Daniel Skeffington

PhD candidate in the Department of War Studies

Research interests

Security

Contact details

Biography

Daniel Skeffington is a PhD candidate in the Department of War Studies, focusing on war powers, political history, Anglo-American grand strategy, and international law. His doctorate examines the exercise of the war prerogative in post-Second World War conflicts from the perspective of the British government, exploring how decision-makers understood and exercised that power to make war. His broader interests include the relationship between war and foreign affairs with political history and constitutional thought, British and US foreign policy, the law of armed conflict, and international/maritime law. His work has been published by outlets including RUSI, The Naval Review, Public Law, and the UK Constitutional Law Association, among others.

Daniel currently works as a Parliamentary Researcher to Lord Stirrup KG, former Chief of the Defence Staff (2006–2010), and serves as a Student Contributor for Lawfare. In addition, he is co-authoring a monograph on the history of the war prerogative in Westminster democracies with Professor Philippe Lagassé and is taking part in a multi-year comparative study led by Professor Vanessa MacDonnell on the role of unwritten principles in the constitutions of Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Previously, Daniel worked as a researcher at the London School of Economics, where he co-authored a history of the School’s Department of Government, and as a Research Fellow at the Constitution Society in London, focusing on the history and theory of the British constitution. He holds an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics and a BSc in Politics and International Relations from the University of Bath.

Research Interests

British political history; executive and prerogative power; constitutional history and political thought; 20th- and 21st-century Anglo-American strategic thought; the history of warfare; legislative oversight of foreign and defence policy and civil-military relations; international law and the laws of war; international political thought; and the history of Westminster states.

Daniel’s research interests include Anglo-American grand strategy, national security, the history of war, and international law, broadly conceived. His current non-thesis research interests focus on the politics of war powers and alliances, the historical and theoretical development of international law, and the intersection of the law of the sea and the law of armed conflict in emerging maritime security challenges.

Thesis title and abstract

In Defence of the Realm: International Law and the War Prerogative in Britain and the United States, 1950–2004.

Supervisors

Publications

Philippe Lagassé & Daniel Skeffington (Forthcoming, 2025), ‘Historical Interpretation and the War Prerogative: The Case of the Royal Navy’, Public Law. Preprint accessible at: Historical Interpretation and the War Prerogative
Daniel Skeffington, Patrick Hulme, & Samuel White (October, 2024), ‘AUKUS and War Powers: The Constitutional Dimensions of Grand Strategy’, King’s College, London. Accessible at: AUKUS and War Powers
Daniel Skeffington (16 August, 2024), ‘The Russian Shadow Fleet and British Grand Strategy’, The Naval Review, Accessible at: The Russian Shadow Fleet and British Grand Strategy
Daniel Skeffington & Philippe Lagassé (23 May, 2024), ‘Principle, Practice, and Prerogative’, K. Const. L. Blog. Accessible at: Principle, Practice, and Prerogative
Daniel Skeffington (25 March, 2024), ‘“Unconventional Practices”. The Houthi Strikes and UK War Powers’, RUSI Commentary. Accessible at: The Houthi Strikes and UK War Powers
Daniel Skeffington (2022), ‘Emergency Powers in the United Kingdom.’ The Constitution Society. Accessible at: Emergency Powers in the United Kingdom
Daniel Skeffington (2022), ‘The Concept of the Executive in the United Kingdom’, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. Private briefing paper, available on request.
Daniel Skeffington (2022), ‘The Political Constitution’, The Constitution Society, London. Accessible at: The Political Constitution
Daniel Skeffington (2021), The Orator and the Conversationalist. From Laski to Oakeshott, 1921-1965, In: Cheryl Schonhardt-Bailey & Gordon Bannerman (Eds.), Political Science at the LSE. A History of the Department of Government. pp.53-85, London: Ubiquity Press. Accessible at: The Orator and the Conversationalist. From Laski to Oakeshott
Daniel Skeffington (2020), ‘The Concept of the Constitution in the Jurisprudence of Michael Oakeshott.’ LSE Law Review, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 1-31. Accessible at: The Concept of the Constitution

King's College London