Research News

from the Department of International Relations
Spring Term 2026

• Dr Charlie Carter has been awarded £12,030 from the LSE Seed Research Fund for a project examining informal diplomatic networks. The project will use survey-based ego-network sampling to map patterns of consultation and cooperation among diplomats, developing an approach that can identify important features of diplomatic networks without requiring complete data on every actor in the network. The project aims to better understand how informal diplomatic ties shape conflict attitudes, diplomatic practice, and state behaviour.
• Dr Rohan Mukherjee has published a new research article, “The Cost of Restraint: India's Divergent Responses to China and Pakistan as Nuclear Rivals,” in International Security.
• DINAM Fellow Teona Giuashvili’s new piece, “Fading Power? The EU’s Strategic Dilemmas in the South Caucasus,” was published by the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies (SCEEUS).
• Dr Jennifer Jackson-Preece and Dr Peter Wilson spoke at a memorial event at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, to commemorate the life and scholarly contribution of Professor James Mayall. Professor Mayall, who died in November 2025 at the age of 88, was a member of the department from 1968 to 1997 when he became the first Sir Patrick Sheehy Professor of International Relations at the University of Cambridge. Dr Jackson-Preece spoke on Professor Mayall's contribution to the study of nationalism and Dr Wilson on his contribution to the English School.
• PhD candidate Woohyeok Seo has published a research article, "Nuclear technology and (de)politicising memories of nuclear violence in postcolonial South Korea (1945–1975)," in Cooperation and Conflict.
• Our DINAM Fellow Teona Giuashvili spoke on “Georgia and the New Geopolitical Realities” at the Fifth Annual Oxford–Georgia Forum, held at St Antony’s College, Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, on 27 May 2026.
• Visiting Fellow Dr Irene Morlino has published her new book: Humanitarian Aid and the European Union: An Analysis of its Effectiveness in the Field.
• Professor Robert Falkner has published a new research article, “Environmental Stewardship as a Fundamental International Norm,” in Understanding Environmental Norms.
• Dr Nikhil Kalyanpur was interviewed by the Social Science Encyclopedia about some of his work on state power, kleptocracy and global finance.
• Our Emeritus Professor Michael Cox and former Montague Burton Professor at LSE, Christopher Hill, are among the editors of the newly released book, Chatham House: The First Hundred Years. The book features chapters including “Chatham House during the Second World War” by Dr Peter Wilson and “Chatham House and the Global Climate Crisis” by Professor Robert Falkner.
• Our PhD candidate Aibhe Cannon has published a new research article, “The holy war on reproductive rights: the Russian Orthodox Church as an anti-abortion lobbyist in contemporary Russia" in Post- Soviet Affairs.
• Professor Fawaz Gerges has written a new opinion piece in The Guardian titled “Trump’s war has backfired spectacularly: Iran is now more influential than ever”.
• Professor Karen E Smith, Visiting Senior Fellow Dr Anahita Motazed Rad, and Professor Amnon Aran have co-authored a new article, “Women in Diplomacy in the Gulf Region: Iran and the UAE in Comparative Perspective” published in the Hague Journal of Diplomacy.
• Professor Robert Falkner was interviewed by OPINOMIC in connection with the 25th anniversary of the TRIUM EMBA programme.