International Relations

About the Department

International Relations has been taught at LSE since 1924. The Department was the first of its kind, and has remained a world centre for the development of the subject ever since. In the 2001 Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) RAE, the International Relations and Government Departments were assessed as one unit, together with the European Institute and the Institute of Development Studies, and was awarded a 5 rating. Similarly, in the 2008 RAE, 30 per cent of the work of this group was described as 'world leading', with a further 30 per cent described as 'internationally excellent'.

The Department is sometimes associated with the development of a specifically 'English' school of international relations and a number of its leading figures have taught at LSE, including Wight, Bull, Vincent, Donelan and Mayall. Many other developments in the subject have also been pioneered here including aspects of regional integration and politics, foreign policy analysis, strategy, international security, post-positivist international theory, normative international theory, the international impact of revolutions, which owes much to the work and inspiration of the late Fred Halliday and international political economy led by the late Susan Strange.

The Department has always been strongly international in character and today the majority of our graduate students, a good proportion of our undergraduates, as well as many members of the faculty are drawn from Europe, North America and further afield. At the same time we have always prided ourselves as having both a national and an international role in training diplomats and future university teachers. At least fifty former students are now teaching international relations in universities both in Britain and abroad.

Staff and academic interests

• Dr Chris Alden: Foreign policy analysis; African inter-state relations; south-south relations; post-conflict peace building.
• Dr Kirsten Ainley: International political theory; international ethics; the politics of international law, in particular international criminal law and war crimes trials; humanitarian intervention; human rights.
• Dr Roy Allison: The foreign and security policies and international relations of Russia, Ukraine, the South Caucasus and Central Asia. Regionalism, international institutions and norms among post-Soviet states and their neighbours.
• Dr Federica Bicchi: European foreign policy; EU relations with Mediterranean countries and the Middle East; constructivism and negotiation theory; the role of knowledge in policy-making within the EU.
• Professor Chris Brown: Classical and contemporary international political theory; international ethics; cultural diversity; human nature and international political theory; ethical foreign policies. 
• Dr Jeffrey Chwieroth: International political economy of money and finance, specifically international organisations - especially the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank - financial globalisation, sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds, economic norms and ideas, and emerging markets.
• Professor Christopher Coker: US foreign policy; Atlantic Alliance and UK defence policy in the 1990s; war and civil conflict.
• Professor Michael Cox: US foreign policy; history of the Cold War; transatlantic relations; the world after September 11; Northern Ireland; EH Carr and international relations.
• Dr Katerina Dalacoura: Democracy and human rights in the Middle East, with particular focus on Egypt, Iran, Turkey; Western policy and the Middle East including democratisation; political Islam; the international politics of culture and religion with particular reference to Islam; and (selectively) international relations theory and the study of the Middle East.
• Dr Toby Dodge: Foreign policy analysis; the politics of intervention, civil wars and counter-insurgency, the political sociology of Iraq and the broader Middle East, US foreign policy. 
• Dr Spyros Economides: European foreign policy; European security and defence; International politics of Southeastern Europe; ex-Yugoslavia; US foreign policy and European security; foreign affairs of Greece.
• Dr Robert Falkner: International political economy, especially global environmental politics, risk regulation, multinational corporations and global governance.
• Professor Fawaz A Gerges: US foreign policy towards the Middle East and the Muslim world; Islamist and jihadist groups and movements; genealogy of Al Qaeda and the global jihad, Islam and politics; the international relations of the Middle East; Arab politics in the 20th century; the Arab-Israeli conflict; authoritarianism and democratic transition.
• Dr Jurgen Haacke: Security and international politics of Southeast Asia, ASEAN, Asia-Pacific political and strategic affairs; East Asian regionalism; Burma/Myanmar; foreign policy analysis.
• Mr Mark Hoffman: Contemporary international relations theory; third party mediation in international and civil conflicts; issues and dilemmas surrounding post-conflict peacebuilding. 
• Professor Christopher Hughes: Asia-Pacific international politics; Chinese foreign policy and international relations; Chinese nationalism; PRC-Taiwan relations.
• Professor Kimberly Hutchings: International relations theory, including feminist, critical, post structuralist and postcolonial theory; international ethics; Kant and Hegel; gender and war. 
• Dr John Kent: History and theory of Cold War; British and French decolonisation; Britain and Middle East, 1945-56; British foreign and defence policy, 1945-70; US foreign policy especially towards black Africa,1945-76.
• Dr Mathias Koenig-Archibugi: International relations theory; international organizations; globalisation and global governance; international health governance; international labour standards.
• Dr George Lawson: Revolutions, contentious politics, historical sociology, IR theory.
• Dr Mark Manger: International political economy, especially trade policy; trade and investment agreements between developed and developing countries; Japanese and East Asian regional political economy; quantitative methodology.
• Dr Jens Meierhenrich: International courts and international organisations; foreign, comparative, and international law; genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes; conflict resolution; transitional justice; politics of memory. 
• Dr Lauren Phillips: International political economy; financial market performance; political risk; emerging powers; Latin America.
• Dr Thomas Sattler: International political economy; globalisation politics; political economy of money and finance; exchange rate politics; international institutions. 
• Dr Ulrich Sedelmeier: Theories of international institutions; theories of European integration, especially constructivist analysis; EU enlargement; the EU's external impact and conditionality; EU foreign policy; (new) member states' compliance with EU law.
• Professor John Sidel: Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia and the Philippines; Islam in world politics; religious violence; local politics; transnational social movements; nationalism. 
• Dr Karen Smith: International relations of the EU; the EU and the UN; human rights and foreign policy.
• Dr Andrew Walter: Political economy of money and finance in the world economy, with a particular interest in East Asia; capital mobility and the politics of financial regulation and compliance; political aftermaths of financial crises.
• Dr Peter Wilson: History of international thought, especially EH Carr, Leonard Woolf, Gilbert Murray, inter-war idealism, post-war American realism, the English school of international relations, especially institutions, international law, the contribution of CAW Manning.
• Dr Stephen Woolcock: Regional trade and integration agreements; European trade policy; economic diplomacy; international trade and investment policy and the World Trade Organization.

Note: Professor Brown and Professor Cox are unable to accept new research students but are available to give informal advice to research students.

Opportunities for research

We provide supervision for research leading to a PhD degree across the range of international relations fields. You should define your research interest as precisely as possible when you apply. MPhil/PhD International Relations applicants are normally required to have a master's degree in a subject relevant to their proposed research. UK/EU students may wish to apply for the MSc International Relations (Research) or MSc International Political Economy (Research), as appropriate, with a view to applying for an ESRC 1+3 research studentship. If successful in obtaining an ESRC grant, a student would be entitled to continue to the MPhil/PhD programme upon completion of the master's with an overall Merit and a strong Merit on the dissertation.

In the first year of your research you attend the International Relations Research Methods Training Seminar which explores the theoretical and practical problems associated with a piece of major research. Study concentrates on epistemological and theoretical issues, with special reference to the context and literature of international relations, and time is also devoted to problems arising from source materials, methodology and normative dilemmas. First year research students are also required to attend the International Relations Research Design Workshop; this is to help you in designing a well thought out and manageable thesis.

You will also have access to courses in general social science methodology offered by LSE's Methodology Institute. One of these forms part of the two international relations research master's courses: Foundations of Social Research, comprising three modules in Quantitative Analysis, Fundamentals of Research Design and Qualitative Research. If you have not already taken a Research track master's degree you will need to attend a course offered by the Teaching and Learning Centre on Authoring a PhD and Developing as a Researcher and a Library course on Information Skills.

During the course of your research we require that you take part in at least one of the Department's thematic research workshops. These are organised and chaired by members of staff. They usually entail a mixture of presentations by established researchers and presentations of work in progress by research students. They provide a means for placing your research within the wider context of ongoing debates and concerns in the areas related to your research topic.

You will also find it beneficial to attend the weekly editorial board meetings of Millennium: Journal of International Studies, the student-run journal.

Your progress is reviewed annually by a Research Panel and you would normally be upgraded from MPhil to PhD status by the end of your second year. This requires submission of an outline and three draft chapters of your thesis to your supervisor and the subsequent approval of your supervisor and the Panel. You need to make sufficient progress each year to be allowed to re-register.

Applications and supporting documentation

An offer of admission is based upon the quality of your research proposal, references, prior academic and/or professional achievement, the relevance of your proposed research topic to the research interests of members of the Department, a sample of your academic writing and an interview with prospective supervisors and other members of staff.

Personal statement

Researching for, and writing, a doctoral thesis is an enjoyable intellectual experience, but also a demanding one. It is crucially important, therefore, that you embark on this process, starting with the application, with realistic views of what doing a PhD actually consists of, as well as with a good sense of what your reasons are for doing it. Your personal statement should state clearly your motivation, academic interests and your purpose and objectives in applying for the MPhil/PhD in the Department of International Relations. The statement should be between 1,000 and 1,500 words.

Research proposal

To be eligible for admission to the MPhil/PhD programme, you need to have more than a vaguely defined research topic. Your research proposal should be written as clearly and concisely as possible and should address the following questions:

• What is your general topic and how is it located within the study of international relations?
• What question do you want to answer?
• What is the key literature and its limitations?
• What are the main hypotheses you wish to explore and the argument you intend to develop?
• What methodology do you intend to use?
• What are your case studies, if any, and what are your case selection criteria?
• Which member(s) of the Department might be suitable supervisors and why?

The quality of your written proposal is very important. This proposal will allow us to assess the potential of the proposed project and especially the availability of appropriate supervision within the Department. It is on the basis of the research proposal and supporting documentation that a decision will be made on whether to offer an interview for admission to the programme.

The length of your research proposal should be between six to eight pages. In addition, you should include a brief abstract (200 words maximum) of your proposed research topic.

You may wish to contact a member of staff by email prior to your application to discuss your research proposal and its relevance to their research interests, though the Department cannot guarantee that all members of staff will be able to respond. If you have discussed your proposed research with a member of the Department's academic staff, you should indicate their name in your proposal. If there is no appropriate member of staff to supervise your topic, then you are unlikely to be offered a place no matter how good the research proposal or your academic qualifications. 

It is worth noting that there is no 'political science' department at LSE. International Relations, Government, International Development and the European Institute are all distinct departmental entities. Therefore, it is unlikely that arrangements for joint supervision with members of staff across those departments will take place. If the relevant potential supervisor for your proposed research is located in a department other than International Relations you should make your application to their doctoral research programme. 

References

You should provide two references from people who are familiar with your academic work and, ideally, who are able to comment on your proposed field of research. It is your responsibility to make contact with your referees promptly to allow your application to be completed in time.

Sample Piece of Academic Work

You should provide a sample piece of academic work (an essay or research paper) which will allow the selectors to gauge the quality and clarity of your writing, your critical analytical abilities and your research skills.

Registration

The International Relations Department does not admit part-time research students. However, it may be possible to transfer to part-time registration during the course of study, subject to the approval of the supervisor and the head of the research degree programme. Applicants who wish to change their registration to part-time will need to have a strong case for doing so.

First year research students are expected to register from the beginning of the Michaelmas term in order to attend compulsory research training courses.

You may find it helpful to read the International Relations Department's FAQs web page| for prospective research applicants.

Taught programmes

• MSc Diplomacy and International Strategy
• MSc International Political Economy
• MSc International Political Economy (Research)
• MSc International Relations
• MSc International Relations (Research)
• MSc International Relations Theory
• LSE-Sciences Po Double Degree in Affaires Internationales and either International Relations or International Political Economy