|
LSE IDEAS is a centre for the study of international affairs, diplomacy and grand strategy. Its mission is to use LSE's vast intellectual resources to help train skilled and open-minded leaders and to study international affairs through world-class scholarship and engagement with practitioners and decision-makers. As its name implies, IDEAS aims at understanding how today's world came into being and how it may be changed, in line with LSE's old motto: rerum cognoscere causas - to understand the causes of things.
|
LSE IDEAS was founded in 2008 and now runs a series of regional and topical programmes. The centre currently does research on the international affairs of East and Southeast Asia, the Balkans, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, as well as on transatlantic relations and on the history of the Cold War. With the International History and International Relations departments, IDEAS has pioneered a unique two-year Masters degree in international affairs with the School of International Studies at Peking University, the first European-Asian elite degree of its kind. The centre also works together with other international partners, such as Columbia University, Princeton University, Sciences Po, and the National University of Singapore, in developing new programmes and research initiatives. IDEAS is a centre of PhD training within the LSE and hosts a number of visitors, advanced doctoral students, academics and foreign policy practitioners, from across the globe. The centre has also developed training programmes for foreign service officers from several countries.
LSE IDEAS organises numerous public lectures and seminars and publishes two journals, two book series and a number of occasional publications. It contributes to the LSE's Summer Schools in London and in Beijing and organises a number of out-of-term events outside London, in Cambridge, Bologna and elsewhere.
LSE IDEAS holds the Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs, a one-year distinguished visiting professorship for leading scholars based outside the UK. Philippe Roman professors contribute to teaching within the Centre's key areas of activity. The Philippe Roman Professors for 2007-2012 have been Paul Kennedy (Yale), Chen Jian (Cornell), Gilles Kepel (Sciences Po), Niall Ferguson (Harvard) and Ramachandra Guha. The 2012/13 holder of the Chair is Anne Applebaum.