News about the Department

Dr Peter Wilson recently lectured on Alternatives to Realism: The English School to the Institute for Policy Research, Johns Hopkins University SAIS Bologna Centre.

Click here for a summary [PDF]|, or watch the 3-min YouTube video|

Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and International Relations Department:

LSE Lecture: “Multilateralism in Crisis: Environmental Conflict and Stalemate in the Trade and Climate Regimes”

Speaker: Professor Robyn Eckersley
Date: Monday, 20th May 2013 Time: 6.00-7.30pm
Venue: Graham Wallas Room, 5th floor, Old Building
Chair: Dr Robert Falkner 

Those who argue that multilateralism is in crisis typically point to the Doha Development Round of trade negotiations under the WTO and the post-Kyoto negotiations under the UNFCCC as Exhibits A and B. Both sets of negotiations have moved at a glacial pace over the past decade, are plagued by mistrust and major divisions among hardened negotiating blocs, and have so far failed to fulfil their basic purposes. This presentation will highlight the commonalities and connections between the stalemates in the Doha trade round and the post-Kyoto climate negotiations from the standpoint of environmental multilateralism. The presentation will also critically assess the most commonly discussed explanation to account for the stalemate, namely, the shift towards a more multipolar world (the ‘power shift’ argument), and explore the consequences of failure for each set of negotiations.

Robyn Eckersley| is a Professor in Political Science in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. She is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and recently served as the Arne Naess Chair in Global Justice and the Environment at the University of Oslo. She has published widely in the fields of environmental politics, political theory and international relations, with a special focus on climate change. Her current research projects include an examination of the interplay between the trade and climate regimes and a five country comparative study on ‘What makes a climate leader?: Developed countries’ responsibilities under the international climate regime’.

This event is free and open to all LSE students and staff. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

LSE Politics and International Relations is ranked second in 2013 world university rankings by subject
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LSE Politics and International Relations has been ranked second in the QS World University Ranking by Subject 2013 tables for Politics and International Studies.

The LSE scored 93 out of 100, following Harvard University and is ranked one place higher than in 2012. Scores take into account academic and employer reputation surveys, along with citations per faculty. The methodology is explained in detail here|.

Recent IR Department PhD graduate Naz Masraff wins award
|
The IR Department is delighted to announce that Naz Masraff, who was awarded her PhD by the LSE in March 2012, has won the European Union Studies Association (EUSA) Prize for Best Dissertation submitted/defended in 2011 and 2012.

Her dissertation topic was: Why Keep Complying? Compliance with EU Conditionality under Diminished Credibility in Turkey.

Sino-Russian gas cooperation: The Reality and implications

International Relations Department Public Lecture

Tuesday 7th May, 18:30-20:00, Room CLM 2.02
Speaker: Dr Keun-Wook Paik
Chair: Professor Christopher Hughes

Few energy relationships are as significant as that between Russia, one of the world’s top producers, and China, fast becoming the world’s biggest consumer of energy products. Yet despite the benefits each country should be able to derive from greater cooperation in the oil and gas sectors, the links between the two are anything but close. Perhaps the most important deal of all – the large-scale sale of Russian Far East gas to China – continues to elude them, and both sides have been consistently tentative about making the necessary political commitment. It is time to take stock of what has been achieved, and what has not, in this key bilateral energy relationship.

Dr Paik is an acknowledged authority on Eurasian energy. Now Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), he was formerly Advisor on International Affairs to the Sino-Russian Oil and Gas Cooperation Committee of China National Petroleum Corporation, and an advisor to the Government of Sakha Republic in Russia. His book on this subject| is published by Oxford University Press for the OIES.

All welcome.

Read or download the Powerpoint presentation here.|

Warrior Geeks - LSE IDEAS Book Launch|

Thursday 2 May 2013, 6.30-8.00pm, Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Professor Christopher Coker
Chair: Professor Arne Westad

In his latest book Christopher Coker explains how the latest technologies are transforming the face of war. We are folding men into a cybernetic system that will be able to read their thoughts as well as monitor their actions. On the battlefields of tomorrow men and machines will co-exist in an uneasy relationship. Are we in danger of losing touch with our humanity – the name we give not only to a species but the qualities it is deemed to embody? In revaluing technology are we devaluing our own humanity?

All welcome.

Taiwan is not China: aborigines, colonial rulers and democratisation in the history of the beautiful island|

Department of International Relations public lecture

Date: Tuesday 30 April 2013
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: New Theatre, East Building
Speaker: Professor Bruce Jacobs

Bruce Jacobs critically examines how the history of Taiwan was constructed to present the island as a part of China under the authoritarian Nationalist regime and how it is still presented in this way in the People’s Republic of China.

Bruce Jacobs is professor of Asian languages at Monash University, Australia, and one of the world’s leading authorities on the political history of Taiwan.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. For any queries email R.Ajodah@lse.ac.uk| or call 020 7955 7930.

Recent News

Dr Tomila Lankina recently took part in a radio discussion on the Voice of Russia radio entitled Russia: has the opposition lost its way? which you can listen to or download here|.

International Relations Public Conference, December 2012: Ten Years On: Sierra Leone's Post-Conflict Transition|
The detailed report of proceedings is now available here|. The report will be published in the Journal of Sierra Leone Studies, and has been circulated around the British Foreign Office Sierra Leone network, as well as to the Sierra Leone High Commission in London.

Report: LSE Special Event: ‘Can the Iranian Nuclear Situation be resolved without the use of force’|? - a podcast and report on this event are now available on our blog.

International Affairs March 2013: Middle East Special Issue|

The March 2013 Special Issue of the Chatham House journal, International Affairs, is currently available in full online for free.

Two members of the IR Department have contributed major articles, and also take part in a 30-min audio podcast| about the issue.

Dr Toby Dodge: State and society in Iraq ten years after regime change: the rise of a new authoritarianism
[Available to read online or download|.]

Professor Fawaz Gerges: The Obama approach to the Middle East: the end of America's moment?
[Available to read online or download.|]

LSE IDEAS and LSE Department of International Relations Public Lecture
Prevention of Mass Atrocities: Can the EU do Better?|

Tuesday 26 March 2013, 6.30pm,
Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building

Speakers: James Kearney, Peace & Security Programmes Manager at the United Nations Association of the UK,

and Dr James Smith, Founder and Chief Executive of the Aegis Trust 

Chair: Professor Karen E Smith, LSE 

Since 1945, 22 million people – or the population of London three times over - have perished in mass atrocities. The international community has a responsibility to prevent mass atrocities, but has repeatedly failed to identify potential atrocities early enough, or mobilise itself quickly enough to take action to prevent them. A recent report argued that a change of mindset is required, and that the European Union – which is endowed with significant capabilities that could be used to prevent mass atrocities – should commit itself more explicitly to this goal. But is the issue simply one of awareness? The panel debates the challenges of preventing mass atrocities.

This event will mark the UK launch of a report by the Task Force on the EU Prevention of Mass Atrocities. The report titled 'The EU and the Prevention of Mass Atrocities - An Assessment of Strengths and Weaknesses' will be available from the 6th March. Read the full press release here|.

The Task Force on EU Prevention of Mass Atrocities is co-chaired by Professor Christoph Meyer (King's College, London) and Professor Karen E. Smith (LSE). For more information on the Task Force click here|.

A post event reception will be held outside the Wolfson Theatre. All lecture guests are invited to attend.

Europe 2025|

Europe 2025 is an exciting initiative that aims to contribute with concrete policy proposals to the future of Europe discussion.

Students from LSE, Science Po and Hertie School have developed and designed a blog| to have people participate in the initiative. And IDEAS is supporting them. Please have a look, take the survey, and forward to anyone whom you might think interested

International Relations Department
and Geography and Environment Department public lecture|

Eco-Business: A Big-Brand Takeover of Sustainability|

Date: Thursday 14 March 2013, Time: 7-8.30pm
Venue: CLM 2.02, Clement House
Speaker: Professor Peter Dauvergne
Chair: Dr Robert Falkner

Big-brand companies are increasingly turning to "corporate sustainability" to achieve competitive gains, in response to consumer demands, NGO campaigns and regulatory pressures. Yet, the main driver behind this trend is business. Multinational retailers and manufacturers are defining and adopting sustainability strategies to achieve traditional corporate goals. Big-brand corporate power is the ultimate winner.

Peter Dauvergne is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSEeco

This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. For any queries contact Dr Robert Falkner by email r.falkner@lse.ac.uk| or phone 020 7955 6347.

Professor Fred Halliday's papers available to view online|

A collection of Fred Halliday's papers is now available to view via the LSE Archives.  The collection consists of over 350 files of personal effects, correspondence, memoirs, draft texts, travel-notes and work documents, all available for researchers to consult.  The collection should appeal to students of the history and politics of the Middle East and those with an interest in the more theoretical issues dealt with in the discipline.  A bibliography listing all of Halliday's academic works, both published and unpublished, has also been created.

Further information available here|

Teaching Matters, January 2013: Teaching, Learning and Assessment Committee, 2011/12 findings|

There was high praise from the external members of the review teams that visited the International Relations Department last year, and our programmes were seen to be at the cutting edge of their fields.

The Department won particular praise for its support of graduate teaching assistants and the Teaching and Learning Centre reported on the experiences of Zeynep Kaya in their recent publication of Teaching Matters|. [PDF

International Relations Seminar:
Causes and Implications of Civil Society Participation in Global Environmental Governance

Presenter: Prof. Thomas Bernauer
|Chair: Dr Thomas Sattler
Date: Thurs 7 March 2013, Time: 5.00-6.30pm
Venue: CON.1.04

Why do states grant access to representatives of civil society organizations in climate negotiations and global environmental governance more generally? The seminar discusses the role of individual attitudes and states’ centrality in the broader network of global governance. First, popular legitimacy of global climate governance decreases when civil society is excluded. Relatedly, a ‘contagion’ effect explains civil society engagement besides domestic determinants. States, which are more central to the broader network of global governance, are more likely to be informed of and influenced by other states’ actions and policies toward civil society.

Thomas Bernauer is a professor of political science at ETH Zurich. His research focuses on international environmental and economic issues. He is particularly interested in the political and other conditions under which environmental and economic problems that extend beyond national borders can be solved.

The background paper is available upon request from Thomas Sattler, t.sattler@lse.ac.uk|. This event is free and open to all LSE staff and students. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

Montague Burton Chair Inaugural Public Lecture
International Relations as a Social Science
|
Date: Wednesday 13 February 2013
Speaker: Professor Iver Neumann, Montague Burton Professor of International Relations
Chair: Professor Kimberly Hutchings

Professor Iver Neumann will begin with a discussion of how different but overlapping approaches to IR stand today, when the psychologising approach of methodological individualism and the biologising thrust towards stressing the genetic make-up of the species are on the rise. Professor Iver Neumann will make the case for privileging social causes in the study of social life. Professor Iver Neumann will go on to discuss the specificity of International Relations (IR) relative to other social sciences.

Audio and video podcasts of this event are available to view or download here|.

Department of International Relations Public Lecture:
The Challenges of Latin America and the New Global South| 

Date: Tuesday 12 February 2013
Speaker: Enrique García
Chair: Dr Chris Alden

What are the new challenges and opportunities faced by Latin American countries and the New Global South in the 21st Century?

Enrique García has been president and CEO of CAF (Development Bank of Latin America) since December 1991. Dr Chris Alden is a Reader in the Department of International Relations at LSE.

An audio podcast of this lecture is available to download|.

LSE Space for Thought Literary Festival 2013|

"Branching Out"
Tuesday 26 February - Saturday 2 March 2013

In 2013 we will be exploring the theme Branching Out, partly in celebration of the Festival's 5th Anniversary, traditionally marked by wood, but also in homage to the 300th anniversary of the birth of Denis Diderot, who developed the figurative system of branches of human knowledge. Key 'branches' that we will explore include Narratives, Innovation, Changing World and Uniting the Branches of Knowledge.

Click here for more information and to browse or download the programme|

IRAQ - From War to a New Authoritarianism
|LSE IDEAS and LSE International Relations Dept Book Launch

Monday 21 January 2013, 6.30-8.00pm
Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Dr Toby Dodge, Chair: Professor Arne Westad

The 2003 invasion of Iraq was undertaken to dismantle a regime that had long threatened its own population and regional peace, as well as to establish a stable, democratic state in the heart of the Middle East. In his latest book, Toby Dodge looks at the legacy of that intervention. He analyses the evolution of the insurgency, the descent into civil war and the ‘surge’ as a counter-insurgency strategy and examines US and Iraqi efforts to reconstruct the state’s military and civilian capacity. He concludes by arguing that Iraq is heading back into authoritarianism under Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. For any queries email ideas.events@lse.ac.uk| or call or call 020 7849 4612.

Book sales and a post event reception will take place outside the Wolfson Theatre at 8.00pm. All event guests are invited to attend.

2011-12 MSc Dissertation Prizewinners announced

|The International Relations Department is pleased to be able to announce the following MSc Prizewinners for the 2011-12 session:

MSc IPE Susan Strange Prize - Ieva Kupryte

MSc IRT Fred Halliday Prize - Sophie Chiasson

MSc IR Research Martin Wight Prize - Jared Skinner

MSc IR Philip Windsor Prize - John Korevec (co-winner)

MSc IR Philip Windsor Prize - Rosalind Boycott (co-winner)

Visit the blog for full information on each dissertation|.

International Relations Public Conference: Ten Years On: Sierra Leone's Post-Conflict Transition|

Date: 11th December 2012
Time: 10am-6.45pm

Venue: London House, Goodenough College|, Mecklenburgh Square, London WC1N 2AB

Keynote Speaker: The Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone

Click here for registration details and full conference programme.|

LSE IDEAS Philippe Roman Chair Public Lecture|

The Gulag: what we know now and why it matters|

Speaker: Anne Applebaum
Chair: Professor Arne Westad

We now understand far better what the gulag was, how it evolved, what purposes it served, how many people lived and died within it. Yet what do we really remember of the camp system? What do Russians remember? And how does that memory, or the lack of it, affect Russian politics today?

Download or listen to the audio podcast of this event|, which took place on Tuesday 20 November 2012.

Fred Halliday Distinguished Lecture 2012
"A Woman's War Doesn't End When the Guns go Silent" |

Monday 5 November 2012
Speaker: Professor Cynthia Enloe
|
Transnationally, feminists today are devoting time and energy to monitoring and shaping the "post-war" in myriad societies because it is a time of flux and disruption when new, more just gender relationships can be forged. But a post-war era, if left unattended, is even more likely to be a time when masculinized structures and cultures can take on the cloak of "peacetime normalcy" and become re-entrenched.

Cynthia Enloe is Research Professor of International Development and of Women's Studies at Clark University, in Massachusetts. She received her PhD in Political Science at University of California, and has received teaching awards from Clark and scholarly awards from the International Studies Association.

Listen to or download the audio podcast of this lecture|.

Read also a tribute to Fred Halliday in the November 2012 edition of The Nation|.

The European External Action Service: Changing the Nature of Diplomacy or Old Wine in New Bottles?|

A conference organised by LSE IR Department and the Wyndham Place Charlemagne Trust

Thursday 22 and Friday 23 November 2012

at Europe House

Click here for full registration details and conference programme.|

Welcome to the IR Department's newest members of staff

The International Relations Department is pleased to welcome three new permanent members of staff for the coming academic year.  They have each introduced themselves on the IR blog and you can read about them and their research interests here:

Professor Iver B Neumann|

Dr Tomila Lankina|

Dr Leonardo Baccini|

We also welcome Stefano Pagliari and David Rampton as new Fellows for the coming year.

The Dominique Jacquin-Berdal Travel Grant awarded for 2012|

The Dominique Jacquin-Berdal Travel Grant was established by the IR Department in memory of Dr Dominique Jacquin-Berdal who was a lecturer in the Department from 1999 until her death in 2006. She taught on nationalism and Africa as well as in the field of international relations theory. Her most well-known publication is Nationalism and Ethnicity in the Horn of Africa published in 2002.

The annual grant of £2,500 is intended to support travel and living costs for IR Department students' research in the fields of Africa, ethnicity and nationalism. The 2012 grant holder is Emily Anderson and she gives her reaction, plus details of her project, on the IR blog|.

Emeritus Professor Margot Light made Honorary Fellow of LSE

We are delighted to announce that Emeritus Professor of International Relations, Margot Light, has been made an Honorary Fellow of LSE.

Margot came to the UK from South Africa in 1963. Her original qualifications were in the field of physiotherapy, but she decided to take a ‘short’ career break in 1966 to study Russian and International Relations – a break that has now lasted for well over 40 years. She studied for her PhD at the LSE, taught at the University of Surrey 1971-1988 and then joined the Department of International Relations at LSE. She became head of the Department between 2002-2004 - at that point only the 2nd woman to do so in the history of the Department. Since retirement in 2005, she has continued to teach, research and publish.

Read the full oration from Professor Kim Hutchings here| [PDF].

House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee inquiry into "The Road to UNFCCC COP18 and Beyond"

Dr Robert Falkner recently gave evidence the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee inquiry into "The Road to UNFCCC COP18 and Beyond". Both written and oral evidence are available at the following links:

Dr Falkner's written evidence| [PDF]

Report with formal minutes, oral and written evidence| [PDF]

Teaching Excellence Awards

Every year the LSE Students' Union invites students to nominate the teachers who have inspired them.  This year there were five winners, including Marco Pinfari from Government and IR. With a glowing nomination, Marco's time and energy for teaching go beyond the seminar - offering extensive feedback on submitted work and actively prompting students to read additional materials relevant to their learning style and interests.

Departmental Class Teacher Awards

These awards recognise the special contribution made by graduate teaching assistants, teaching fellows and guest teachers to LSE's academic departments. The winners were nominated by the departments themselves as a result of exceptional feedback from students, lecturers and other department members.

The 2012 winners from IR were:

• Daniel Falkiner
• Roberto Orsi
• Luca Tardelli

In addition, Dr Kirsten Ainley won a Major Review Teaching Prize for 'candidates who have shown exceptional flair and effectiveness as teachers.' (See below for further details).

Congratulations to all the IR Teaching Prize winners!

The 'Rio+20' UN Summit: Global Crisis, or Global Rescue?|

Department of International Relations and Chatham House debate

Date: Thursday 31 May 2012 
Speakers: Tom Burke, Professor Andrew Hurrell, Bernice Lee
Chair: Dr Robert Falkner

The ‘Rio+20’ UN conference will take place in June, two decades after the ‘Earth Summit’ in Rio de Janeiro. What will it take to make environmental sustainability a global reality?

This event marks the publication of a special issue of International Affairs on ‘Rio+20 and the global environment: reflections on theory and practice’.

Tom Burke is environmental policy advisor to Rio Tinto plc and founding director of E3G, Third Generation Environmentalism.
Andrew Hurrell is Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at Oxford University
Bernice Lee is research director of Energy, Environment and Resource Governance, at Chatham House.

Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSErio20

A vodcast| and an audio podcast| of this event are now available to listen or download.

The three speakers were interviewed on the BBC The World Tonight programme and you can listen to it here|.

Article by Dr Robert Falkner from International Relations Department included in MIT Press’s “50 Influential Journal Articles” anniversary celebration

Dr Falkner’s article “Private Environmental Governance and International Relations: Exploring the Links” (Global Environmental Politics 3:2, 2003) has been included in the list of 50 influential journal articles published in MIT Press journals in honour of the Press’ 50th anniversary. The 50 articles were chosen from a wide range of disciplines, including economics, international affairs, history, science and technology. Dr Falkner’s article is the only one chosen from the journal Global Environmental Politics, which rose to an impact factor of 2.231 and ranked 5th out of 139 journals in political science in 2010. It remains one of the journal’s top-cited articles.

From The MIT Press: “As part of our 50th anniversary celebration, and with suggestions from our editors, we’ve selected 50 influential articles published by the Journals division of the MIT Press. Each of these select articles will be freely available through 19 June 2012.”

Full details of the MIT list are available here|.

IR Staff - recent activities

Kirsten Ainley recently gave a 40min talk on 'Excesses of Responsibility and the Power of Political Approaches to Atrocity', presented at the Oxford Transitional Justice Research Network, 1st May 2012.  Download the mp3 here|.

Professor Fawaz A Gerges has written an article for Newsweek and The Daily Beast on How the Arab Spring Beat Al Qaeda.|

Professor Barry Buzan recently gave a talk for TEDx at St Martins Central on 'A world order without superpowers', which can be viewed on YouTube| (21 mins).

Dr Katerina Dalacoura has contributed an entry in the LSE British Politics and Policy blog entitled: The on-going conflict in Syria presents a great challenge to proponents of human rights. A consensual strategy must be found that saves lives and prevents an escalation of violence|

Mr Erik van der Marel has contributed a piece on Nicolas Sarkozy and the French elections to France 24|.

Dr Toby Dodge has written an article for Open Security on 'The Resistable Rise of Nuri al-Maliki'|.

Professor John Sidel has written an article for The Guardian on Indonesian democracy|

Histories of Violence
Lecture on Hannah Arendt by Professor Kimberly Hutchings|

Professor Kimberly Hutchings recently gave a keynote lecture on political theorist Hannah Arendt as part of the Histories of Violence multi-media forum at the University of Leeds.

You can watch the lecture (53 minutes) and find out more about Arendt here|

IR Alumnus awarded Young Global Leader of the Year|

IR Alumnus Subhashini 'Shuba' Chandran has been awarded the prestigious title of Young Global Leader of the year by the World Economic Forum for her economic and social work in South India.  Other people on this year's list include Mark Leonard and Rory Stewart, and a previous awardee was David Cameron. Altogether, globally, 192 people received the award in 2012.

One of India’s select few women leaders at the helm of a large agribusiness, Chandran is Woodbriar Group’s CEO & Managing Director (TEIL), and Senior Adviser to AgDevCo, a UK based social venture capital fund investing in agriculture in Sub Saharan Africa.

Woodbriar Group is India's largest privately owned tea plantations business with diversified interests in eco-tourism and insurance services. Group gardens span 25,000 acres and 9 processing facilities, producing 16 million kilograms of tea, from five locations in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, supporting a community of 30,000+ employees and dependents.  The Group owns and operates numerous hospitals, outpost dispensaries, daycare centres, and schools for these rural communities. It has a network of 18 offices across India and Nepal.

The LSE IR Masters comes 9th in "Top 10 IR Masters programmes for those looking to run the world"|

Prestigious journal Foreign Policy recently compiled its Top Ten Best International Relations Master's Programs and the LSE MSc programmes came in at number nine! The rankings are part of the Teaching, Research and International Policy (TRIP)| survey.

You can read the full list here|.

Fred Halliday Distinguished Lecture Series:
Framing the Arab Uprisings: a historical perspective
|Thursday 6 October 2011 6.30-8pm

Speaker: Professor Juan Cole
(Richard P Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan and writer of the blog 'Informed Comment') Chair: Professor Kimberly Hutchings

Audio available to listen or download here| (76mins mp3)

Reflections on 42 years in the International Relations Department at the LSE

Nicholas A Sims, Reader in International Relations, retired in 2010 after 42 years in the IR Department at the LSE. He sets out his reflections on the Department, the students and the discipline during those years, in the IR Department blog here|.