IDEAS Direcotr Michael Cox speaking at the opening of the Cold War Studies Centre in 2004.
LSE IDEAS was founded in February 2008.
IDEAS began as the Cold War Studies Centre (CWSC), formed in 2004 by Professors Michael Cox and Arne Westad.
The CWSC aimed to show that although the Cold War had ended, it continued to shape world politics in several important ways. It did this in two ways that remain vital to IDEAS, bringing together different academic disciplines and direct engagement with the public, particularly through events. The work of the Cold War Studies Centre continues directly with our Cold War Studies Project.
The success of the CWSC in developing a space for debate led to an expansion of the centre’s remit to include contemporary international affairs and further engagement with the public and policy-makers.
Four years after the CWSC began, in February 2008, IDEAS was established as the LSE think-tank for Diplomacy and Strategy.
Professor Paul Kennedy became the inaugural Philippe Roman Chair and his lecture Measuring American Power in Today's Fractured World was the first IDEAS event, followed the next day by a panel discussion on The Role of Academics in the Foreign Policy Process to officially launch the centre.
Initiatives on Transatlantic relations, Latin America, Southern Africa and the Balkans were established. Also begun were two international partnerships for ‘double degree’ joint MSc courses with Peking University in Beijing and Columbia University in New York.
In the following years, IDEAS research developed into a series of regional programmes including Africa, East Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Russia, and Southeast Asia. Find out more about former IDEAS regional research programmes here. IDEAS regional programmes are now closed and the centre runs a range of topic based research projects.
In 2015, Arne Westad departed for Harvard and in March of the same year Professor Cox became the sole Director. In 2015 a number of other Centres were also established as part of the newly formed Institute of Global Affairs (IGA). IDEAS now works closely with all these Centres. IDEAS also supports the Dahrendorf Forum within the LSE itself while collaborating with a number of other major Think Tanks around the world as part of its global outreach strategy.
Some IDEAS landmarks include:
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In 2009 the first Strategic Update published on statebuilding in Afghanistan.
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In 2010 IDEAS joins Twitter.
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In 2011 IDEAS begins to offer Executive Education in London with the MSc Diplomacy and International Strategy programme.
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In 2012 the Governing the Global Drugs Wars report is published, leading to the hugely influential International Drug Policy Project.
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In 2013 expansion means IDEAS leaves offices in Columbia House and moves to current location in Tower 1.
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In 2014 IDEAS and the LSE Public Policy Group rise to second placed university think-tank in international think-tank rankings.
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In 2015 our LSE Diplomacy Commission report Investing for Influence made headlines and front pages in the UK Press.
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In 2016 the International Drug Policy Project presented an advance copy of the After the Drug Wars report to Colombian President Santos and members of his government.
Within three years of launching IDEAS was recognised as a leading foreign policy think-tank on the world stage.
In 2011, the Global Go To Think Tank Index named IDEAS the world’s fourth best university think tank worldwide.
By the 2013 rankings released in 2014 IDEAS had, alongside the LSE Public Policy Group, risen to second and was also among the top ten ‘think tanks to watch’.
Both positions were retained in the 2014 rankings released in 2015 with further recognition for the Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy Report, named one of the top ten policy studies produced by a think-tank worldwide.
In the 2015 rankings released in 2016, IDEAS was ranked third in the university affilated category and twenty first among all Western European think tanks.
In an article for the International Journal on the history of foreign policy think-tanks, Dr Priscilla Roberts of the University of Hong Kong summarised the rise of IDEAS:
"a heady mix of first-class scholarship, exciting international visitors and lectures, joint programs to train promising young foreign policy specialists from around the world, high-profile and off-the-record events, and astute publicity, and was rewarded within six years with the accolade of the world’s second-ranked academic think tank”.