Professor of International History, Gaynor Johnson, discusses the often-overlooked role civil servants in the formulation of foreign policy, including the role of women in the British Foreign Office in recent podcast episode of The War & Diplomacy Podcast: From the Centre for War and Diplomacy at Lancaster University.
In the epsiode, ‘Civil Servants’ role in the formulation of British foreign policy and the role of women‘, Professor Johnson discusses innovative methodological approaches to the study of diplomatic history, including the use of prosopography.
Gayno Johnson has published widely in the field of international history on topics ranging from fanaticism and warfare to interwar appeasement. She led a major AHRC project on British and French attitudes towards European integration between 1919 and 1957. A major preoccupation of her work has been the study of diplomacy and diplomats. She has published studies of Robert Cecil, Eric Phipps and Lord D’Abernon to name but a few. She has been Professor of International History at the University of Kent since 2013. Gaynor is a member of the executive committee of the British International History Group, is Secretary to the Transatlantic Studies Association and is the book reviews editor of the International History Review. She has also written for a number of A level history magazines and been interviewed on BBC national radio about her work.