A view of singleton campus including singleton park and the beach, with the sea stretching into the horizon.

Dr Luca Trenta

Associate Professor
Politics, Philosophy and International Relations

Email address

Office - 014
Ground Floor
James Callaghan
Singleton Campus
Available For Postgraduate Supervision
Media Commentator

About

Dr Luca Trenta is an Associate Professor in International Relations in the Department of Political and Cultural Studies, Swansea University.

He held a 2017 British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award for his project: ‘Out of the Shadows: understanding, researching and teaching covert action.’ Through the project, Dr Trenta has carried out several engagement and outreach events in Welsh and English schools, as well as networking events for Early Career Researchers. Three podcast episodes are also available on SoundCloud and Apple Podcasts featuring topics such as covert operations and regime change. He previously received a British Academy Small Research grant for his project on 'Targeted killing? The recurrence of assassination is US foreign policy.'

His current research focuses mainly on the US government’s involvement in the assassination of foreign officials from the Cold War to the present day. He has published articles in IR, Intelligence Studies, and International Law journals. These include works on the Ford Administration and the development of the US ban on assassination, on the Obama Administration use (and legitimation of) targeted killing, and on the international adoption of an expanded notion of imminence to justify uses of forces in self-defence.

He previously published a monograph on risk and presidential decision-making with Routledge. He has also published articles on US foreign policy and presidential decision-making in The European Journal of International Security, Diplomacy and Statecraft and in The Journal of Transatlantic Studies

In 2020, Dr Trenta appeared in four episodes of the History Channel documentary Secret Wars Uncovered. He has worked with BBC Radio 3 on the Free Thinking programme as well as with the Being Human Festival for the Humanities. In collaboration with Professor Rory Cormac, Dr Trenta has organised a talk at the Hay-on-Wye International Book festival. With BBC Ideas he has produced a short movie on the history of assassination. He is also a regular contributor to The Conversation, Talk Radio, Nation Radio, and BBC Radio Wales.

Areas Of Expertise

  • International Relations
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Cold War
  • Covert Action
  • Intelligence Studies
  • Assassinations and targeted killing
  • Drones

Languages Spoken

  • Italian

Career Highlights

Teaching Interests

International Relations Theories
US Foreign Policy
Cold War
Intelligence and Covert operations

Research Award Highlights