Research News

from the Department of International Relations
Winter Term 2026

• Professor Robert Falkner has published a new research paper titled "World Society: From Analytical Dustbin to Master Concept of International Relations?" in The Big Picture as an Approach to the Study of International Relations: Thinking With and Beyond Barry Buzan.
• Read our PhD candidate Alexander Jake Davies’ new article, "Why America Will Succeed in an Age of AI‑Enabled Killer Robots," published on the USAPP blog. He has also received the Phelan US Centre PhD Summer Research Grant for his research project.
• Dr Rohan Mukherjee has edited a special issue of the journal Indian Politics and Policy on “Domestic Change and Foreign Policy in Contemporary India.”
• Listen to the Global Taiwan Insights podcast, where our IRD Fellow Mariah Thornton discusses her research on political warfare in Taiwan.
• Visiting Senior Fellow Dr Anahita Motazed Rad has been interviewed by The i Paper on Iran’s political future following the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
• Our PhD candidate Kazimier Lim has written a new article titled "Iran’s threat to airline travel: The Gulf’s skies are now a chokepoint too" for the Lowy Institute.
• Dr David K Johnson has published a new article titled "Reconstructing imperialism: From the new imperialism to the new geopolitics" in the Review of International Studies.
• Dr Nikhil Kalyanpur has published a new article titled "Twilight of the oligarchs" in the Review of International Political Economy.
• DINAM Fellow Dr Teona Giuashvili has authored a new article titled "The Anatomy of a Transatlantic Divide" for the LSE European Politics blog.
• Read our PhD candidate Chloé Raïd's new research article, "Middle East Studies Beyond the Middle East Archive – Promises, Predicaments and Practices of MENA research in Western Governmental Archives" in MELA Notes.
• Dr Stephanie Schwartz has co-authored a new article titled "Why Tanzania’s mass repatriation of Burundi refugees must be stopped" for The New Humanitarian.
• Watch an interview with our Visiting Senior Fellow Dr Anahita Motazed Rad, in which she discusses the current geopolitical situation and the new round of US–Iran talks in Oman on FRANCE 24.
• Dr Theresa Squatrito has been interviewed about her new book, Judging under Constraint: The Politics of Deference by International Courts, for the LSE Review of Books.
• Professor Fawaz Gerges discussed US–Iran tensions and the risk of a potential US attack in a new interview with DW News.
  Watch Professor Fawaz Gerges' interview with Sky News, where he discusses Trump’s proposed Board of Peace for Gaza.
• Watch Professor John Sidel discuss James C. Scott’s Legacy in Southeast Asian Politics and Society.
• Dr Stephanie Schwartz spoke with FRANCE 24 about Minnesotans' efforts to capture what’s happening during ICE operations.
• Dr Patrick Gill-Tiney spoke to The i Paper about the consequences of a peace deal that favours Putin.
• Read Visiting Fellow Dr Irene Morlino's policy piece, "After the NATO Summit: Where to for European Security and NATO?" in the European Military Forum.
• Read our PhD candidate Partha Moman's new piece, "With AUSSOM’s Funding Challenges Here to Stay, What Are the Options for the Mission’s Future in Somalia?" published by the IPI Global Observatory.
• Read a new review of Professor Fawaz Gerges' latest book, The Great Betrayal: The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East.
• Read Professor Robert Falkner's new publication, "Historicizing Global Environmental Politics," published in a special issue of Global Environmental Politics.
• Professor Peter Trubowitz and Professor Robert Falkner's application to the LSE–Tsinghua University Sustainability Research Fund for their project "Global Sustainability Governance in an Age of International Fracture" has been approved. The project team also includes Dr John Minnich, Professor Catherine Boone, Professor Kathryn Hochstetler, Professor Stephanie Rickard, and Dr Clare Wenham.
• Dr Anna Getmansky has co-authored a research article titled "Red lines versus negotiables: how exposure to wartime violence influences support for peace settlements in Ukraine" published in Political Science Research and Methods.
• On December 14, DINAM Fellow Dr Teona Giuashvili moderated and spoke at a roundtable titled "The South Caucasus: Local Agency and Strategy Adaptation in the Shadow of Russia’s War Against Ukraine" at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. The event formed part of the ASIAC XIX Annual Conference, organised by the Italian Association for the Study of Central Asia and the Caucasus.
• Professor Peter Trubowitz co-authored a piece titled "A Middle Way for American Foreign Policy" for Foreign Affairs.
• Our Visiting Senior Fellow Dr Anahita Motazed Rad has been interviewed by Metro for an article exploring the current situation in Iran.
• Professor Chris Alden has co-written a new chapter, “China and the G7,” in The Elgar Companion to the G7.