Mary Henrietta Kaldor (born 16 March 1946) is a British academic, currently Professor of Global Governance at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

, where she is also the Director of the Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit. She also teaches at the

Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals The Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals (IBEI) (Spanish: ''Instituto Barcelona de Estudios Internacionales'', English: ''Barcelona Institute of International Studies'') is an interuniversity research institute and postgraduate education c ...

(IBEI). She has been a key figure in the development of

cosmopolitan democracy Cosmopolitan democracy is a political theory which explores the application of norms and values of democracy at the transnational and global sphere. It argues that global governance of the people, by the people, for the people is possible and needed ...

. She writes on globalisation,

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...

and

humanitarian intervention Humanitarian intervention is the use or threat of military force by a state (or states) across borders with the intent of ending severe and widespread human rights violations in a state which has not given permission for the use of force. Human ...

, global civil society and global governance, as well as what she calls New Wars.

Career

In 1981, Kaldor was a member of the anti-nuclear Labour Party Defence Study Group. She was a founding member of

European Nuclear Disarmament European Nuclear Disarmament (END) was a Europe-wide movement for a "nuclear-free Europe from Poland to Portugal” that put on annual European Nuclear Disarmament conventions from 1982 to 1991. Origins The founding statement of END was the Eur ...

, editing its '' European Nuclear Disarmament Journal'' (1983–88). She was the founder and Co-Chair of the Helsinki Citizens Assembly, and a founding member of the

European Council on Foreign Relations The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank with offices in seven European capitals. Launched in October 2007, it conducts research on European foreign and security policy and provides a meeting space for decisi ...

. She also writes for OpenDemocracy.net, belongs to the board of trustees of the

Hertie School of Governance The Hertie School (until 2019 Hertie School of Governance) is a German private, independent graduate school for governance (public policy, international affairs and data science) located in Berlin's Friedrichstraße. Hertie School is according ...

, and is on the Editorial Board of '' Stability: International Journal of Security and Development''. She is known to admire the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. In 1999 Kaldor supported international military intervention over Kosovo on humanitarian grounds, calling for

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

ground forces to follow aerial bombardment in an article for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. However, Kaldor had lost faith in humanitarian intervention by 2009, telling the same paper: "The international community makes a terrible mess wherever it goes":

It is hard to find a single example of humanitarian intervention during the 1990s that can be unequivocally declared a success. Especially after Kosovo, the debate about whether human rights can be enforced through military means is ever more intense. Moreover, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which have been justified in humanitarian terms, have further called into question the case for intervention.

These views were repeated in her 2013 book ''Human Security''.

Family

She is the daughter of the economist

Nicholas Kaldor Nicholas Kaldor, Baron Kaldor (12 May 1908 – 30 September 1986), born Káldor Miklós, was a Cambridge economist in the post-war period. He developed the "compensation" criteria called Kaldor–Hicks efficiency for welfare comparisons (1939), d ...

'', 1 April 2008
Interview: 'The international community makes a terrible mess wherever it goes'
/ref> and Clarissa Goldschmidt, a history graduate of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

who studied at

Somerville College Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, ...

. She is also the sister of Frances Stewart, Professor at the Oxford Department of International Development (ODID) at Oxford. The Kaldor family moved to west Cambridge in 1950. Kaldor began her career with a B.A. in philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) from Oxford University.opendemocracy.ne
Mary Kaldor
In 2008, she married Julian Perry Robinson, a chemist and lawyer, who died 22 April 2020. The couple first met while both were working at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and joined the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

in 1971. They had two sons.

Selected bibliography

Books

* * * * * ::Second edition, ::First edition, :: ::Kaldor, Mary (2018). Global Security Cultures, UK Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: Polity Press. ISBN 9781509509218

Chapters in books

* * *

Journal articles

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaldor, Mary 1946 births Academics of the London School of Economics Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford British economists British women economists Daughters of life peers Innovation economists Living people Science and Technology Policy Research alumni Hertie School people