The geographies of the Information Research Department: Intelligence, diplomacy and the British secret state

Journal article

This paper develops a historical and political geographical analysis of the UK Foreign Office's Information Research Department (IRD). Empirically it is grounded in archival study of IRD files concerning operations in Ghana and South Africa during the Cold War and specifically the 1960s and 1970s. To date, there has been no geographical study of IRD and through this paper's critical study of the organisation I highlight where contributions can be made to existing scholarship on the geographies of intelligence and diplomacy. In examining IRD, I highlight strategies to be applied and spatialities to be investigated in relation to other organs of the British secret state. Through investigating the networks of communication, distribution and personal relations that animated IRD operations and geographers are well positioned to trace the contours of the secret state and its operations. Similarly, through interrogating IRD's relationship with the Diplomatic Service I suggest studies of the cultures and practices of diplomacy can be enriched by highlighting the role of state secrecy and subversion in these contexts. I suggest studying IRD can open up a more holistic examination of the geographies of the British secret state beyond a focus on particular figures or the impact of specific theories. Within British Geography there has been extensive study of the role that geography as a discipline and geographers as practitioners have played in the furtherance of British imperialism and militarism with covert actions and agencies central here. However, what this paper evidences and what I am proposing is the need for a determined and critical geographical analysis of the British secret state and its activities tout court.

Authors: Gowland, B

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Wiley
• Journal: Area
• Article number: e70059
• Publication date: 2025-09-29
• Acceptance date: 2025-09-10
• DOI: 10.1111/area.70059
• EISSN: 1475-4762
• ISSN: 0004-0894
• Language: English
• Keywords: diplomacy; Cold War; Information Research Department; Africa; intelligence geographies; secret state