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Martin Wight memorial lecture series

from the Department of International Relations

A biennial lecture series which celebrates the life and achievements of Professor Martin Wight and reflects the breadth of his interest in history and international relations. 

Martin Wight was a seminal figure in the development of international relations theory in Britain and an influential historian of the political civilisation of Europe. He was Reader in International Relations at LSE 1949-62, and Professor of History at the University of Sussex 1962-72.

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2022/23 Martin Wight memorial lecture

The Russia-Ukraine War: A Challenge to International Order?

Thursday 16 February 2023 90 minutes

Speaker:
Professor Roy Allison, Professor of Russian and Eurasian International Relations, and Director of the Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre at Oxford University

Find out more 

Listen to the podcast

Read the student event report

 

Martin Wight Prize for best MSc International Relations (Research) Dissertation

This annual prize has been awarded since 2012 for the best marked dissertation on the MSc International Relations (Research) programme.

Read about the prizewinners and their dissertations on our blog

The biennial Martin Wight memorial lecture and the annual Martin Wight Prize for best MSc International Relations (Research) Dissertation are supported by the generous gift of the Martin White Memorial Trust.

Previous Martin Wight Memorial Lectures

Previous lectures were organised by the Martin Wight Memorial Trust which was dissolved in January 2022.

2020

Professor Gurminder Bhambra, Professor of Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies in the School of Global Studies, University of Sussex 

The Decolonial Project of Europe: From Colonial Histories to Postcolonial Reparations

11 November 2020, University of Sussex via Zoom (no recording available)


 

2019

Professor Jennifer Welsh, Canada 150 Research Chair in Global Governance and Security, McGill University

Sovereignty as responsibility

11 November 2019, LSE

Download or listen here


 

2018

Dr Robin Niblett CMG, Director, Chatham House

The future of think tanks in the 21st century

21 November 2018, Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs

Read the text of this lecture, published as a transcript in the journal International Affairs.


 

2017

Professor Geoffrey Hosking, Emeritus Professor of Russian History at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College, London or SSEES (UCL)

Trust and distrust in Russia: the heritage of the October Revolution re-examined

23 November 2017, University of Sussex

Read the text of this lecture, published as a transcript in the journal International Affairs.


 

2016

Professor Nicola Phillips, Professor of Political Economy, University of Sheffield

Power and inequality in the global political economy

9 November 2016, LSE

Read the text of this lecture, published as an article in the journal International Affairs.


 

2015

Professor Christopher Hill, Sir Patrick Sheehy Professor of International Relations, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge

Powers of a kind? The anomalous positions of Britain and France in world politics

3 November 2015, Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs

Read the text of this lecture, published as an article in the journal International Affairs.


 

2014

Emeritus Professor John Röhl, School of History, Art History and Philosophy, University of Sussex

Goodbye to all that (again)? The Fischer thesis, the New Revisionism and the meaning of the First World War

6 November 2014, University of Sussex

Read the text of this lecture, published as an article in the journal International Affairs.


 

2013

Professor Yongjin Zhang, School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol

The idea of order in Ancient Chinese political thought: a Wightian exploration

20 November 2013, LSE

Listen or download audio podcast


 

2012

Professor Nicholas J. Wheeler, Department of International Politics, University of Aberyswyth

Diplomatic transformations in international anarchy

8 November 2012, Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs (no recording or transcript available)


 

2011

Professor Linda Colley, Department of History, Princeton University

Britain, written constitution and world history, 1780-2000

2 November 2011, University of Sussex (no recording or transcript available)


 

2010

Professor Ian Clark, Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University

Hegemony and international society

10 November 2010, LSE

Listen or download audio podcast


 

2009

Professor Barry Buzan, Department of International Relations, LSE

Culture and International Society

18 November 2009, Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs (no recording or transcript available)


 

2008

Professor David Reynolds, Department of History, Christ's College, University of Cambridge

Summitry as intercultural communication

20 November 2008, University of Sussex (no recording or transcript available)


 

2007

Professor Robert Jackson, Department of International Relations and Political Science, Boston University

Martin Wight's intellectual world

12 December 2007, LSE (no recording or transcript available)


 

2006

Dr Andrew Hurrell, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford

One world? Many worlds? The place of regions in the study of international society

23 November 2006, Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs (no recording or transcript available)


 

2005

Professor Mark Mazower, Department of History, Columbia University

An international civilization? Empire, internationalism and the crisis of the mid-twentieth century

24 November 2005, University of Sussex (no recording or transcript available)


 

2004

Baroness Professor Onora O'Neill, Newnham College, Cambridge

The dark side of human rights

14 October 2004, LSE (no recording or transcript available)


 

2003

Neal Ascherson, Journalist and writer, formerly foreign correspondent of The Observer

"Better off without them"? Politics and ethnicity in the twenty-first century

13 November 2003, Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs (no recording or transcript available)


 

2002

Professor Mary Kaldor, Centre for the Study of Global Governance, London School of Economics and Political Science

The idea of global civil society

31 October 2002, University of Sussex (no recording or transcript available)


 

2001

Professor Andrew Linklater, Department of International Politics, University of Wales, Aberystwyth

The problem of harm in world politics: implications for the sociology of states-systems

1 November 2001, LSE (no recording or transcript available)


 

2000

Professor Timothy Garton Ash, European Studies Centre at St Antony's College, University of Oxford

Is Britain European?

2 November 2000, Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs (no recording or transcript available)


 

Sir Herbert Butterfield gave the first lecture at Sussex University on 23 April 1975.