From Saudi journalists to Russian spies, assassination has been big news over the past year. Trenta and Cormac explore assassination in international politics, asking what triggers states to resort to such a controversial tactic; and how can they can get away with it? Turning the spotlight closer to home, they also explain how the US and the UK have traditionally thought about assassination. Do MI6 and the CIA really have a license to kill? Trenta is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations in the Department of Political and Cultural Studies, Swansea University, and Cormac is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Nottingham.