News Archive

“We were at a moment of cooperative spirit”

Dr Kristina Spohr participated in a panel discussion hosted by Henry A. Kissinger Center and the Foreign Policy Institute on 6 December. Other participants in the event, “Mikhail Gorbachev’s 1988 Address to the UN: 30 Years Later”, included Andrey Kozyrev, former Foreign Minister of Russia, Pavel Palazhchenko, former Principal English Interpreter for Mikhail Gorbachev, and Thomas W. Simons Jr., former U.S. Ambassador to Poland and Pakistan and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State responsible for relations with the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Yugoslavia. Watch the event here.

New book by LSE Fellow Dr Andrea Mason

Released by Palgrave, British Policy Towards Poland, 1944–1956 is based on Dr Mason's doctoral research carried out in the Department under the supervision of Professor Anita Prazmowska. The book examines the outcome of the British commitment to reconstitute a sovereign Polish state and establish a democratic Polish government after the Second World War.

THE book review

Dr Joanna Lewis reviewed Jeffrey A. Auerbach's Imperial Boredom: Monotony and the British Empire for the Times Higher Education on 29 November. She argues that his fascinating study takes boredom to a new level. Auerbach maintains that a unifying feature of the British Empire was the prolonged experience of being bored. So bored had the British become, he insists, it even laid “the emotional foundations for the British to leave their empire in the twentieth [century]”. Read the review.

Dr Paul Stock reviews Horace Walpole exhibition

Dr Paul Stock reviewed the "Lost Treasures of Strawberry Hill: Masterpieces from Horace Walpole’s Collection" in Criticks: The Reviews Website of the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (25 November). Although Dr Stock finds that significant presentational problems make the displays and their contexts less than fully comprehensible to visitors, the exhibition offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for enthusiasts of eighteenth-century culture. Find out why.

New book edited by Dr Roham Alvandi

The Age of Aryamehr: Late Pahlavi Iran and the its Global Entanglements (Gingko Library), edited by Dr Roham Alvandi, writes Iran into the global history of the 1960s and 1970s, so as to understand the transnational connections that in many ways formed modern Iran. The book is the product of a workshop hosted at the LSE Middle East Centre in May 2016, sponsored by the LSE Kuwait Programme and the British Institute of Persian Studies.

Professor Janet Hartley on Irish radio "Newstalk"

Professor Hartley, historian of 18th- and 19th-Century Russia, was part of a panel of experts on "Talking History" who discussed the history and transformation of St. Petersburg from Peter the Great's custom-built capital in 1703 to the artistic capital it remains today. Listen to "An Artistic Capital Built on Bones", first aired on 25 November.

Dr Imaobong Umoren delivers Katrina Honeyman Memorial Lecture at Leeds

Dr Imaobong Umoren delivered the Katrina Honeyman Memorial Lecture at the University of Leeds on 19 November. Her lecture, “In Search of Race Women Internationalists: Activist-Intellectuals and Global Freedom Struggles” explored how a group of Caribbean and African American women in the early and mid-twentieth century travelled the world to fight colonialism, fascism, sexism and racism. Full details.

LSE Research Showcase

The first LSE Research Showcase organised by Knowledge Exchange for the School community was held on 13 November and featured exhibits with film and photography, hands-on activities and games. One of 14 stands, Dr Joanna Lewis's research was featured in the exhibition. She presented her research with Dr Shane Marotta and Mohammed Ismail, on a contemporary case study in human resilience during and after the Somali civil war in 1991, “Rebuilding Somaliland After Conflict: The role of a London diaspora”. 

Professor Stevenson’s interviews on the centenary of the 1918 Armistice

Professor Stevenson was featured on a variety of radio and news programs in both Britain and Asia. On 10 November, he did a live telephone interview for BBC Radio Four’s PM Programme (listen here from 20m54s) and on 11 November he gave an interview on LBC Andrew Castle’s "The Whole Show" (listen here from 17m28s). In the same week, he also gave interviews to Kyodo News (Japanese news agency) and Jiemian News (Shanghai-based newspaper group).

New piece in Modern American History blog by Dr Megan Black

Dr Megan Black, author of the recently released The Global Interior: Mineral Frontiers and American Power (Harvard University Press), has contributed a post to the Cambridge Core “Modern American History” blog entitled "Appetite for Destruction? Making Sense of the Interior Department’s Request to Destroy Files". The article discusses the US Department of Interior’s recent request to destroy an unspecified number of files, including those related to the management of natural resources – energy and minerals, fishing and wildlife, and national parks – and Native American affairs. The news of this plan was flagged by transparency agencies, and has prompted a debate among academics, archivists, and others concerned about the nature and potential impact of this request.

Episode of Historias podcast featuring Dr Tanya Harmer

In the inaugural state of the field episode, Dr Tanya Harmer was featured alongside Dr Renata Keller (University of Nevada) to discuss Latin America’s Cold War. In episode 28, released on 5 November, they consider the meaning of the Cold War in Latin America, questions of chronology and areas of scholarly emphasis, and their own work highlighting voices long overlooked in the historiography. The Historias podcast is hosted by the Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies based in the Department of History at the University of North Carolina.

Dr Imabong Umoren contributes to BBC Radio 3 Programme Essays

The latest run of the programme, "Minds at War", explores the impact of the First World War on individual artists through the prism of a single great work. On 5 November, Dr Umoren told the story of W.E.B. Dubois’ ground-breaking editorial, “Returning Soldiers” (1919). Today, Dubois is heralded as the father of African American intellectualism and continues to inspire a generation of new activists who, like him, demand that black lives matter. Catch up with the episode on BBC iPlayer (UK only).

LSE's War: 1914-18

To mark the centenary of the armistice of the First World War, Professor David Stevenson has curated a new LSE Library and Google Arts and Culture online exhibition about the history of the London School of Economics during the conflict. Using the Library's collections, the exhibition tells the history of the role played by those who were part of LSE during the war effort. Check out “LSE’s War: 1914 – 1918”. Watch a teaser video about the exhibition.

Centenary of the end o the Great War: Public lectures and talks by Professor David Stevenson

This month, Professor Stevenson gave several talks to commemorate the centenary of the end of the Great War. On 7 November, he spoke at Gresham College, Museum of London, on "The Ending of World War I: The Road to 11 November". His lecture re-examined how the First World War ended. Watch a recording of the event on YouTube. The following day, he gave a talk about "The Road to the Eleventh of November: How the First World War Ended" at the Loughton and District Historical Society, of which he now presides. Later in the month, on 13 November, he spoke on “The Armistice - Marking the 100 Years” in an event hosted by the Buckhurst Hill Residents' Society.

New co-authored chapter by PhD student Artemis Photiadou

Artemis Photiadou has just published a co-authored chapter with Professor Patrick Dunleavy (LSE Government) in the edited volume The UK's Changing Democracy: The 2018 Democratic Audit. The book is the first open access publication released by LSE Press. Read the chapter, "The House of Commons: Control of Government and Citizen Representation", for free here. Artemis Photiadou is a PhD Student and Graduate Teaching Assistant at LSE supervised by Dr Joanna Lewis. Her research focuses on the development of British interrogation policy.

Professor Piers Ludlow contributes to new BBC Radio 4 documentary

Professor Piers Ludlow has contributed to a new BBC Radio 4 documentary named “Death of the Postwar Settlement”. The three-episode documentary started airing on 29 October and includes commentary from former Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair, former Foreign Minister of Poland Radek Sikorski and former US Deputy Secretary for Defense Paul Wolfowitz. The documentary discusses why the international order built after 1945 is now in deep trouble. Listen to the full documentary on the BBC iPlayer (UK only).

Dr Megan Black's new book: out now!

Dr Megan Black newest book, The Global Interior: Mineral Frontiers and American Power, was released by Harvard University Press this month. The Global Interior provides a detailed analysis of how, throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, the US Department of the Interior cultivated and exploited its image as an innocuous scientific-research and environmental-management organisation in order to drive and satisfy America's insatiable demand for raw materials. Interior continues to operate in indigenous lands by coal mining and oil leasing, it pushes the boundaries of territoriality through offshore drilling, and in the guise of sharing expertise with the underdeveloped world, it has led lithium surveys in Afghanistan, among other activities abroad. Indeed, Interior is more than global: the department now manages a satellite that prospects natural resources in outer space!

Dr Joanna Lewis outreach lecture at Somali Cultural Festival

As part of the Somali Cultural Festival, Dr Joanna Lewis gave a public lecture on 22 October at the Anglo-Somali Society. The lecture, entitled “Somali Women, the Diaspora and Resilience”, was based on Dr Lewis’s current research project at LSE funded by the Institute of Global Affairs. She talked about how Somali refugees, forced to flee conflict after 1990, survived the trauma of dislocation, rebuilt or remade new lives in London and then turned their attention to helping the homeland.

Dr Megan Black quoted in BBC article

Dr Megan Black contributed to a BBC News article on "US economy under Trump: Is it the best in history?" on 19 October. The Reality Check team at the BBC decided to test the oft repeated claim by President Trump that the US economy is the best it’s ever been. The verdict? Yes, the economy has been doing well – but there have been periods when it was even stronger.

Interview in student-led sixth-form magazine with Professor David Stevenson

A student-led publication by Bishop Stopford School, Reflections Magazine, interviewed Professor David Stevenson for the October issue in a feature entitled “Philosophy and War: How could we let this happen?”. Professor Stevenson discusses important themes such as the significance of the year 1917 (drawing from his latest monograph), the greatest impact of the First World War, and how the First World War should be commemorated and taught in the future. He is also prompted about what his advice would be to aspiring historians: “Read. Find out more about it. Use as many different means as possible to access the past. The internet is the key now to get a flavour of all types of history. Get an overview and find out about as many time periods, places and topics as possible. Read as much as you can about as many different things as you can”. Reflections Magazine is supported by a dedicated number of sixth formers, each with specific curriculum subject editorial responsibilities. Read the full interview.

Dr Padraic X. Scanlan's Freedom's Debtors wins second book prize

Congratulations to Dr Padraic X. Scanlan for winning the American Historical Association’s James A. Rawley Book Prize 2018 for his debut monograph Freedom’s Debtors: British Antislavery in Sierra Leone in the Age of Revolution (Yale University Press, 2017). The James A. Rawley Prize in Atlantic History was created in 1998. It is offered annually to recognize outstanding historical writing that explores aspects of integration of Atlantic worlds before the 20th century. Earlier in the year, the Canadian Historical Association had also awarded Dr Padraic X. Scanlan's book its Wallace K. Ferguson Prize, which recognises outstanding scholarly books in a field of history other than Canadian history. Freedom’s Debtors offers insight into how the success of British anti-slavery policies were used to justify colonialism in Africa. British anti-slavery, widely seen as a great sacrifice of economic and political capital on the altar of humanitarianism, was in fact profitable, militarily useful, and crucial to the expansion of British power in West Africa.

Dr Joanna Lewis and Dr Jack Hogan present at British Academy-funded workshop in South Africa

Associate Professor Dr Joanna Lewis and LSE Fellow Dr Jack Hogan, historians of Colonial Africa, presented at a British Academy-funded international workshop in South Africa on 11 October. The workshop, “Connecting the Local and the Global in Nineteenth Century Southern Africa” took place between 9 and 11 October and was jointly hosted by the International Studies Group, University of the Free State, and the University of Dundee in Scotland. Dr Lewis delivered one of the keynote lectures, entitled “The Pathetic Death of Bwana Ingeleshi: Late 19th Century British Imperialisms in South-Central Africa and the Graveyard of Ambition”. The lecture was based on two chapters in her recently released monograph Empire of Sentiment on the death and myth of David Livingstone. Dr Jack Hogan participated in a panel on “Sinews of Globalisation: Digital Humanities and Precolonial African History”, pitching his potential upcoming project with the Institute of Historical Research.

New chapter by Dr Ronald C. Po in edited volume about China's global historical role

Dr Ronald C. Po has released a chapter in an edited volume entitled Voyages, Migration, and the Maritime World: On China’s Global Historical Role (De Gruyter, 2018) edited by Clara Ho, Ricardo Mak, and YH Tam. In his chapter, “The Pearl by the Bohai Sea: Qinhuangdao in the Early Modern Period”, Dr Po argues that it is a necessary and salutary corrective to existing literature that the northeastern coastline could hardly be discounted when comprehending the oceanic history of late imperial China.

Professor Paul Preston historical advisor in French documentary

Professor Paul Preston appeared extensively in a new French documentary, called “Les Derniers Jours de Franco” [“The Last Days of Franco”], which aired on 21 October at 22:30 on France 5. The documentary tells the story of how Franco divided, and continues to divide, Spain well past his death on 20 November 1975, after over 40 years of dictatorship. The ghost of Franco continues to haunt Spain, with the recent Catalan crisis awakening old antagonisms, and Barcelona accusing Madrid of Francoist sympathies. Carles Puigdemont, former president of Catalonia (2016-17), provides a testimony in the film. The film also includes other testimonies of those who rubbed shoulders with the Caudillo and those who fought against him. Ultimately, this documentary attempts to break the Spanish divide over Franco.

Dr Kristina Spohr welcomed as Inaugural Helmut Schmidt Professor at John Hopkins University

Dr Kristina Spohr was welcomed as inaugural Helmut Schmidt Professor at Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs in an event organised by the Foreign Policy Institute at John Hopkins SAIS. In a press release from 3 October opening the new joint program of the Helmut Schmidt Professorship in Washington DC, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) declared the new professorship commemorates the long and deep friendship between Dr Kissinger and Chancellor Schmidt and, together with five new post-doctoral fellowships, is part of a multi-year program to enhance research on transatlantic relations at Johns Hopkins SAIS funded by the DAAD with generous support by the German Federal Foreign Office. The event, called “The United States, Europe, and World Order” took place on 3 October at Johns Hopkins University SAIS. It was held to celebrate a brand new, multi-year program featuring the new Helmut Schmidt Distinguished Professorship, this year held by Dr Kristina Spohr, and a new Post-Doctoral program in the field of international relations and history. The inaugural event began with an introduction to the program by the President of DAAD and an address on current issues by Germany’s Deputy Foreign Minister. This was followed by a discussion on the current state of world order and contemporary issues facing the United States and Europe, involving among others, Dr Kristina Spohr. Watch the full event on YouTube.

New publication "The Unprecedented President" by Professor Steven Casey

A new article written by Professor Steven Casey was published by the H-Diplo/ISSF Policy Series America and the World – 2017 and Beyond on 2 October, edited by Robert Jervis, Joshua Rovner, and Diane Labrosse. The article, entitled “The Unprecedented President: Donald Trump and the Media in Historical Perspective” chronicles the relationship between the White House and the media in the twentieth century. Professor Casey observes that, since the start of the twentieth century, when the White House first became “a full-time propaganda machine,” the president’s relationship with the media has been in a state of constant flux. Past presidents, whether Republican or Democrat, whether dealing with print, radio, television, or the Internet, have all recognized the costs, as well as the benefits, associated with interacting with the media. Despite that, Professor Casey argues that Trump’s use of the media has been too continent, too undisciplined, too unprepared, too untruthful to fit into any pattern of previous behaviour. In this area, he is proving himself to be an unprecedented president.

Dr Megan Black on the New Books Network podcast

In anticipation of the release of her first book later this month, The Global Interior: Mineral Frontiers and American Power, Dr Megan Black has been featured on the New Books Network podcast (2 October) to discuss her research on the US Department of the Interior. The book explores the role of the US Department of the Interior, a government organ best known for managing domestic natural resources and operating national parks, in supporting and projecting American power. Listen to the podcast.

Professor Steven Casey wins AJHA 2018 Book of the Year Award

Professor Steven Casey won the American Journalism Historians Association Book of the Year Award for 2018 for his latest book, The War Beat, Europe: The American Media at War against Nazi Germany published by Oxford University Press in 2017. The award, which recognises the best book in journalism history or mass media history published during the previous calendar year was presented at AJHA’s Annual Convention 4-6 October in Salt Lake City, Utah. Based on a wealth of previously untapped primary sources, Professor Casey’s book chronicles a group of highly courageous and extremely talented American journalists as they reported the war against Nazi Germany for a grateful audience back at home. War Beat, Europe, provides the first comprehensive account of what these reporters witnessed, what they were allowed to publish, and how their reports shaped the home front’s perception of some of the most pivotal battles in American history. “Our panel of judges agreed that Steven Casey’s work once again established that good history at its best should be good reading,” said Aimee Edmondson from Ohio University, chair of the book award committee. “They also agreed his book provides a landmark work for scholars, an engaging and compelling account of journalists dedicated to reporting the Allied campaigns to dislodge the German forces from Europe.” Read more about the AJHA 2018 Book of the Year Award.

Professor David Stevenson's events on the First World War

In the context of the centenary commemoration of the ending of the First World War, Professor David Stevenson spoke at a couple of public events to share his vast knowledge on the subject. On 5 October 2018 he was at the Malvern Festival of Military History for a lecture on “How It Started, How It Ended – the Continuing Debate about the Origins and Outcome of the First World War”. The following day, Professor Stevenson  delivered the Presidential Lecture of the Central London Branch of the Historical Association. He spoke on "The Road to 1918: How the First World War Ended”.

Professor Nigel Ashton on his Freedom of Information case again the Cabinet Office

Professor Ashton has written a piece for the LSE British Politics and Policy Blog (13 September) detailing his Freedom of Information case against the Cabinet Office over the release of files relating to UK policymaking and the Qaddafi regime between 1988 and 2011. The blog post follows the final, written confirmation from the Cabinet Office earlier this month that they will not be appealing any further. The case started when Professor Ashton submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request in 2014 for the Qaddafi-UK files. Although the request was for history not journalistic purposes, Professor Ashton’s request was rejected by the Cabinet Office on the grounds of section 14 of the FOI act concerning ‘“vexatious” requests. Professor Ashton fought the rejection (and eventual appeal) in the courts. Earlier this month, the Cabinet Office was finally forced to concede defeat as a result of a ruling issued by the Upper Tribunal in favour of Professor Ashton.

Dr Imaobong Umoren on BBC One's "Fake or Fortune"

Dr Imaobong Umoren appeared in an episode of BBC One’s "Fake or Fortune", entitled “A Double Whodunnit”, which aired on 2 September. Enjoy the whole episode or skip ahead to 0h 43m to watch Dr Umoren’s contribution to the historical mystery.
In the episode, Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate two rare portraits of black British subjects from the 18th and 19th centuries. Painted with extraordinary skill and sophistication, both pictures are highly unusual in their positive depiction of black sitters at a time when Britain was still heavily engaged in slavery. But this is also an intriguing double whodunnit. Watch the episode free on BBC iPlayer (UK residents only).

Staff news, 2018-19

It gives us great pleasure to announce that Professor Steven Casey, Dr Tanya Harmer, Dr Padraic X. Scanlan and Dr Paul Stock are back this month from their sabbatical/research leave. They will be teaching in the department in 2018-19. Dr Antony Best and Professor Janet Hartley will be on sabbatical leave and Professor Marc David Baer, Dr Joanna Lewis, Dr David Motadel and Professor Anita Prazmowska will be on research leave. Professor Baer was awarded a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship for 2018-19. He plans to utilise his twelve-month Fellowship to write the first biography of German-Jewish Gay Muslim Writer Hugo Marcus. Dr Lewis, who has recently returned from the Horn of Africa on a field trip, will be continuing her research on the reconstruction of post conflict states for her LSE Institute for Global Affairs-Rockefeller Grant project. Dr Motadel was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize and Professor Prazmowska will be concluding a two-year Major Research Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust on the topic of “The Cold War Jigsaw: Poland's role in the Angolan Civil War, 1976-1986”. Dr Roham Alvandi and Dr Kristina Spohr will be lecturing in US universities in 2018-19. Dr Alvandi will be teaching at Columbia University, as part of the LSE-Columbia University staff exchange programme, and Dr Spohr will be the Inaugural Helmut Schmidt Distinguished Chair at Johns Hopkins SAIS. We are also thrilled to announce that six new LSE Teaching Fellows will be officially joining us this month: Dr Laura Almagor, Dr Una Bergmane, Dr Anna Cant, Dr Raghav Kishore, Dr Noémi Lévy-Aksu and Dr Pete Millwood. The 2018-19 Gerda Henkel Visiting Professor will be Professor Johanna Gehmacher (University of Vienna). Dr Victoria Phillips is our 2018-19 LSE-Columbia University Visiting Professor and Dr (des) Bastian Matteo Scianna is the 2018-19 LSE-Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Fellow in Modern History. Finally, we are sad to report that Dr Heather Jones (pictured) has left the Department and the School after ten years of service to take up a chair in Modern and Contemporary European History at UCL. During her time in the Department, she has greatly contributed to the study of WWI history with many scholarly achievements and accolades, while numerous students have benefited from her dedicated teaching and wise guidance. We will miss her presence and all-round contribution enormously and we offer her our warmest congratulations on her new appointment.

New book by Dr Ronald C. Po

Dr Po’s new book with Cambridge University Press has just been released. The Blue Frontier: Maritime Vision and Power in the Qing Empire provides a revisionist history of the eighteenth-century Qing Empire from a maritime perspective. It explores how the Qing Empire deliberately engaged with the ocean politically, militarily and even conceptually in the long eighteenth century. Contrary to orthodox perception, Dr Po offers a much broader picture of the Qing as an Asian giant responding flexibly to challenges and extensive interaction on all frontiers, both land and sea.

Dr Taylor C. Sherman publishes new article in Postocolonial Studies

Dr Sherman has released a new article in Postcolonial Studies, entitled “’A New Type of Revolution’: Socialist Thought in India, 1940s-1960s”. Although it is often said that early postcolonial India was socialist, scholars have tended to take this term for granted. This article investigates how Indians defined socialism in the two decades after independence. Understanding how Indians defined their version of socialism, Dr Sherman argues, will help scholars re-evaluate the role of the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, in defining the goals India pursued after independence. It will also re-orient our understanding of the expectations and limitations of the Indian state in this crucial period in Indian history. LSE users can access the article for free.

History and Philosophy degrees at LSE highest paid five years after graduations

Once again, History and Philosophy degrees at LSE show top of the national table with earnings of above subject average five years after graduation. The latest Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) dataset, released by the UK’s Department for Education on 21 June 2018, lists the “historical and philosophical studies” graduates at LSE the highest earners after 5 years. Out of all UK universities, for a cohort of male and female individuals, who graduated from LSE in 2009-10 in the field of historical and philosophical studies, their median salary was the highest at £38,000 after 5 years. The LEO pinpoints which universities produce the highest-earning graduates by subject area after they have been in the labour market for five years. The Daily Telegraphy also published the data on 15 August in an article entitled "The UK's highest paying degrees, according to graduate salary". Citing the DfE data, the article shows that LSE is the UK university with the highest graduate salaries for history and philosophy, economics, maths, business, law and social studies degrees.

Dr Joanna Lewis writes for the Africa at LSE Blog

As a new exhibition commemorating the Somali effort during the First World War opened in London, Dr Joanna Lewis contributed a new article to the Africa at LSE Blog, analysing how scholarship of the Great War is increasingly encompassing the global contribution of the conflict. Read the article, "Somalis in the First World War".

Upper Tribunal dismissed Cabinet Office appeal in favour of Professor Ashton

An appeal by Cabinet Office lawyers to deny release of copies of Downing Street files to Professor Nigel Ashton has been rejected by the Upper Tribunal. Professor Ashton has been in a long-running Freedom of Information battle with the Cabinet Office. In 2014, he requested for copies of Downing Street files that covered the period from the Lockerbie bombing of December 1988 to the revolution of 2011 that resulted in Qaddafi being deposed and murdered. He subsequently narrowed his request to files from the years 1990 to 2002. At a hearing last year, the tribunal ruled that the documents should be handed to Professor Ashton. However, government lawyers appealed against the ruling in May 2018 on the basis of being “vexatious”. The judge at the Upper Tribunal has now rejected the Cabinet Office’s appeal and upheld the decision of the First Tier Tribunal in Professor Ashton’s favour. “There is a vital public interest in understanding the course of Britain’s policy towards Libya during the Qaddafi regime”, Professor Ashton told us. “From the Lockerbie bombing to Blair’s rapprochement with Qaddafi to Cameron’s role in toppling Qaddafi’s regime, Britain was at the heart of events in Libya. I am glad that the Upper Tribunal has upheld the ruling of the First Tier Tribunal that my request for the opening of Prime Minister’s Office files which chart these vital decisions was a perfectly reasonable use of the Freedom of Information Act .”
Read the full decision of the Upper Tribunal: Cabinet Office v Information Commissioner and Ashton.

Dr Roham Alvandi at Aspen Institute event

Dr Roham Alvandi, historian of Iran during the Cold War, moderated a 3-day symposium (30 July - 2 August) hosted by The Aspen Institute on Iran: Past, Present, and Future with Dr Suzanne Maloney (Brookings Institution). The expert-moderated seminar examined the emergence of modern Iran against the backdrop of Iran’s political, social and diplomatic history. From the discovery and politics of oil, to the transition from secular society to the Islamic Republic, to the rise and fall of Iranian-American nuclear diplomacy. Dr Alvandi was also joined by former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on the last day of the symposium.

Dr Joanna Lewis fieldwork in Somaliland

Dr Joanna Lewis left the UK on Friday, 20 July, to conduct research in Somaliland for her project on the reconstruction of post conflict states. In 2017, she was awarded an LSE Institute of Global Affairs-Rockefeller Grant for two years to lead a project on Somalia, entitled “‘Pathways to Resilience’: The Role of an Urban Diaspora in Post-Conflict Reconstruction, London and Hargeisa, 1991 to the Present Day.” The project, based at the Firoz Lalji LSE Centre for Africa, investigates the role of the Somali diaspora in building frameworks of social, political and financial resilience in a post-conflict urban environment. It case-studies the diasporic relationship between London and Hargeisa, capital of the unrecognised state of Somaliland, since civil war ended in 1991. As part of her research, Dr Lewis will interview Somaliland's Foreign Minister Dr Edna Adan in the Horn of Africa. Incidentally, Dr Adan and the issue of Somaliland’s status are discussed in an article in the Guardian on 20 July.

New article by Dr Ronald C. Po on China and the Global South

Dr Po published a new article, “China and the Global South: A Geostrategic Perspective” in the latest issue of Radical History Review (issue 131). Reluctant to side with those analysts who regard the China Dream as being equivalent to its aspiration of rising as a Pacific power, Dr Po argues that in facilitating the China Dream, over the next few decades, the Chinese government is and will be more interested in engaging with the Global South than with any other regions of the world, particularly in its military engagement in Africa and the Indian Ocean. Even though the Pacific Ocean is no less geopolitically salient, he suggests that the Pacific has not been prioritized as the foremost strategic theatre by the Chinese Communist Party since last century.

New article by Dr Kirsten E. Schulze in Terrorism and Political Violence

Dr Kirsten E. Schulze has co-authored a new article with Dr Julie Chernov Hwand (Goucher College) in the journal Terrorism and Political Violence, entitled "Why They Join: Pathways into Indonesian Jihadist Organizations", available online now. This article explores four pathways to entry into Indonesian Islamist extremist groups: study sessions, local conflict, kinship, and schools. It argues that within all four of these pathways, social bonds and relationships are the common thread in encouraging entry as well as in fostering commitment. Drawing on original fieldwork including 49 interviews with current and former members of Jemaah Islamiyah, Mujahidin KOMPAK, Darul Islam, Mujahidin Tanah Runtuh, Indonesia’s pro-ISIS network, and other jihadist groups as well as 57 depositions and court documents, this article explores the development and evolution of these pathways and how relational ties play a role in each.

New LSE Brexit blog post by Professor Piers Ludlow

Professor Piers Ludlow has co-authored a blog post based on an event hosted by the Department in June 2018 entitled “British Influence in Brussels: Looking Back and Looking Forward”.
Britain had far greater influence in Brussels since 1973 than has been recognised. For decades the UK was a driving and liberalising force when it came to the Single Market, enlargement, competition and trade, as well as foreign policy. Professor Ludlow, Sir Jonathan Faull (Kings College London), and Professor Laurent Warlouzet (Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale) outline the story of this significant and widespread British sway over the EU.

 New opinion article by Dr Kristina Spohr in the New Statesman

On the eve of the Trump and Putin Helsinki meeting, Dr Kristina Spohr and Professor David Reynolds (Cambridge) co-wrote an article for the New Statesmen entitled “The Age of Trumputin” (13 July). They review the history of Cold War summitry, and explore Trump’s newfound stride, his unpredictable policies and rumours that he is in the Kremlin’s pocket. Dr Spohr and Professor Reynolds are co-editors of Transcending the Cold War: Summits, Statecraft, and the Dissolution of Bipolarity in Europe, 1970-1990 (Oxford University Press, 2016).

New article in the CTC Sentinel by Dr Kirsten Schulze

Dr Kirsten Schulze has released a new article in the CTC Sentinel entitled “The Surabaya Bombings and the Evolution of the Jihadi Threat in Indonesia” (June/July 2018, Vol. 11, Issue 6). On May 13, 2018, three churches in Surabaya, Indonesia, were targeted by suicide bombers comprising one single family of six. Dr Schulze argues these are the first suicide bombings involving women and young children in Indonesia, thus marking a new modus operandi. They also show an increased capability among Indonesian Islamic State supporters when compared to previous attacks. But this increase is not necessarily indicative of a greater capacity across Indonesia’s pro-Islamic State network and the involvement of whole families reflects a broadening participation in Indonesian jihadism rather than a complete departure. The recent upsurge in violence is locally rooted, even if it is framed within the broader Islamic State ideology. The attacks also bring to the fore the role of family networks and the increased embrace of women and children in combat roles.

New co-edited book by Dr Antony Best

Dr Antony Best, historian of Modern Japan and Anglo-Japanese Relation, released a new co-edited volume this month with Renaissance Books, called British Foreign Secretaries and Japan, 1850-1990: Aspects of the Evolution of British Foreign Policy. The book reviews the role of British Foreign Secretaries in the formulation of British policy towards Japan from the re-opening of Japan in the middle of the nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century. It also takes a critical look at the history of British relations with Japan over these years. British Foreign Secretaries and Japan, 1850-1990 is part of a 10-volume Japan Society's series, which includes Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits as well as British Envoys in Japan. The book is co-edited with Hugh Cortazzi, British Ambassador to Japan (1980-1984) and editor or contributor to all the volumes in the Japan Society's series.

Dr Kristina Spohr on the Trump-Kim Summit for History Extra

Dr Spohr was interviewed by History Extra, the official website for BBC History Magazine and BBC World Histories Magazine, on “The Trump-Kim Summit: What Did It Really Achieve?” (18 June). Dr Spohr shares her views on the historically significance of the Trump-Kim summit, the personal chemistry between the two leaders and the nature of the future relationship between the two countries, US and North Korea.

New article by Dr Taylor C. Sherman on education in early postocolonial India

Dr Taylor C. Sherman published a new article in the journal History of Education, entitled “Education in Early Postcolonial India: Expansion, Experimentation and Planned Self-Help” (47:4). The article provides an overview of education policy in the first two decades after 1947 and finds that, contrary to what the constituion promised, Indian planning did not monopolise control over education. Rather, India’s socialism was a socialism of scarcity, which relied on self-help efforts by the people to build the institutions of the welfare state, entrenching existing inequalities.

History students at LSE highest earners in new IFS report

On 15 June 2018, the BBC News website highlighted a new Institute of Fiscal Studies Report which calculated the difference in earnings by subject and university choice throughout Britain five years after graduation. With this interactive content, the report illustrates the average impact the different universities and subjects would have on the future income of an individual. In the subject of History, LSE ranked #1, with average lifetime earnings boost of £14,000 for men and £15,000 for women. This is higher than from studying history at any other university. LSE was ranked higher than Oxford, St Andrews, Cambridge, KCL and UCL.

Dr Roham Alvandi featured in Independent article

Dr Alvandi was quoted in a new article published by the Independent on 12 June on the Trump-Kim summit from the view of Iran. In the article, “Iran warns North Korea not to trust the US over historic summit: ‘Trump might cancel deal before returning home'”, Dr Alvandi claims Iranians will see the summit as little more than a publicity stunt that legitimises both Mr Trump and Mr Kim. Why is the United States willing to negotiate with North Korea, a nation with a nuclear arsenal, while refusing to pursue detente with Iran, a country that has no nuclear weapons and has agreed to strict international safeguards on its civilian nuclear programme, Iranians will be asking.

Professor Paul Preston awarded knighthood in Queen's Birthday Honours

Professor Paul Preston, world-renowned historian of Spain, Príncipe de Asturias Professor of Contemporary Spanish Studies and Director of the LSE Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies, was awarded a knighthood in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours Diplomatic Service and Overseas List in recognition of his work furthering UK-Spanish relations. The Queen’s Birthday Honours List recognises the achievements of a wide range of extraordinary people across the United Kingdom.
Many congratulations to Professor Paul for this marvellous accolade!

Dr Kristina Spohr announced Inagural Helmut Schmidt Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

Dr Kristina Spohr will be joining the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington DC for the 2018-19 academic year as the inaugural Helmut Schmidt Distinguished Professor in the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs. This new professorship commemorates the long and deep friendship between Dr Kissinger and Chancellor Schmidt and is part of a multi-year initiative to enhance research on transatlantic relations at SAIS funded by the German Academic Exchange Service with generous support by the German Federal Foreign Office. “The German Federal Foreign Office is thrilled to support the establishment of the Helmut Schmidt Distinguished Professor in the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs,” said the Minister of State for international cultural policy at the German Federal Foreign Office, Michelle Müntefering. “The professorship adds an important German-U.S. transatlantic scientific perspective on how to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges. (…) the Helmut-Schmidt professorship is part of a larger effort by the German Federal Foreign Office, together with its partners, to stay actively engaged in a broad transatlantic dialogue.” Giovanni Agnelli, Distinguished Professor and Director of the Kissinger Center Francis J. Gavin said, “We are delighted to welcome Professor Kristina Spohr as the inaugural Helmut Schmidt Professor. She is an acclaimed scholar of transatlantic relations and historically informed strategy and statecraft.” Read the full press release by Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and German Academic Exchange Service. Read a piece by the German regional daily newspaper Rheinische Post on Dr Spohr's new position (21 June, in German).

Dr Padraic X. Scanlan awarded Wallace K. Ferguson Prize

The Canadian Historical Association was awarded Dr Padraic X. Scanlan its Wallace K. Ferguson Prize, which recognises the year’s outstanding scholarly book in a field of history other than Canadian history, to his recently published Freedom’s Debtors: British Antislavery in Sierra Leone in the Age of Revolution (Yale University Press, 2017). The Canadian Historical Association is a Canadian organisation founded in 1922 for the purposes of promoting historical research and scholarship. Dr Scanlan’s Freedom’s Debtors explores British abolitionism within the context of Sierra Leone but more than that he argues that abolitionism was connected to the imperial project of expansion and colonialism. 

New book by Dr Imaobong Umoren

Dr Imaobong Umoren’s newest book Race Women Internationalists: Activist-Intellectuals and Global Freedom Struggles was published at the end May by University of California Press. Based on newspaper articles, speeches, and creative fiction and adopting a comparative perspective, Race Women Internationalists explores how a group of Caribbean and African American women in the early and mid-twentieth century traveled the world to fight colonialism, fascism, sexism, and racism. Dr Umoren is Assistant Professor of International History. Her research interests include the intersecting history of race, gender, migration, and religion in the nineteenth and twentieth century Caribbean, US and global African diaspora.

The Paulsen Programme: new €1 million fund for historians in Russia

We are very excited to announce that the department is hosting a new €1 million fund programme offering fellowships and conference grants to historians based in Russia. Funded by Dr. Frederik Paulsen Foundation, and chaired by former head of department, Professor Dominic Lieven, The Paulsen Programme at LSE has been set up to support historians in Russia whose work focuses on the imperial period from the mid-17th century to 1918. In addition to supporting scholars, The Programme will also organise two international research seminars in Saint Petersburg in collaboration with the Higher School of Economics, and an international conference in Latvia in 2022 devoted to the history of imperial Russia (c1650-1917), bringing together leading historians of imperial Russia from across the world. Major publications are planned which will bring the best current thinking and research on imperial Russia to the attention of both English and Russian-speaking historians. Applications are invited for Paulsen fellowships and conference grants for the academic year starting on 1 October 2018 and ending on 30 September 2019. The deadline for applications is 31 July 2018.

Four International History students receive Partnership PhD Mobility Bursaries

Four of the PhD students in the Department of International History have received Partnership PhD Mobility Bursaries. This scheme enables LSE PhD students to undertake research for two to three months at one of LSE’s institutional partners: University of California (Berkeley), the University of Cape Town, Columbia University (New York), Fudan University (Shanghai), National University of Singapore, Peking University and Sciences Po (Paris). The scheme offers a wonderful opportunity to visit another institution, to benefit from additional research resources (archival and advisory) and to experience the academic culture and professional networks of another country. Our International History PhD recipients for 2018-19 are: Katherine Arnold (pictured) who will be spending next term at the University of Cape Town. She is conducting research on ‘Between Europe and the World: German Naturalists, the Cape Colony, and the British Empire, 1781-1851’; Molly Avery, University of California, Berkeley, ‘Transnational Anticommunist Networks in Central America in the Late 1970s and Early 1980s’; Fadi Esber, Sciences Po, Paris, ‘The Politics of Partition in French Mandate Syria, 1920-1936’; and Tom Wilkinson, Columbia University (New York), ‘Youth in Colonial and Post-Colonial Northern India, 1885-1957’. They will each receive £2,500 towards travel expenses, accommodation, maintenance, educational materials and/or other education-related costs.

Professor Nigel Ashton in the Guardian: battle with Cabinet Office continues in new tribunal hearing

Professor Nigel Ashton, historian of Anglo-American relations and modern Middle East, was mentioned in an article in the Guardian on 15 May, reporting on a long-running Freedom of Information battle he has been fighting with the Cabinet Office. In 2014, Professor Ashton requested for copies of Downing Street files that covered the period from the Lockerbie bombing of December 1988 to the revolution of 2011 that resulted in Gaddafi being deposed and murdered. He subsequently narrowed his request to files from the years 1990 to 2002, but has said he may request more. At a hearing last year, the tribunal ruled that the documents should be handed to Professor Ashton. However, government lawyers are appealing against the ruling on the basis of being “vexatious” in a new hearing that took place on 16 May in London. Professor Ashton hopes ultimately to achieve a greater understanding of the role the British government played in creating Libya as it is today. “The public interest in understanding Britain’s policy towards Libya is overwhelming,” Professor Ashton told the Guardian. “It seems extraordinary that the Cabinet Office has resisted my freedom of information request at every turn.” Read the full article.

Dr Marina Perez de Arcos winner of Martin Abel Gonzalez Prize

Many congratulations to Guest Teacher Dr Marina Perez de Arcos for winning LSE Class Teacher Award, the Department’s Martin Abel Gonzalez Prize. PhD students Isaac Scarborough (pictured) and William King were also highly commended for the prize. The prize is awarded yearly to the Department's Graduate Teaching Assistants and Guest Teachers with the best TQARO teaching scores. The prize was set up in 2011-12 and is named in memory of  Martín Abel González, a Graduate Teaching Assistant who served for many years at the Department and who tragically passed away in the summer of 2011. It is a prize that recognises excellence in teaching and professionalism as these were qualities that distinguished Martín Abel González.

Dr Roham Alvandi in The Spectator Podcast, in the Independent and on Australia's ABC Radio National

Dr Roham Alvandi commented on the latest events in the Middle East in the British media. Joined by Christopher de Bellaigue he participated in an episode of the The Spectator Podcast on 10 May. They talked about the recent US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement. "I think it’s unambiguous that the policy of the Trump administration", Dr Alvandi said, "very much driven by John Bolton but also by Pompeo and others is one of regime change." Listen to the podcast. On 11 May, he was quoted by the Independent newspaper on the Israeli-Iranian confrontation in Syria, which came just days after US President Donald Trump announced his country would withdraw from the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers. Read the full article, "Did Iran attack Israel from Syria and why would they?" in the Independent website. On 14 May, Dr Alvandi appeared in Australia’s ABC Radio National. He joined presenter Phillip Adams in his show “Late Night Live” to discuss the US exit from the 2015 nuclear agreement, Iran and regime change. Listen to the podcast.

D Jeppe Mulich on the change of international systems for the Review of International Studies

Dr Jeppe Mulich, one of our LSE Fellows, has a new article out in the journal Review of International Studies. "Transformation at the Margins: Imperial Expansion and Systemic Change in World Politics” seeks to provide a framework for addressing the question of how and why international systems change over time. Empire provides a particularly illuminating window into the topic of systemic change, in part because a major driver of historical transformations has been the expansion of empires and their encounters with other heterogeneous polities across the globe, and in part because a focus on imperial interactions highlights the limitations of existing unit-centric perspectives. LSE users can read the article for free.

New publication by Dr Ronald C. Po

Dr Po published a chapter on the topic of Chinese exports to the West in the early modern period in David Ludden’s edited volume, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History (OUP, 2018). Tracing the social lives of tea, porcelain, and silk in 18th and 19th centuries, Dr Ron argues, it is discernible that the world had been living with commodities made in and exported from China for a fairly long period of time. Conceivably, China has played a crucial role in the global history of the dissemination and consumption of commodities since the early modern period. Read the chapter for free.

International Graduate Student Conference on the Cold War

The Department of International History was pleased to co-sponsor the International Graduate Student Conference on the Cold War, hosted this year at LSE from 3-5 May. The annual conference is jointly organised by the IDEAS Cold War Studies Project at LSE, the Centre for Cold War Studies and International History at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the Cold War Group at George Washington University. The conference was convened this year by Dr Roham Alvandi, Associate Professor of International History and Director of the IDEAS Cold War Studies Project. A number of students and faculty from the Department participated in the conference, including Professor Vladislav Zubok, whose keynote lecture was entitled, "The Bear That Never Barked. Soviet Estimates of the Iranian Crisis, 1953." Next year’s conference will take place in Washington DC.

International History student wins LSE Volunteer 2018 Award

We are incredibly proud of Alex Selway, BSc in International Relations and History, who won the Outstanding Contribution to the LSE Community Award for his work with LSESU Raising and Giving (RAG) Society. On 26 April, the LSE Volunteer Centre and the LSESU RAG Society hosted their annual event to celebrate volunteering and fundraising at LSE. Over 60 people attended representing the student body, including LSE Students’ Union and various parts of the School. In attendance were also charities that have recruited students over the past year as volunteers and fundraisers, as well as LSE staff from LSE Careers and other professional services and academic departments. “It’s been wonderful to volunteer in so many different ways”, Alex said upon winning his Outstanding Contribution to LSE award. “I’m looking forward to starting a new chapter with RAG next year as President, which I’m sure will be very fun.” We also congratulate Saskia Roberts (BA History), who was  nominated for a LSE Volunteer of the Year award for her work Action Tutoring.

LSE History ranked 7th in the Complete University Guide for 2019

History at LSE retained its 7th place in the UK in the independent 2019 Complete University Guide for the history subject. LSE ranked behind Cambridge, Durham, Oxford, St. Andrews, Exter and UCL, but ahead of Birmingham, Warwick and KCL, making it a top two university for the study of History in London. The rankings of the Complete University Guide are based on student satisfaction, entry requirements, research excellence and employment prospects after graduation. History at LSE  ranked 5th in the UK for graduate prospects. Over the years, History at LSE has twice topped the Complete university Guide Tables and never finished lower than seventh.

Dr Kristina Spohr on the strategic importance of the Baltic

Dr Kristina Spohr participated in the Baltic Symposium 2018, organised by the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, the Baltic Council in Great Britain, and the Embassies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on 20 April. She presented a paper on “Baltic Strategies: The Big Picture” and analysed how the two periods of independence in the Baltic region (1917-18 and 1990-91) have affected the future of this strategically important region at a time when Putin has characterized the Bolsheviks' nationalities policy of self- determination as a disaster. Watch her participation on YouTube.

LSESU Student-Led Teaching Excellence Awards winners announced

We are delighted to announce that the LSE Student Union's final student panel has now chosen the winners. They have recognised Associate Professor Dr Kirsten Schulze (pictured) as a runner-up in the Inspiration Teaching category, LSE Fellow Dr Daniel Strieff as a runner-up in the Research Guidance and Support category, and Guest Teacher Dr Giovanni Graglia as a a runner-up in the Mentoring and Personal Development category and also highly commended him on the Welfare and Pastoral Support category. Overall, the awards this year led to over 900 individual nominations, with over 400 members of staff across LSE being nominated in 7 categories of awards. After careful consideration the panel  recognised 1 winner, 2-5 runners-up and 4-10 highly commended staff members in each category.

Dr Roham Alvandi gives lecture at Stanford University

On 17 April, Dr Roham Alvandi gave a lecture for the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University on “Amnesty International and the Origins of the Iranian Revolution”. Dr Alvandi explored the role of the "human rights revolution" of the 1970s and the origins of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Watch the lecture on YouTube.

Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship awarded to Professor Baer

Professor Marc David Baer has been awarded a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship for 2018-19. This award will allow Professor Baer, a scholar of the connected histories of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Europe and Middle East, from the early modern era to the modern, to complete his work on the project “Guided by Goethe: German-Jewish Gay Muslim Writer Hugo Marcus, 1880-1966”. German Jew Hugo Marcus (1880-1966) is the only man to have played an important role in the world’s first gay rights movement and in establishing Islam in Europe. His life and work shed new light on the history of Islam in Europe, Muslim-Jewish relations, and the gay rights struggle. Despite his significance, Marcus is relatively unknown. What is published about him does not incorporate his being German, Jewish, Muslim, and gay. Professor Baer plans to utilise his twelve-month Leverhulme Research Fellowship to write the first biography of Marcus, based on his German-language publications, speeches, private correspondence, and personal documents.

Professor David Stevenson on BBC Radio 4

Professor David Stevenson and Professor Anne Applebaum (LSE Institute of Global Affairs) were interviewed by Mishal Hussein at the close of Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday, 14 April, about the historical precedents for the current international crisis over Syria. Listen to their interview on the BBC Radio 4 website, starting at 1h55m.

Professor Matthew Jones in the US for talks on research for his latest books

On 9 April, Professor Matthew Jones gave a talk to the Non-proliferation forum at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC on his work for the official history of the UK strategic nuclear deterrent; he also lectured on the same theme at an in-house colloquium held on 11 April at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

Professor Stevenson at Sandhurt for Operation Reflect commemoration

On 22 March, Professor David Stevenson gave a presentation at a conference at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, on “The Strategic Context of 1918: the British Empire”. This event formed part of Operation Reflect, the British Army’s commemoration of the final year of the First World War, and was attended by the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Nicholas Carter.

Dr Joanna Lewis's Empire of Sentiment Book of the Week

Dr Joanna Lewis’s new book, Empire of Sentiment: The Death of Livingstone and the Myth of Victorian Imperialism, released by Cambridge University Press in January, is book of the week in the Times Higher Education (22 March). Joanna Bourke reviews the manuscript while giving an account of Dr Lewis’s analysis of Livingstone’s mythologised death, as well as Livingstone’s legacy in post-imperial contexts. “Her new book on the ‘myth of imperialism’", Bourke argues, “is an enthralling analysis of the cult of Livingstone”. Read the full review in the THE website. 

New virtual special issue on the Cold War in Latin America edited by Dr Tanya Harmer

Dr Harmer has organised a virtual special issue for the Journal of Latin American Studies (JLAS), entitled “The Cold War in Latin America" (open access). “This virtual special issue highlights some of the exciting directions that scholarship on the Cold War in Latin America has taken over the last decade”, Dr Harmer tells us in the Introduction. New interest in Latin America’s Cold War “have provided new insights into the way that the conflict affected – and was shaped by – Latin Americans’ international, transnational and global interactions as well as their domestic politics”. As a result, our understanding of the conflict has moved well beyond simplistic ideas of a distant bipolar superpower battle over the region. “The Cold War in Latin America” showcases some of the best new scholarship on the Cold War published by JLAS in previous years with articles on women, gender and morality; the “politicization and internationalization of everyday life”; and on interactions of Latin America’s revolutionary left.

Professor Matthew Jones invited for discussion at Royal United Services Institute

On 15 March 2018, Professor Matthew Jones spoke at the Royal United Services Institute on the subject of his recently published two volumes dealing with the history of the UK strategic nuclear deterrent, 1945-70. His talk focused on the strategic, political and diplomatic considerations that compelled British governments, in the face of ever-increasing pressures on the defence budget, to persist in their efforts to develop nuclear weapons and to deploy a credible nuclear force, as the age of the manned bomber gave way to the ballistic missile. Read more about the event in the RUSI's website.

Dr Kristina Spohr's on the scramble for the arctic

“The new Cold War: The race to conquer the arctic, the world’s final frontier” is Dr Kristina Spohr’s newest analysis, published on 9 March as a cover article in the New Statesman (9-15 March). Dr Spohr, a historian of the global ending of the Cold War and author of The Global Chancellor (OUP, 2016) and Transcending the Cold War (OUP, 2016), argues that in the least regulated place on earth - the polar region - all the Arctic states are now jockeying for position while several non-Arctic states, are seeking influence, with the big money and real strategic vision coming from Beijing. Over the past decade, Putin has restored political and economic stability at home, while testing the West in its quest to transform Russia into a world power. “The Arctic is a keystone of that policy", asserts Dr Spohr, "because only here – as Putin said last December – is there real scope for territorial expansion and resource acquisition.” “At the end of the 19th century the great powers engaged in a scramble for Africa”, Dr Spohr continues. “Now, in the 21st century, a scramble for the Arctic is unfolding. Across one of the bleakest landscapes of the world, the race is on for gas, oil and fish and to control the emerging shipping lanes of the High North. (…) It’s time for the West to pay attention”.

LSE History ranked 7th in the world

The QS World University Ranking by Subject 2018 has placed LSE History in 7th place for the second year. Published annually since 2011, QS World University Rankings by subject are based on academic reputation, employer reputation and research impact. The rankings are based on an analysis of 198 million citations, and the insights of 40,000 hiring managers and over 70,000 academics.
History at LSE ranked 7th overall in the world ahead of Columbia (8th), Princeton (9th) and Chicago (10th). In the UK and in  Europe, History at LSE ranked third, behind Oxford (2nd) and Cambridge (3rd), but ahead of UCL (joint 15th), Leiden (joint 15th) and KCL (20th).

David Motadel reviews Arne Westad's  The Cold War in the Times Literary Supplement

Dr David Motadel published a new book review of Professor Arne Westad's The Cold War: A World History (Penguin, 2017) in the 23 February issue of the Times Literary Supplement, which also includes some more general reflections on challenges of writing a global history of the twentieth century. “With a brilliant ability to condense complex historical information", Dr Motadel argues in the review, entitled "Persistent Chill", "Westad offers an authoritative, elegantly written panorama of a divided world. He takes ideas and ideologies seriously, without ignoring material forces – at a time when the fashion among many historians is a new materialism, and this is refreshing.”

New article by Dr David Motadel in the Journal of Global History

Dr David Motadel and Professor Richard Drayton (Rhodes Professor of Imperial History, KCL) have written a programmatic article on the “Futures of Global History”, which has just been published in the Journal of Global History (13:1, 1-21). The article is a response to critics of global history. Read it together with replies from Princeton Latin American historian Professor Jeremy Adelman (Princeton) and historian of France Professor David Bell (Princeton), part of the same discussion.

Professor Anita Prazmowksa featured on BBC and CNN

In early February, Professor Prazmowska was featured in two articles regarding the Polish legislation to outlaw references to Polish death camps in Holocaust bill. The phrase, first used by Barack Obama in a 2012 speech, has led to a controversial bill which makes it illegal to accuse Poland of complicity in Nazi crimes. According to the BBC article, there is widespread agreement that Polish citizens participated in the Holocaust through the betrayal and murder of Polish Jews, but does that equal a larger Polish complicity? She responded: “this is history as a tool, as a means for a nationalistic government to accuse everyone else of betraying the nation while painting itself as the only true carriers of the Polish flag”. In the CNN article, she adds that legislation shouldn’t be used to force a particular historic interpretation, as this forms a broader attempt to revise negative aspects of history.

New article in Asian Security by Dr Kirsten E. Schulze

Dr Schulze published a new article in the journal Asian Security with Professor Joseph Chinyong Liow (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore), entitled “Making Jihadis, Waging Jihad: Transnational and Local Dimensions of the ISIS Phenomenon in Indonesia and Malaysia”. The article aims to explain how, where and why the transnational and local intersect as well as the role of religion, particularly in the ideological narratives and recruitment strategies of local jihadi groups. At the heart of their analysis is the question to what extent Indonesians and Malaysians were lured into joining ISIS as a result of its “universal” ideology and global recruitment strategy or whether they were instead propelled by local Indonesian and Malaysian dynamics into Syria and into “importing” and “indigenizing” ISIS to advance their own agendas. LSE users, can read the article for free.

Podcast with Professor Stevenson about 1917

Professor David Stevenson participated in an episode of New Books in History podcast. He talked with Dr Krzysztof Odyniec about his latest book 1917: War, Peace and Revolution, released by Oxford University Press at the end of last year. In the podcast, recorded in January 2018, Professor Stevenson discusses the causes, course, and effects of the events of the year 1917, a turning point in the history of WWI and the evolution of the modern world. He shares insights about judging historical forces and human agency, evaluating counterfactuals, and drawing comparisons between 1917 and subsequent events of the last 100 years, including the Second World War, the Vietnam War, and conflicts of the twenty-first century. Listen to the podcast in the New Book's webiste.

LSE Student Union History Society and South London Cares event with Dr Roham Alvandi

On 24 January, the LSE Student Union History Society co-hosted an event with a charity called South London Cares, inviting Dr Roham Alvandi to speak over a pizza lunch. Dr Alvandi was joined by LSE students and some of our older neighbours from south London. He spoke with them about LSE and why we study history, as well as about his own research on Iran. The neighbours (one of whom was an LSE alumnus from the 1950s) got a chance to chat with the students over lunch and were then taken on a tour of the campus by the students. “The idea was to bring our neighbours out of isolation and encourage them to come on to our campus to participate in the events that go on here,” Dr Alvandi told us. Dr Alvandi thanks the History Society and Georgina Connah, who made a huge effort in helping organising the event. He was very pleased with the student turnout, mentioning, "it was one of those days when I really love my job!"

New essay in History Today by Dr Gagan D. S. Sood

Dr Sood has published a new essay in History Today (vol. 68, no. 2, Feb. 2018) entitled “A World Revealed”. Written using research conducted for his book India and the Islamic Heartlands: An Eighteenth-Century World of Circulation and Exchange (Cambridge University Press, 2016), the article is meant to appeal to a general audience of history students, teachers and aficionados interested in extra-Western, pre-modern history. The essay focuses on an 18th-century world, spanning the Middle East and South Asia, populated by a kaleidoscope of "ordinary" people. It was a moment “of remarkable changes, politically, intellectually, culturally, economically and demographically; it was a moment of unscripted possibilities”, says Dr Sood. This world was historically significant in its own time, but it suddenly vanished and was subsequently forgotten. The aim of the piece is to recapture a sense of this world in the manner of a detective story, and what is revealed is, in many ways, unexpected.

Dr Joanna Lewis's new book released by CUP

Dr Lewis’s new book, Empire of Sentiment: The Death of Livingstone and the Myth of Victorian Imperialism, was released by Cambridge University Press in January 2018. The book argues that one singular moment, the death of David Livingstone, shaped Britain’s perception of itself as a humane power overseas when the colonial reality fell far short. The images and myths surrounding Livingstone’s death were passed down through generations, inspiring waves of sentimental feeling and further colonial rule in Africa. Order the book on Amazon UK. Watch the promo trailed for the book on Vimeo.

Guest Teacher and PhD alumna offered Max Weber Fellowship

Dr Corina Mavrodin has been offered a Max Weber Fellowship at the European University Institute in Florence. She is currently teaching HY 116: International History since 1890 and HY 206: The International History of the Cold War, 1945-1989 in the Department of International History. Under the supervision of Professor Piers Ludlow, her PhD thesis, “A Maverick in the Making: Romania’s de-Satellization Process and the Global Cold War (1953-1963)”, passed the viva without corrections in May 2017. At the EUI, she will expand on her doctoral research by further exploring the economic and political roots of Romania’s de-satellization process within a global context. She says, “The EUI is an unparalleled centre of academic excellence in Europe. I feel both happy and privileged to be offered the Max Weber Fellowship, which will allow me to transform my dissertation into a monograph.” 

Dr Tanya Harmer's co-edited special journal issue out now

In 2016, Dr Harmer co-organised two international conferences in London and Mexico on Global and Transnational Histories of Latin America’s Revolutionary Left and on Intellectual Cultures of of Revolution in Latin America, respectively. Both conferences were hosted by the Latin America-Europe Cold War Research Network, coordinated by Dr Harmer and sponsored by the LSE International History Department. A special journal issue has now been released based on both conferences. Titled “Revolutionary Transnationalism in Historical Perspective: Militant Networks in the Americas”, the issue has been published in Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe (vol. 28, no. 2) with an introduction by Dr Harmer and by Dr Alberto Martin Alvarez (Instituto Mora). The whole issue is open access.

Dr Roham Alvandi on BBC Radio 4

Dr Roham Alvandi was on BBC Radio 4’s Briefing Room programme on 4 January, speaking about the historical context for the protests in Iran. Who are the protesters in Iran and what do they want? Listen to his contribution on BBCiPlayer.

LSE Summer School: New International History Course

We are thrilled to announce LSE Summer School's first ever course offered by the Department - IR106: From Sarajevo to Baghdad: Key Decisions on War and Peace, 1914-2003 with Professor David Stevenson. The course will offer an intensive investigation of a central set of topics over the last century of international politics. It will introduce students to the international history of the two world wars and the Cold War as well as the post-Cold War period. The material should be readily accessible to students with little previous background in the field, as well as rewarding for those who already have familiarity with the content.