LSE IDEAS Appoints Three Global Experts to International Drug Policy Project - 26 September 2016
Two visiting Fellows and a Head of Teaching are the latest additions to the LSE IDEAS International Drug Policy Project (IDPP). Each brings world class expertise in their specific issue area and will contribute to IDEAS' continued engagement in policy debate and design in the post-war on drugs era.
Said IDEAS Director, Professor Michael Cox:
“LSE IDEAS, a globally recognised hub for foreign policy and international affairs expertise, continues to solidify its position as a centre for global drug policy studies with these appointments.
With expertise in policing reform, transnational organised crime, and the link between drug markets and illicit financial flows we continue to bring new levels of expertise on the key issues that will enable the world to design holistic and effective global drug policies for the coming century.”
Ana Linda Solano has been appointed an IDPP Visiting Fellow studying illicit financial flows. She is a Colombian Lawyer who currently serves as an Advisor to the Prosecutor General in matters of investigation of criminal economies and asset forfeiture, towards a post-conflict scenario, and related themes.
She brings a particular expertise in design and management of specialised investigation units (Judicial Police) and designing and implementation of new models of criminal investigation as well as experience in managing training programs for prosecutors and investigators.
Commenting on her appointment Ms Solano said:
“I am delighted to join LSE IDEAS and become part of LSE's community. LSE IDEAS boasts a world leading multidisciplinary and strategic approach to policy design and implementation. Further, the Drugs Project has a strong expertise on the regional and Colombian context and an extensive network of experts and collaborators. For me, joining IDPP provides the perfect environment to develop a research project that will not only have policy significance but will also be policy actionable, transforming ideas into actions.”
Mark Shaw has been appointed an IDPP Visiting Senior Fellow. He is Director of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime, a global policy and practitioner network based in Geneva.
He is also the National Research Foundation Professor of Security and Justice at the Centre of Criminology, University of Cape Town. Mark worked for over ten years at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). He has worked extensively on illicit trafficking and organised crime in conflict and post-conflict countries.
Prior to joining the UN, he held positions in the South African government and civil society where he worked on issues of public safety and urban violence in the post-apartheid transition. He has spent the last two years working on illicit markets and organised crime in South Africa. His book on this subject is due out in 2017. He is currently working on a study of the effectiveness of the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime.
Commenting on his appointment, Shaw said:
“It’s fantastic to have an association with LSE, and I look forward to working together with IDEAS on one of the key policy questions of our age and one on which the Global Initiative is focussed: how to more effectively respond to global illicit markets at a time when the tools for doing so seem ineffective and state actors and the multilateral system often appear powerless to act?”
Dr Michael Shiner will be joining IDPP as Head of Teaching for the Project. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Policy at LSE.
Michael has published widely around the place and meaning of illicit drug use in late industrial societies, including patterns of use and desistance; drug law enforcement; and the politics of drug control. He is author of Drug Use and Social Change: The Distortion of History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) and co-author of The Numbers in Black and White: Ethnic Disparities in the Policing and Prosecution of Drug Offences in England and Wales (Release, 2013, with Niamh Eastwood and Daniel Bear). Michael is a member of the Global Drug Survey’s Expert Advisory Board and a founder member of Stopwatch, which campaigns for fair and effective use of police stop and search.
Commenting on his appointment, Dr Shiner said:
“I am delighted to be joining IDEAS IDPP and help develop the important work it is doing. Drug policy is in a state of flux. As support for prohibition fragments, it is more important than ever that we are realistic and evidence-based in our thinking about what to do next. Teaching at the International Drug Policy Project has an important part to play in this process, informing students, practitioners and decision-makers about the realities of drug policy, making for a more effective and more humane response.”
IDPP, in its 2016 report, ‘After the Drug Wars’, signed by five Nobel Prize winners and the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, called for a more comprehensive global approach to drug issues, one which prioritises the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) over the prohibitionist and repressive policies of the past. To do this requires a new generation of research and implementation design beginning with specific issue area experts. With this in mind IDEAS has appointed visiting fellows with proven track records from government and academia.
Said Dr John Collins, Executive Director of IDPP:
“LSE IDEAS has a proven track record of leading global drug policy discussions. Reducing the impacts of drugs, drug markets and drug policies on societies around the world will be key global issues as states look towards implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. We are delighted to have such high calibre individuals joining us for the coming academic year and helping to engage LSE students and faculty in these important debates.”
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LSE IDEAS and GIZ GPDPD Launch Pilot 'Innovation Lab on Drug Policies and Human Development' - 14 September 2016
The GIZ Global Partnership on Drug Policies and Development (GPDPD) and the LSE IDEAS International Drug Policy Project (IDPP) are pleased to announce a pilot for a new 'Innovation Lab on Drug Policies and Human Development'.
According to IDEAS Director Professor Michael Cox:
“this pilot, the first of its kind globally, represents a truly unique collaboration between a development agency and one of the world’s leading university-affiliated think tanks. It will enable the design of innovative drug-sensitive development policies through ongoing discussions with governments, international organisations and development bodies and ultimately to facilitate policy implementation.”
The immediate objective of the Innovation Lab pilot is to translate the April 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS) outcome document and recent international debates into smart drugs-related development policies in affected countries.
The GIZ Global Partnership on Drug Policies and Development (GPDPD) is implemented on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and under the political auspices of the Federal Drug Commissioner of the Federal Government of Germany. It seeks to promote a development and health oriented approach to drug policy internationally.
Daniel Brombacher, Head of GPDPD said
“We believe that this cooperation between GIZ GPDPD and LSE IDEAS is setting a precedent on how to bridge the still wide gap between research and implementing agencies in the field of drugs and build a strong network of innovative agencies and institutions to work on the ground for a smarter drug policy in the framework of the Post-UNGASS process”.
Dr John Collins, Executive Director of IDPP discussed how:
"we at IDEAS speak of UNGASS 2016 as inaugurating the ‘post-war on drugs era’. This era will be grounded to a far greater extent in the search for, and implementation of, evidence-based drug policies. Whereas discussions in the past tended to focus on the need to allow innovations in national drug policies, this pilot will focus on designing and, perhaps more importantly, helping to implement development-sensitive drug policies around the world."
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Cold War archival documents published for the first time - 13 July 2016
The British Academy has published a collection of archival documents relating to the early Cold War, many of which have never been published or sufficiently researched before.
This unique online resource was created by two teams of Cold War historians representing the British Academy in partnership with LSE’s foreign Policy think tank LSE IDEAS and the Russian Academy of Sciences. It includes documents from multiple archives in the UK and Russia, including the National Archives at Kew and the Russian Presidential Archive.
Around 360 documents with editorial notes, totalling more than 1,150 pages, of telegrams, letters, records of meetings, memorandums and reports have been published online. These documents include Maxim Litvinov’s notes from November 1944 on preparations of peace-treaties and post-war settlement, titled ‘On prospects and possible foundation for Soviet-British cooperation’, that envisioned “an amicable division of security spheres in Europe”, and Stalin’s secret instructions to Molotov on how to handle Bevin and Byrnes during the Council of Foreign Ministers meetings in 1945-1946.
The documents demonstrate how Europe slid into the Cold War and, importantly, they reveal that post-war strategy making in Russia was as apparent as it was in the USA and the UK. The resource also reveals previously unknown details about the decision-making environment and a number of prominent Soviet diplomats who were involved.
Dr Svetozar Rajak, Academic Director, LSE IDEAS, who has led with Professor Arne Westad FBA, the UK side of the research collaboration said:
“Through this exceptional collaboration, we can provide new avenues for understanding this key historical period. These documents will be a valuable resource, made publicly available for researchers, scholars, students and policymakers all over the world. It will enrich scholarship and understanding for an academic audience and the wider public.”
Professor Vladimir O. Pechatnov, Chair in the Department of European and American Studies, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, who has led with Academician Alexander Chubariyan, the Russian side of the collaboration said:
“What makes this project unique is the fact that this is the first bilateral collaboration of British and Russian historians in many years on the Cold War and its aftermath. It is also special because it is an exercise in parallel international history with each side providing a documentary record of its own and then putting it in a joint comparative perspective against the evidence from the other side. This dual approach makes it possible to create a more rounded and comprehensive picture of Soviet-British relationship”.
Professor Michael Cox, LSE IDEAS Director said:
“IDEAS began life at the LSE thinking creatively about the influence of the Cold War upon the modern world. It is wonderful to see this brilliant project on the early years of the Cold War finally coming to fruition. ”
The resource will act as a live platform, allowing new documents and analysis to be added as the project continues and develops. It is free and available for all to use at: www.lse.ac.uk/ColdWarArchives
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IDEAS Remains Among World's Highest Ranked Think Tanks, Third in University Affiliated Category - 2 February 2016
LSE IDEAS is the third best University Affiliated Think Tank in the world according to the latest rankings released by the Think Tank and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania.
The 2015 rankings place IDEAS twenty first among all Western European think tanks and our Ending the Drug Wars report in the top thirty think tank reports released worldwide.
Professor Michael Cox, Director of IDEAS, said:
“This is great news both for IDEAS and for the LSE.
Having taken charge of IDEAS in March of last year I am personally very pleased of course, but the real praise must go to the IDEAS team who have really stepped up to the plate during a time of transition.
We're excited to keep building on our success with more to come from our projects in 2016.”
The Think Tank and Civil Societies Program Global Go To Think Tank Index Report is the largest, most comprehensive database of think tanks, comprising over 6,500 institutions in 179 countries.
IDEAS was first recognised in the TTCSP rankings in 2011, and we have maintained our position in the top four ranked University Affiliated category since then.
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The full Global Go To Think Tank Index report is available here.
Find out more about LSE IDEAS, the foreign policy think-tank at LSE.
For more information, contact LSE IDEAS Communications Officer Joseph Barnsley.