Policy Briefs
Analysis from an LSE IDEAS academic, associate or guest contributor addressing an existing foreign policy issue or historical context theme - usually containing policy recommendations.
2026
Women in Diplomacy: Media and Digital Violence
July 2026This policy brief examines how the rapid expansion of the digital environment is creating new barriers to gender equality in diplomacy.
Nationalist Polarisation and the Divide over Climate Policy
June 2026This policy brief from Robert Schertzer and Eric Taylor Woods addresses how, with progress long stymied by a divide between climate sceptics and activists, competing national visions are short-circuiting climate progress. The paper provides policy recommendations toward durable climate action amidst domestic solidarity.
Women in Diplomacy: Work-Life Balance
June 2026This policy brief examines the challenges women face in diplomatic careers related to work-life balance, highlighting institutional and cultural barriers, and proposing policy advice for reform to promote gender equality and inclusivity.
How climate shapes the world, why science is an art, and why free data access and international collaborations are essential.
May 2026This policy brief addresses the increasingly critical challenges - disease risks, human behaviour and climate activism - that climate brings as it shapes our data-driven and globalised world, recommending pathways forward for policymakers to include harnessing both data and global cooperation.
Women in Diplomacy: Targets and Quotas
May 2026This policy brief from the Women in Diplomacy project addresses that gap, assessing the use and effectiveness of targets and quotas in tackling women’s underrepresentation in diplomacy. It draws on available academic and policy literature, as well as the lessons learned and best practices gathered through dialogues carried over the course of 2025 with women diplomats, experts and practitioners.
Women in Diplomacy: Mentorship
April 2026The LSE IDEAS Women in Diplomacy project published a research report on Strengthening the Representation of Women in Diplomacy, in March 2026. Alongside the report, we are producing four additional briefing papers, on mentorship, targets and quotas, handling the media, and work-life balance. While these topics are addressed in the report to some extent, they warrant deeper examination given their prominence in our research, allowing us to provide more evidence and best practices.
Time and Tide Wait for None: (Mis) Understanding the Changing Dynamics of World Order
February 2026This policy brief from Richard Higgott follows an October 2025 report titled ‘From Globalisation to Geopolitics: The Changing Dynamics of World Order and their Implications for the EU’; it addresses and analyses the speed and magnitude of transformative shifts in the global order several months on, emphasising the decline of the liberal order and the rise of great power competition.
Energy Data Spaces and Market Power: A new challenge for data sovereignty and its governance
January 2026This paper examines how the digitalisation of energy markets, driven by smart meter data and Energy Data Spaces, is reshaping competition in retail electricity services.
Taking Stock of Brexit
January 2026This policy brief derives from the Research Report "Brexit - A Critical Audit", also authored by Iain Begg.
2025
Critical Minerals and the New Industrial Order
September 2025This policy brief from Sophia Kalantzakos examines the evolving geopolitics of critical minerals amid the global energy transition, highlighting strategic hypercompetition, the policy tools of OECD nations, supply chain resilience, and future prospects for global industry.
The Changing Economy of Space
August 2025This analysis traces the evolution of the space economy through three waves: first, government-driven programs focused on national security; second, the rise of commercial space ventures funded by private capital; and third, the "New Space" era since 2000, marked by investment from venture capitalists and private equity firms. It highlights how these shifts in the space economy align with changes in international relations and geopolitical dynamics.
Reflections on WTO Reform
January 2025This special edition of our Expert Analysis presents four lectures (edited for publication) on World Trade Organization reform delivered by the author at LSE IDEAS during June-November 2022 and concluding in May 2023. The paper ends on a postscript reflecting on the perspectives on the different issues discussed in the lectures following the outcome of the 13th Ministerial Conference of the WTO in February-March 2024, as well as the November 2024 re-election of Donald Trump—on the basis of a disruptive trade policy agenda.