Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at Oxford University, 1986–2007.

With interests incivil resistance,international law, theUnited Nations,strategic studies, and the history (and theories) of international relations, his publications include works on theUnited Nations and onHugo Grotius jointly edited with ProfessorBenedict Kingsbury. Roberts was elected a Fellow of theBritish Academy (the UK's national academy for the humanities and social sciences) in 1990, serving as its President (2009–13).^[2] He served on the Council of theInternational Institute for Strategic Studies (2002–08); on theCouncil for Science and Technology (2010–13); and on the United Kingdom Defence Academy Advisory Board (2003–15).

In 2002, he was appointedKnight Commander of theOrder of St Michael and St George for services to the study and practice of international relations.^[2] He is an Honorary Fellow of theLondon School of Economics & Political Science, ofSt Antony's College, Oxford, and ofCumbria University. He has a Guest Professorship atNankai University, Tianjin, China (2012); and is honorary professor,Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence atSt Andrew's University (2013- ). He has been awarded honorary doctorates byKing's College London (2010);Aberdeen University (2012);Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo (2012), andBath University (2014). He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member,American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in 2011; and a Member,American Philosophical Society, 2013. His interests include mountaineering and cycling.

He has published articles in numerous journals, includingAmerican Journal of International Law,British Yearbook of International Law,International Affairs,International Security,Review of International Studies,Survival andThe Times Literary Supplement. His publications include:

• 'Pandemics and Politics',Survival, London, vol. 62, no. 5, October–November 2020, pp. 7–40. Available at[1].
• 'Foundational Myths in the Laws of War: The 1863 Lieber Code, and the 1864 Geneva Convention',Melbourne Journal of International Law, vol. 20, no. 1, July 2019, pp. 158–96. ISSN 1444-8602. Available at[2].
• 'The Use of Force: A System of Selective Security', in Sebastian von Einsiedel,David M. Malone andBruno Stagno Ugarte (eds.),The UN Security Council in the 21st Century, Lynne Rienner, Boulder, Colorado, 2016, pp. 349–71.ISBN 978-1-62637-258-0 (hardback); 978-1-62637-259-7 (paperback).
• 'Terrorism Research: Past, Present and Future',Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, vol. 38, no. 1, January 2015, pp. 62–74. Print editionISSN 1057-610X. OnlineISSN 1521-0731. Available at[3].
• 'The Long Peace Getting Longer',Survival, London, vol. 54, no. 1, February–March 2012, pp. 175–83. Print editionISSN 0039-6338. OnlineISSN 1468-2699. Available at[4]. (Review essay on Steven Pinker,The Better Angels of our Nature.)
• 'Simon Frederick Peter Halliday, 1946–2010',Proceedings of the British Academy, vol. 172:Biographical Memoirs of Fellows no. X, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011, pp. 143–69.ISBN 978-0-19-726490-4.ISSN 0068-1202. Available at[5].
• 'The Civilian in Modern War', in Hew Strachan and Sibylle Scheipers (eds.),The Changing Character of War, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011, pp. 357–80.ISBN 978-0-19-959673-7 (hardback).
• 'The Civilian in Modern War',Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, vol. 12, 2009, T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague, 2010, pp. 13–51.ISBN 978-90-6704-335-9;ISSN 1389-1359.
• 'Lives and Statistics: Are 90% of War Victims Civilians?’,Survival, London, vol. 52, no. 3, June–July 2010, pp. 115–35. Print editionISSN 0039-6338. OnlineISSN 1468-2699. Available at[6].
• 'Detainees: Misfits in Peace and War', in Sibylle Scheipers (ed.),Prisoners in War, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2010, pp. 263–80.ISBN 978-0-19-957757-6.
• 'An "Incredibly Swift Transition": Reflections on the End of the Cold War', in Melvyn P. Leffler and Odd Arne Westad (eds.),The Cambridge History of the Cold War, vol. III,Endings, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2010, pp. 513–34.ISBN 978-0-521-83721-7.
• 'The Equal Application of the Laws of War: A Principle under Pressure',International Review of the Red Cross, Cambridge, vol. 90, no. 872, December 2008, pp. 931–62.ISSN 1816-3831. EISSN 1607-5889. Available at[7].
• 'Doctrine and Reality in Afghanistan',Survival, London, vol. 51, no. 1, February–March 2009, pp. 29–60. Print editionISSN 0039-6338. OnlineISSN 1468-2699.
• 'Torture and Incompetence in the "War on Terror"’,Survival, London, vol. 49, no. 1, Spring 2007. (Review article.) Print editionISSN 0039-6338. OnlineISSN 1468-2699. Available at[8].
• 'Transformative Military Occupation: Applying the Laws of War and Human Rights',American Journal of International Law, Washington DC, vol. 100, no. 3, July 2006.ISSN 0002-9300. Available at[9].
• 'The Laws of War in the War on Terror', in Fred L. Borch and Paul S. Wilson (eds.),International Law and the War on Terror (US Naval War College, International Law Studies, vol. 79),Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, 2003. Available at[10].

• (with Michael J. Willis, Rory McCarthy andTimothy Garton Ash) (eds.).Civil Resistance in the Arab Spring: Triumphs and Disasters, Oxford University Press, Oxford, January 2016.ISBN 978-0-19-874902-8.US edition. Article arising from the book in The Guardian, London, 15 January 2016. Discussion of the book with ProfessorRashid Khalidi at theCarnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, New York, 10 February 2016, onUstream.TV.
• Kadirgamar, Lakshman (15 September 2012).Democracy, Sovereignty and Terror: Lakshman Kadirgamar on the Foundations of International Order,I.B. Tauris, London, 2012.ISBN 9781848853072.ISBN 978 1 84885 307 2 (hardback).On Google.
• (with Benedict Kingsbury) (eds.) 全球治理：分列世界中的联合国 (Global Governance: United Nations in a Divided World), trans. Zhicheng Wu and colleagues at Nankai University, Central Compilation & Translation Press, Beijing, 2010.ISBN 978-7-5117-0220-3. (A specially adapted version ofUnited Nations, Divided World: The UN's Roles in International Relations, Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, 1993, and incorporating a new introduction by the editors, revised/new appendices, and Foreword by Professor Wang Jisi of Peking University.)
• (with Timothy Garton Ash) (ed.).Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present,Oxford University Press, 2009. Archived fromthe original on 6 September 2012. Retrieved14 November 2010.ISBN 978-0-19-955201-6 (hardback);ISBN 978-0-19-969145-6 (paperback, 2011, with new Foreword on theArab Spring).US edition.On Google.
• (with Vaughan Lowe, Jennifer Welsh and Dominik Zaum), ed. (6 June 2010).The United Nations Security Council and War: The Evolution of Thought and Practice since 1945,Oxford University Press, 2008. Oxford University Press.ISBN 9780199583300.ISBN 978-0-19-953343-5 (hardback);ISBN 978-0-19-958330-0 (paperback).US edition.On Google.
• (with Richard Guelff) (ed.).Documents on the Laws of War,3rd edn., Oxford University Press, 2000.ISBN 0-19-876389-1 (hardback);ISBN 0-19-876390-5 (paperback).US edition.
• (with Benedict Kingsbury) (ed.).United Nations, Divided World: The UN's Roles in International Relations,2nd edn.,Oxford University Press, 1993.ISBN 978-0-19-827926-6 (paperback).US edition.
• Civil Resistance in the East European and Soviet RevolutionsArchived 1 December 2016 at theWayback Machine, Cambridge, Mass.: Albert Einstein Institution, 1991.ISBN 1-880813-04-1. Available at[11].
• (with Hedley Bull and Benedict Kingsbury) (ed.).Hugo Grotius and International Relations,Oxford University Press, 1990.ISBN 0-19-825569-1 (hardback);ISBN 0-19-827771-7 (paperback).US edition.Oxford Scholarship Online.On Google.
• (with Lawrence Freedman; et al.Terrorism and International Order,Routledge & Kegan Paul for Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, 1986.ISBN 0-7102-1141-4.
• Nations in Arms: The Theory and Practice of Territorial Defence,2nd edn., Macmillan, Basingstoke, 1986.ISBN 0-333-39306-6 (hardback);ISBN 0-333-37307-3 (paperback).On Google.
• (with Philip Windsor).Czechoslovakia 1968: Reform, Repression and Resistance,Chatto & Windus for Institute for Strategic Studies, London, 1969.ISBN 0-7011-1498-3 (paperback).
• (ed.)The Strategy of Civilian Defence: Non-violent Resistance to Aggression, Faber, London, 1967. (Also published asCivilian Resistance as a National Defense, Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, US, 1968; and, with a new Introduction on 'Czechoslovakia and Civilian Defence', asCivilian Resistance as a National Defence, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, UK, and Baltimore, US, 1969.ISBN 0-14-021080-6.)

• Civilian-based defense

• The Equal Application of the Laws of War: A Principle Under Pressure in theLecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
• Reinventing the Wheel: The cost of neglecting international history the 2010Gresham Special Lecture delivered in theGuildhall, City of London.

• Oxford University Department of Politics & International Relations:https://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/person/adam-roberts

Archived 18 June 2015 at theWayback Machine.

• Oxford University Programme on Civil Resistance and Power Politics:https://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/research-projects/civil-resistance-and-power-politics-domestic-and-international-dimensions.html

• 1940 births
• Living people
• British nonviolence advocates
• Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford
• Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
• Fellows of the British Academy
• Presidents of the British Academy
• People from Penrith, Cumbria
• Montague Burton Professors of International Relations (University of Oxford)
• Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
• Honorary Fellows of the London School of Economics
• Members of the American Philosophical Society

• Use dmy dates from September 2020
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