Departmental website: lse.ac.uk/europeanInstitute|
Number of graduate students (full-time equivalent)
Taught: 188
Research: 23
Number of faculty (full-time equivalent): 16
RAE: 65% of the Institute's research was rated world leading or internationally excellent
Location: Cowdray House
About the Institute
The European Institute is a leading international centre for the study of contemporary Europe. It was ranked first by the British Government for research in European Studies in the United Kingdom, in the most recent (2008) Research Assessment Exercise. It is a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, and hosts a leading discussion paper series, LSE Europe in Question (LEQS).
The role of the European Institute within LSE is to be a primary focus for the study of processes of integration and fragmentation in contemporary Europe. To this end it has prioritised the following themes: EU politics, law and policy; European political economy; and European ideas and identities. With our emphasis on a pan-European focus and a multidisciplinary perspective, each theme is placed in a distinct context identifying patterns of change and continuity in the new Europe of the 21st century. Moreover, individual themes provide the basis for the Institute to work with other parts of the School. The Institute collaborates closely in its teaching with the Departments of Government and International Relations.
There are over 20 academic staff members from a number of disciplines which include economic history, geography, political economy, political sociology, international relations, political science, law, philosophy and social policy.
The Institute offers a vibrant research climate. It hosts a number of research units: The Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies; The Catalan Observatory; The Forum for European Philosophy; The Hellenic Observatory; and LSEE (LSE Research on South East Europe). It also runs ten different seminar series, including a lunchtime seminar series dedicated just to doctoral research. There are over 35 doctoral students. Students supervised by European Institute staff have won the UACES prize for best doctoral thesis three times.
The Institute also has a very active programme of public lectures, seminars and conferences on issues relating to contemporary Europe. We host over 100 events a year with a wide range of public and academic speakers: recent high level speakers have included the presidents of Italy and Lithuania; the president of the Commission; the prime ministers of Latvia, Greece, Finland, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Hungary, Turkey, Sweden and Estonia; and eight commissioners.
Staff and their academic interests
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Dr William Bartlett: Political economy of South East Europe; comparative economics; welfare state reforms.
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Professor Iain Begg: Economic governance of the European Union; EU budget and the Europe 2020 strategy.
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Professor Damian Chalmers: EU law.
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Dr Joan Costa-i-Font: Public choice; economics of social policy; economics of cultural transmission; fiscal federalism.
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Dr Spyros Economides: European foreign and defence policy; EU policy towards Western Balkans; international relations of the Balkans; europeanisation of foreign policy.
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Professor Kevin Featherstone: Director of the Hellenic Observatory: EU politics, Europeanisation; EMU; Contemporary Greece and Cyprus.
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Maurice Fraser: EU politics; European intellectual history; the West and the idea of Europe; France; the centre-right in Europe.
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Dr Simon Glendinning: Director of the Forum for European Philosophy: European philosophy and philosophy of Europe.
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Dr Claire Gordon: Politics in Eastern Europe, EU enlargement and conditionality; the EU's relationship with the wider Europe; post-communist conflicts and minority rights.
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Dr Sara Hagemann: EU politics and governance; EU treaty reforms and enlargements; transparency and accountability in representative democracies.
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Dr Robert Hancké: European monetary union; comparative economic performance.
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Dr Abigail Innes: Political sociology; political economy of transition from communism; varieties of capitalism in Europe.
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Dr Jennifer Jackson-Preece: Nationalism, religion, ethnic conflict, minority rights and multiculturalism in Europe.
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Dr James Ker-Lindsay: International politics of South East Europe; peace processes; secession and recognition.
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Dr Mareike Kleine: Theories of international cooperation and international political economy; informal and formal governance; the interplay of domestic politics and international institutions; negotiation theories; normative questions of global governance; qualitative methods.
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Dr Jan Komarek: EU law.
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Dr Vassilis Monastiriotis: Greece and Southeast Europe (Balkan development and EU accession, regional cooperation, inter- and intra-regional trade, Greek economic policy); Labour market policy and performance (labour market flexibility, EMU and labour market reform, wage disparities, unemployment); Regional policy and performance (regional policy in NMS, regional labour markets, spatial economics).
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Professor Sevket Pamuk: Economic history of Turkey; southeastern Europe and the Middle East since 1500; economic growth, institutions, monetary history, wages, prices, standards of living; political economy of contemporary Turkey.
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Dr Waltraud Schelkle: Evolving economic governance of EMU; social regulation of financial markets; welfare state reforms in EU member states; theories of political economy.
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Dr Marco Simoni: Comparative political economy, comparative industrial relations, economic policy-making.
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Dr Eiko Thielemann: EU and comparative European politics and policy; asylum and immigration; regionalism and devolution; regional and state aid policy; German politics and policy.
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Professor Helen Wallace: Politics of European integration; European regulation and governance; enlargement of the European Union.
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Dr Jonathan White: Political sociology; democratic theory; social theory; European integration; public opinion; qualitative research; discourse analysis.
Associated staff and their academic interests
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Richard Bronk: History and philosophy of political economy; role of imagination; language and metaphor in economics; uncertainty and the epistemology of markets; the dangers of economic monocultures; European models of capitalism.
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Dr Anne Corbett: Europeanisation of higher education; the Bologna process; EU higher education policy; EU education policy; UK higher education policy; French politics.
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Dr Marco Dani: EU constitutionalism, comparative constitutional law, law of free movement.
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Dr Florence Deloche-Gaudez: EU institutions and EU constitutional politics; France's EU policy.
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Dr Effie Fokas: Religion and nationalism; the politics and sociology of immigration in Greece and Europe in general; the sociology of religion in a European perspective, with a special focus on Islam.
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Prof Anke Hassel: EU labour relations; welfare and labour market reforms.
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Dr Iyiola Solanke: EU judiciary; judicial power, politics and diversity; intersectionality; EU and comparative anti-racial discrimination law; cause lawyering; empirical socio-legal research methods.
Some 65 other members of LSE staff, in other departments, are conducting research on Europe.
Opportunities for research
Applications for research in three broad themes are welcome: European political economy; EU politics, law and policy; and European ideas and identities. We encourage applications to our MPhil/PhD programme in European Studies from outstanding students who wish to undertake interdisciplinary research that falls within the expertise of at least one of our permanent faculty members and within the themes listed above.
Admission to the MPhil/PhD is conditional on obtaining a good merit on a previous MSc degree, normally defined as an overall average of 65 per cent or above and 65 per cent or above on the dissertation. Students who have not taken a master's level course equivalent to the appropriate LSE option relevant for their theme will normally be recommended to apply for the MSc in European Studies (Research). Students should submit a short research proposal (not more than 2,000 words) outlining their main research question(s), methodology, and sources with their application. This proposal will allow us to assess the potential of the proposed project and especially the availability of appropriate supervision within the Institute. The Institute may subsequently request applicants to submit a sample of written work or to come for an interview.
All students are initially registered for the MPhil degree and every student must follow the Research Design and Methods in European Studies course. On the advice of their supervisor, students will be encouraged to take relevant course(s) in the Methodology Institute.
In their second year, all PhD students must follow the Research Workshop in European Studies. In addition, students working in themes in European Political Economy are required to take the European Political Economy Seminar.
Every student must conduct research under the guidance of their supervisor(s), regularly submit written work to their supervisor(s) and provide the materials required for annual reviews.
The degree is awarded on the basis of a thesis of not more than 100,000 words or a series of three connected publishable articles on an approved topic, and an oral examination.
There are Erasmus doctoral research exchanges with the Central European University, Budapest., the European University Institute, Florence; and the Max Planck Institute, Cologne.
Taught programmes
Other programmes with a focus on Europe, or that (through options) provide an opportunity to study related topics: