Dr. Lydia Walker, 'We Don’t Call Them Wars Anymore: International Intervention and the United Nations'

“We Don’t Call Them Wars Anymore,” explores the history of international intervention after the Second World War, and how the role of the United Nations has shifted over time.We speak with Dr. Lydia Walker, Assistant Professor and Myers Chair in Global Military History at Ohio State University, and author of the multiple award-winning book ‘States-in-Waiting: A Counter Narrative of Global Decolonisation’ (Cambridge University Press, 2024). In our conversation, you’ll hear how and why she pays attention to so-called “border walkers”, the historical actors involved in a UN Observer Mission in Kashmir, a region of conflict related to the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. The UN Kashmir mission was deemed successful precisely because no one outside the region knew it existed.“So,” Dr. Walker asks, “What does it mean to have an observer mission that performs best when it’s unobserved?”The scholarship suggested for consultation at (04:30) is: Mridu Rai, “Kashmir: From Princely State to Insurgency,” Oxford Research Encyclopedias, Asian History, 2018.Hosts: PhD Candidate Caleb Woodall - Caleb’s research concerns the material and intellectual lives of America’s WW2 conscientious objectors. I am particularly interested in the ways in which gender shaped their experiencesPhD Candidate Megan Renoir - researches Indigenous sovereignty and land conflict. Megan’s recent publication looked at“Recognition as Resilience: How an Unrecognized Indigenous Nation is Using Visibility as a Pathway Toward Restorative Justice." Production by Daisy Semmler (MPhil 2025).