Dr Ross Bellaby

Department of Politics and International Relations

Senior Lecturer in Security Studies

r.bellaby@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 1661

Modular Teaching Village

Full contact details

Dr Ross Bellaby
Department of Politics and International Relations
Modular Teaching Village
Northumberland Road
Sheffield
S10 1AJ

Profile

Dr Ross Bellaby joined the Department in February 2012 after finishing his PhD at Aberystwyth University in 2011.

His main areas of research involve the ethics of intelligence. His research therefore broadly includes looking at historical and contemporary use of intelligence along with the rise of the surveillance state as well as ethical theory, ethics in war and violence and the development of a cosmopolitan ethic and its limits.

Research interests

Over the last century intelligence has become one of the most vital tools of the state, providing timely information designed serve the state in its task to protect its people. However, recent controversies, including reports of abuse at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghriab, allegations of extraordinary rendition programmes, and the ever-increasing pervasiveness of the ‘surveillance state’, have all raised questions regarding what role intelligence should play in society.

My research establishes an ethical framework that, on the one hand, recognises and outlines what it is about intelligence collection that makes it disreputable by normal moral standards, while balancing the need to carry out these activities in order to protect people. By outlining the ‘harm’ intelligence collection can cause to those it targets as well as society as a whole and then incorporating this harm within a ‘just intelligence’ framework it is possible to understand if and when intelligence collection is permissible.

Areas of research interest:

International Relations
Security studies
Ethical Theory
Intelligence studies – history and contemporary use
Surveillance, data-mining and dataveillance
Just war, deontology, consequentialism and harm
Cosmopolitanism and communitarianism
Human rights, with special focus on privacy, autonomy, liberty, self-worth

Publications

Books

Bellaby RW (2023) The Ethics of Hacking An Ethical Framework for Political Hackers.
Bellaby RW (2023) The Ethics of Hacking. Bristol University Press.
Bellaby RW (2023) The Ethics of Hacking. Bristol University Press.
Bellaby R (2014) The Ethics of Intelligence: A new framework. Abingdon: Routledge.

Journal articles

Bellaby RW (2023) The Ethics of Economic Espionage. Ethics & International Affairs, 37(2), 116-133.
Bellaby RW (2022) Redefining the security paradigm to create an intelligence ethic. Intelligence and National Security.
Bellaby RW (2021) Can AI weapons make ethical decisions?. Criminal Justice Ethics.
Bellaby RW (2021) An ethical framework for hacking operations. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice.
Bellaby R (2019) Too Many Secrets? When Should the Intelligence Community be Allowed to Keep Secrets. Polity, 51(1), 62-94. View this article in WRRO
Bellaby R (2018) Going dark: anonymising technology in cyberspace. Ethics and Information Technology, 20(3), 189-204. View this article in WRRO
Bellaby R (2018) The ethics of whistleblowing: Creating a new limit on intelligence activity. Journal of International Political Theory, 14(1), 60-84. View this article in WRRO
Bellaby R (2017) Extraordinary rendition: expanding the circle of blame in international politics. The International Journal of Human Rights. View this article in WRRO
Bellaby R (2016) The Ethics of Torture-Lite: A Justifiable Middle-Ground?. International Journal of Applied Philosophy, 29(2), 177-190. View this article in WRRO
Bellaby R (2016) Justifying Cyber-intelligence?. Journal of Military Ethics, 15(4), 299-319. View this article in WRRO
Phythian M, Barret DM, Bellaby RW, Brecher B, Goldman J, Manget FF, Newbery S, Pfiffner PP & Zegart A (2016) An INS Special Forum: The US Senate Select Committee Report on the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program. Intelligence and National Security, 31(1), 8-27. View this article in WRRO
Bellaby R (2013) Dick Couch,A Tactical Ethic: Moral Conduct in the Insurgent Battlespace. Intelligence and National Security, 28(1), 123-125.
Bellaby R (2012) What's the harm? The ethics of intelligence collection. Intelligence and National Security, 27(1), 93-117.
Summers R () The Ethical Problems of Intelligence-AI. International Affairs.
Summers R, Blair A, Rose G & Craig J () What defines a discipline and how we teach and study it?. Political Studies.
Bellaby RW () An Ethical Framework for Economic Intelligence. International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, 1-26.

Chapters

Bellaby RW (2023) Political Autonomy, the Arab Spring and Anonymous, The Ethics of Hacking (pp. 53-72). Policy Press
Bellaby RW (2023) Looking Back, Moving Forward, The Ethics of Hacking (pp. 107-122). Policy Press
Bellaby RW (2023) Leaks: From Whistleblowing to Doxxing, The Ethics of Hacking (pp. 73-93). Policy Press
Bellaby RW (2023) Introduction, The Ethics of Hacking (pp. 1-15). Policy Press
Bellaby RW (2023) Hacks, Hackers and Political Hacking, The Ethics of Hacking (pp. 16-31). Policy Press
Bellaby RW (2023) Correcting the Failure of the State, The Ethics of Hacking (pp. 94-106). Policy Press
Bellaby RW (2023) An Ethical Framework for Hacking Operations, The Ethics of Hacking (pp. 32-52). Policy Press
Bellaby R (2021) Intelligence and the just war tradition, National Security Intelligence and Ethics (pp. 7-20). Routledge
Bellaby R & Summers R (2019) The Ethics of Intelligence Research In Coulthart S, Landon-Murray M & Van Puyvelde D (Ed.), Researching National Security Intelligence Multidisciplinary Approaches
Bellaby R (2017) The Ethics of Intelligence, The Palgrave Handbook of Security, Risk and Intelligence (pp. 395-409). Palgrave Macmillan UK
Miller S, Regan M & Walsh PF () National Security Intelligence and Ethics Routledge

Research group

Areas I can supervise in:

Intelligence and Surveillance
Ethics in Intelligence
Ethical Theory
The Harm Ethic
Ethics in War and Violence

Teaching activities

I am teaching modules relating to security studies, terrorism, violence and contemporary international affairs more broadly. The security modules involve investigating the various theoretical frameworks found within the security literature and applying them to important issues such as cyber security, intelligence agencies, health security, energy, gender security and traditional state power.

The Terrorism, Violence and the State module is more specific and is designed to get students to look at various terrorist activities perpetuated by both individuals and the state, how the state responses to terrorism, the ‘war on terror’ post-9/11, and the relationship of the media with terrorist groups and counter-terrorist operations. Finally the Terrorism projects and dissertations will build on this while allowing students the opportunity to develop their own ideas and create a piece of work of their own choosing. My role in this process is to guide the student and to ensure that they get the best out of their ideas that they can.

My teaching philosophy very much relies on a student centred approach which puts the student in the driving seat for their learning experience. This means encouraging the student to take the lead by setting up scenarios or situations where the student must dynamically engage with the information and present it under varying conditions. In doing so this helps develops various academic and professional skills sets.

POL3019 Terrorism, Violence and the State
POL230 Contemporary Security Challenges
POL6005 Contemporary Global Security

Professional activities and memberships

Editorial Assistant – Kantian Review (2010-2012)
The Aberystwyth Vice-Chancellor and Guild of Students Special Award for Teaching Excellence (2009-2010)
Aberystwyth Teaching Excellence Award (2009 – 2010)
Jana Fritzsche Prize 2010-2011