On Wednesday 24 May Professor Sir Adam Roberts KCMG FBA gave the CCW Annual Lecture on the subject, "Causes of War, Old and New". Adam Roberts is Emeritus Professor of International Relations at Oxford University, and Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He was one of the founding members of CCW and served on its Academic Board before his retirement, and is now Honorary Fellow and Member of the CCW Advisory Board. It was an honour to have Professor Roberts speak at this key CCW event.

Professor Roberts considered various definitions of war, previous theories on causes and he proposed 33 causes. He suggests that the absence of a unified theory of the causes of war is not a disaster. However, the present period of growing nationalism and great power rivalry forces us to look again at the causes of international as well as non-international armed conflicts. Afterwards, Professor Roberts gave considered answers to wide ranging questions from the audience.