Latest news about the Department and its members, such as new appointments, publications, book launches, awards, speaking engagements, media coverage and standings in world and national ranks. We are also on social media. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Latest news
Assistant Professor in Modern European History opsition open
The Internsational History Department is seeking to make an appointment for an Assistant Professor. The role holder will be expected to offer new courses at undergraduate and Masters level in Modern European History, c. 1900-1939, as well as contributing to existing courses. See the full job description and consider joining our vibrant Department.
Apply now.
Security and vulnerability of NATO's Northern flank
Prof Kristina Spohr spoke alongside leading experts at Cam Geopolitics' panel on #Security and vulnerability of #NATO's Northern flank.
Watch the recording now on YouTube.
Cundill History Prize award ceremony
Prof Vladslav Zubok will be in Montreal, Canada on 1st December as one of the three finalists for the Cundill History Prize, along with Ada Ferrer and Tiya Miles. The prize is awarded annually to the book that embodies historical scholarship, originality, literary quality and broad appeal.
Professor Kristina Spohr appeared on BBC Radio 4
She contributed to an episode of Archive On Four on BBC Radio 4. Where Professor David Reynolds reflected on what Franklin D Roosevelt meant by the Four Freedoms and how far the USA has lived up to his ideals.
Listen to the recording
Dr. Po has released his second book in Chinese
"Turning the Tide: Historical Actors and Social Memory in Late Qing China". “Turning the tide” was a common goal of a sizeable number of Chinese intellectuals and Western advisors in the hope of strengthening the country. But these historical actors Dr. Po argues, were also conditioned by a series of structural and external problems.
Professor Baer appeared on The Forum
Professor Baer discussed the life and times of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman on The Forum radio programme, BBC World Service on 20 October 2022
Dr. Po speaking at event in SOAS
Dr. Po will be giving a talk entitled "Charting Coastal Islands in the Great Qing" at the SOAS History Research Seminar this Wednesday (Oct 26) from 5 to 6.30pm. The seminar will take place in person in room BG01 (ground floor of the Brunei Gallery Building) and online.
Professor Ludlow's latest contribution to the International History blog
In it, he parallels the audacious mini-budget by Kwasi Kwarteng, with its extensive tax cuts and its focus on boosting investment and growth with Anthony Barber’s ill-fated ‘dash for growth’ budget in 1972.
New research article from Professor Best
Professor Best has written an article that assesses the degree to which the British public’s exposure to the treasures of Chinese civilization influenced its attitude towards the political rivalry developing in East Asia.
Professor Zubok's book shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize
We are excited to announce that Professor Zubok's book, 'Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union', has been shortlisted for the 2022 Cundill History Prize.
Dr. Po awarded a research grant
Dr. Po has been awarded a research grant offered by the Sino-British Fellowship Trust. The fellowship will sponsor his travel and accommodation costs for his one-month visit at the University of Hong Kong next year.
Professor Kristina Spohr in the Financial Times
Professor Kristina Spohr was featured in a recent interview with the Financial Times! She discusses how Putin's invasion of Ukraine backfired, strengthening NATO and the EU, and what Ukraine means for institutional order.
LSE International History is 5th in the World!
Wow! We are very proud to announce that LSE International History tied for 5th in the world, and ranked 3rd in the UK, in this year's 2022 QS World University Rankings!
Thank you to all our staff, students, alumni and wider LSE community who've made it possible!
Latest Research from Emeritus Professor Janet Hartley
In a new article in the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, Emeritus Professor Janet Hartley the discusses ways in which Britain and Russia approached controlling and caring for veterans, and the extent to which they were successful. This comparison illustrates the different constraints under which both countries operated and how both Britain and Russia also regarded former soldiers as a useful resource for the maintenance of law and order.
Dr Paul Stock on Spatial Agency
What does space do? Can we speak of space as having agency? Dr Paul Stock's new article in Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques uses insights from material culture studies and actor-network theory to discuss ways of re-framing agency as an assemblage of human and non-human affect.
Co-Authored Article and Special Issue in Diplomacy and Statecraft
Alongside Richard Aldous, Professor Nigel Ashton has co-edited a special issue in the journal Diplomacy and Statecraft, including the opening article of the same name. They explore David Reynolds’s concept of ‘competitive cooperation’, advanced in his book The Creation of the Anglo-American Alliance: A Study in Competitive Cooperation, 1937–1941, which has been highly influential in the historiography of contemporary international history.
Article in the International History Review by PhD Candidate Grant Golub
Don't miss a newly published, open access article by PhD Candidate Grant Golub in the "International History Review". In it, he argues that traditional accounts of the Allied grand strategic debates during World War II stress the divergence between the American and British approaches to waging war against the Axis, yet these studies have relatively marginalized others who played crucial roles in shaping these debates.
Dr Dina Gusejnova wins a CIVICA EU grant
Congratulations to Dr Dina Gusejnova, who was awarded a CIVICA EU grant. The project aims to investigate how scholars who have been forced into exile by authoritarian regimes within/outside Europe are currently being integrated in the EU. It will be co-lead with Andrea Petö (CEU) and Alina Dragolea (SNSPA).
Russian Invasion of Ukraine is Putin's War to Change Europe's Order
In the LSE British Politics and Policy Blog, Professor Kristina Spohr argues that Russia’s war against Ukraine is not only a challenge to Europe’s territorial borders. It is a war that challenges the character and rules that have governed the international system since 1945. Read the article.
Professor Kristina Spohr on the Russo-Western 'Battle of the Narratives'
In her contribution to the German platform DEKODER, Professor Spohr offers an evaluation of the Russo-Western 'Battle of the Narratives' over NATO enlargement and European security. She shows how Putin - as he seeks to remake the European post-Wall order - has come to instrumentalise the 'myth of betrayal' and 'broken promises', most recently in the ongoing Ukraine crisis. Crucially, as she explains, there is no historical evidence to support Putin’s narrative of Western treason. Read the article (in German).
Professor Kristina Spohr on the Ukraine-Russia crisis
In her most recent op-ed in the Spanish daily El Pais, she writes on the crisis over Ukraine and Russian pressure to extract Western security guarantees in order to undo the post-Wall European security system. Professor Spohr also reveals how Putin's obsession with tales of Russian victimisation and Western betrayal are based on false narratives and has much to do with his own impotence to counter the appeal of the European social model. Read more in "On the Brink of War: From Rewriting History to Re-Establishing the Russian Empire" (in Spanish).
New book on the British newspaper coverage of Africa during decolonisation
Warm congratulations to PhD alumna and Guest Teacher Dr Rosalind Coffey who has just released her first book, The British Press, Public Opinion and the End of Empire in Africa: The 'Wind of Change', 1957-60. The book, based on her PhD research supervised by Dr Joanna Lewis, explores some of the cultural and political implications of British newspaper coverage of decolonisation in Africa. Learn more about the book.
Professor Baer on Sultanic Saviours
Don't miss part 2 of the Ottoman History Podcast interview with Professor Marc David Baer out now. In this episode, which covers his book Sultanic Saviours, he explains how the history of Ottoman Jews became part and parcel of a narrative that contrasted the Ottoman Empire's beneficence and tolerance with the anti-Semitism of other European societies. Yet, the image of "Sultanic Saviors" became entangled with the denial not only of anti-Semitism in Turkey but also of violence against Christians in the late Ottoman Empire and the Armenian Genocide. Learn more
New article by PhD student Charlotte Eaton
Charlotte has published her first article on "Colombian Foreign Policy and the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939". The paper explores the statecraft of the two Liberal administrations of the late 1930s to show how they pursued different policies towards the Spanish conflict, revealing, in turn, the internal dynamics of the two administrations and how they conceived of Colombia's position on the world stage. Read the article in the Bulletin of Latin American Research
Iris Forrester Prize and the Medlicott Prize winners
The 2020/21 Iris Forrester Prize and the Medlicott Prize winners have been announced. The Iris Forrester Prize rewards student excellence in the Department’s 12-month MSc programmes. The winners are Oliver Moffat, Megan Hollis and Phillip Holt (MSc in History of International Relations); Abigail Perelman, Alexander Thomson and Harrison Jacobs (MSc in Empires, Colonialism and Globalisation); Tim Rossow and Luke Anselmi (MSc Theory and History of International Relations); and Benjamin Morris and Conor Hodges (MSc International and Asian History).The Medlicott Prize is awarded for the highest dissertation mark in the Department’s MSc programmes. The 2020/21 winners are Thomas Browne and Cameron Bell.
New article by PhD student Fionntán O’Hara
In “The politics of U.S. interest in Refugees in Honduras during the 1980s” (The Latin Americanist, 65:4), Fionntán focuses on how Salvadoran and Nicaraguan refugees in Honduras during the 1980s were viewed within the United States. The article also highlights the exploitative nature of the Reagan administration's interest in refugees in contrast to that of other actors.