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from the Department of International Relations

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• Cindy May looks to president-elect Joe Biden’s expected foreign policy positions in the Middle East, and the potential effect this may have on the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process. Read Opinion - Israel-Palestine Policy Under Biden in E-International Relations.
• Congratulations to Katerina Dalacoura who has been awarded one of the Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowships for her research on The International Thought of Turkish Islamists: History, Civilisation and Nation.
• PhD candidate Alexandros Zachariades has co-authored an article in the Cypress Review which seeks to map and critique the Republic of Cyprus’ grand strategy in recent years by focusing on the ways its Foreign Policy Executive has sought to counterbalance Turkey. Read Balancing for Profit: The Republic of Cyprus’ Grand Strategy in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
• PhD candidate Marnie Howlett has published an article in Problems of Post-Communism. Read Playing Near the Edge: An Analysis of Ukrainian Border Youths’ Engagement with the Euromaidan.
• Mathias Koenig-Archibugi reflects on international aid for the health sector in low-income countries and how many more resources should be devoted to global health. Read How much is enough in international aid for health?
• Katharine Millar has co-authored a commentary piece on advancing gender considerations in the UN's cyber Open Ended Working Group, and how states can turn their goals into reality. Read 'Advancing Gender Considerations in the Cyber OEWG on the United Nations Institute For Disarmament Research website'.
• Theresa Squatrito discussed her article which examines the 'judicial diplomacy' activities carried out by international courts with the director of the British International Studies Association (BISA). She speaks about her key findings and what the implications might be for literature on international courts and the legitimacy of international institutions. Watch Judicial diplomacy: International courts and legitimation on the BISA website.
• PhD candidate, Frega Wenas Inkiriwang, was one of the key speakers in an online webinar organised by the Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) NTU, Singapore on the subject of "Assessing the Role of TNI in Combating Covid-19 in Indonesia".
• William A Callahan has updated his website, Sensiblepolitics.net, whose aim is to present thevisual nature of his research through the website design. It highlights his research, filmmaking and teaching activities, and especially collaborative work with students and other teachers.
• Audrey Alejandro has published an article in European Journal of International Relations on reflexive discourse analysis. The article shifts reflexivity from meta-reflections on positionality into a methodology that can be learned and taught alongside other research practices. Read it here.
• Ranjit Lall has published an article in International Studies Quarterlyon The Financial Consequences of Rating International Institutions: Competition, Collaboration, and the Politics of Assessment.
• Liam O'Shea, our 2020/21 Dinam Fellow, has written a piece outlining five measures for reducing police violence in Nigeria, linked to the #EndSARS movement, and the role civil society plays in reform. Read Nigerian police reform: 5 key measures and why civil society is key to achieving them in the International Affairsjournal's blog.
• Millennium Journal Conference recordings: Audio and video recordings of the Roundtables and the Keynote address of the Millennium 2020 Online Conference are now available. The theme this year was 'Entanglements and Detachments in Global Politics'. Find out more and access the recordings.
• PhD Candidate David Eichert recently published an article about prison rape and police brutality in the United States. In the article he reframes the history of sodomy and sexual violence in the American justice system, arguing that "disciplinary sodomy" against men remains a tool by which law enforcement agents control minority communities and reify gendered and racial hierarchies. Read Disciplinary Sodomy: Prison Rape, Police Brutality, and the Gendered Politics of Societal Control in the American Carceral System.
• Theresa Squatrito has published an article which examines International Courts' (ICs) non-judicial activities as a form of ‘judicial diplomacy’, asking how and why ICs employ judicial diplomacy. Read "Judicial diplomacy: International courts and legitimation" in Review of International Studies.
• PhD Candidate Wan Peng has co-authored an article which argues that a dual architecture consisting of global and regional governance institutions with a tri-polar order at the regional level is a feasible structure for global governance, from the perspective of public goods provision. Read "A Dual Architecture with a Tri-polar Regional Order for Global Governance in the New Globalization Era" (Chinese) in World Economics and Politics.
• Congratulations to Milli Lake whose book Strong NGOs and Weak States: Pursuing Gender Justice in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa was awarded the inaugural Lee Ann Fujii Award by the International Studies Association. This award commemorates Lee Ann’s memory as a tireless advocate for diversity, mentorship and research ethics in the discipline.
• Ben Cormier, LSE Fellow, has published an article in the journal Governance entitled 'Interests over institutions: Politicaleconomic constraints on public debt management in developing countries'. Read it here.
• Sophie Rosenberg, LSE Fellow, recaps what Covid-19 means for human rights and the rule of law in the United States with a special focus on the unequal effects on minorities and women. Published as a chapter in the latest Bonavero Institute of Human Rights report on COVID-19. Read it here (Chapter 29).
• Chris Alden has co-authored an article for the Special China-Africa Issue of the African Studies Quarterly which argues that for Africa to increase its agency the continent first needs to unpack the nature of African decision-making in the China-Africa relationship. Read 'Outlining African Agency Against the Background of the Belt and Road Initiative'.
• Tristen Naylor has published a new paper in The Hague Journal of Diplomacy examining the implications of summit diplomacy moving online in the COVID era. Read 'All That's Lost: The Hollowing of Summit Diplomacy in a Socially Distanced World' and listen to the podcaston his article.
• Alexandros Zachariades, PhD candidate, appeared on the University of Nicosia's Diplomatic Academy podcast to discuss foreign and economic policy, small powers, as well as Neoclassical Realism as a framework in International Relations. Listen to the episode, which looked at Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Gulf.
• Marnie Howlett, PhD candidate, has co-authored a blog article in Routed, the migration and (im)mobility magazine. Read 'Why did/n’t they leave?: Understanding international postgraduate students’ (im)mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic'
• Chris Alden recently took part in a webinar hosted by the China Africa Research Initiative of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in which he discussed China's security presence in Africa. The webinar is reported in the Daily Maverick. Read more here.
• Toby Dodge was quoted in the Christian Science Monitor article 'Ultimatum signals modest US goal in Iraq: Avoid defeat' discussing the US policy in Iraq.
• Robert Falkner spoke to Chatham House about the origins of UN-led climate negotiations, explaining why some conferences have been more successful than others.
  Listen to this episode of The Climate Briefing on the Chatham House website.
• Stephen Woolcock has published a chapter entitled "The United Kingdom and the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership".
  Read it in Outside the EU: Options for Britain, edited by Martin Westlake
• Toby Dodge has published a paper on ‘Iraq’s informal Consociationalism and its problems’, Studies in Ethnicity and NationalismVol. 20, No. 2, (2020), pp. 145-152.
  Read it (open access) here
• Two of our PhD alumni have jointly been awarded 'Best article in the European Journal of International Relations 2020'.
  
  Deepak Nair (grad 2015) for his article 'Saving face in diplomacy: A political sociology of face-to-face interactions in ASEAN' and Ida Danewid (grad 2018) for her article 'The fire this time: Grenfell, racial capitalism and the urbanisation of empire'.Find out more and read the committee's comments
• Martin J Bayly has written for the LSE COVID-19 blog on 'Fatalism and an absence of public grief: the 1918-19 flu pandemic'. In it he explains how British society attempted to deal with the pandemic, which went uncommemorated even though it killed almost a quarter of a million Britons - many young.
• Katharine M Millar, Yuna Han, Martin J Bayly, Katharina Kuhn and Irene Morlino, from our department, have published a report on the political implications of COVID-19 grief and mourning for social order. Their research reveals that the way COVID-19 is officially commemorated will shape our ability to respond to a second wave. Read more about it here.
  Read the blog post
  Read the full report on 'Confronting the COVID-19 pandemic: grief, loss and social order'.
• Benjamin Faude has published an article on the implications of the proliferation of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) for the liberal trade order. Read Breaking Gridlock: How Path Dependent Layering Enhances Resilience in Global Trade Governance in Global Policy.
• Jens Meierhenrich has co-authored an article on the qualitative study of international criminal tribunals. Read 'The Life of the Law Has Not Been Logic; It Has Been Experience:' International Legal Ethnography and the New Legal Realism in SSRN.
• Stephen Paduano, PhD candidate, has written an opinion piece for the Washington Poston the long-standing dispute between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan over rights to the Nile's water and how the United States is making it worse. Read "A conflict is brewing on the Nile - and the Trump administration is making things worse".
• Alexandros Zachariades, PhD candidate, has written an LSE IDEAS Strategic Update on the crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean where Greek and Turkish economic interests, legal claims, and armed forces are squaring off. Read "All Hands on Deck: the Crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Need for US Leadership".
• Jacklyn Majnemer, PhD candidate, has been interviewed about her research into why states renege on commitments within alliances. Read about her research here.
• Elitsa Garnizova, PhD alumna & Principal Investigator at LSE's Trade Policy Hub, contributed to a report on increases in food prices post-Brexit unless the UK and EU cooperate on this front.. Find out more.
• John Sidel recently co-authored a book examining the first phase of the Coalitions for Change programme, a centrepiece of the partnership between the Australian Embassy the Asia Foundation in the Philippines. Access "Thinking and Working Politically in Development" here.
• Natalya Naqvi has been awarded an Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) Fellowship, and will be on buyout this year undertaking research.
• Benjamin Fauderecently published an article with Michal Parizek in E-International Relations, based on his recent article "Contested multilateralism as credible signaling: how strategic inconsistency can induce cooperation among states".
  
  Read Contested Multilateralism as Credible Signalling: Why the AIIB Cooperates with the World Bank on E-International Relations.
• Yuna Han and Sophie T Rosenberg recently published an article on African Union contestation of ICC cases against former or sitting Heads of State.
  Read Claiming Equality: The African Union's Contestation of the Anti-Impunity Normin International Studies Review.
• Stephen Paduano, PhD candidate, has published a review of "The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy and the Life of John Maynard Keynes" by Zachary Carter. Read the review here.
• Martin Westlake, our previous Dinam Fellow, has published the book arising out of his fellowship in the department. Read about or purchase The European Union’s New Foreign Policy.
• Jostein Hauge recently co-authored a research report analysing the political and economic impacts of COVID-19 in the Horn of Africa, and charts pathways forward.
  Read his summary on the IR Department blog and access the report published by Hatèta Policy Research.
• Katharine Millar's new project: "The Challenge of Mass Deaths for Transnational Social Order: Experiencing COVID19" has been awarded a British Academy Small Research Grant.
• Benjamin Faude has co-authored an article with Julia Fuss on "Order without a Constitution: Why Overlapping International Institutions Get Along Better Than You Think".
  Read the blog post introducing their new article which discusses the causes and consequences of deliberately created institutional overlap.
• Alireza Shams Lahijani, recent PhD graduate, has been interviewed about his research investigating Iranian representations and conceptions of Europe. Read about his research here.
• Jeffrey Chwieroth's book The Wealth Effect: How the Great Expectations of the Middle Class Have Changed the Politics of Banking Crises, co-authored with Professor Andrew Walter from the University of Melbourne, was awarded the Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research by the European Consortium for Political Research. The jury described the book as a ‘masterful’ long-term analysis of the politics of banking crises. Read their full remarks on the ECPR web page.
• Karen E Smith's recent co-authored book Group Politics in UN Multilateralism has been awarded the Academic Council on the UN System Biennial Book Award for 2020.This book was recognised for its new perspective on diplomacy and negotiations at the UN. This recognises that group dynamics and shifting, ad-hoc groupings around issues are key to understanding diplomatic practice at the UN.
• George Lawson's book Anatomies of Revolution was awarded the 2020 Hedley Bull Prize. This award by the European Consortium for Political Research recognises one book each year which makes a substantial and original contribution to theory and/or empirical studies in any field of International Relations.You can read the jury's full remarks, as well as Dr Lawson's own comments on the ECPR web page.
• COVID-19 writing and research: Our staff and students are helping people and governments better COVID-19's implications for international affairs, from the importance of physical touch to its impact on energy policy. Read their contributions to this global discussion
• Nicola Degli Esposti, PhD candidate, was interviewed about his research investigating the politics and political economy of the Kurdish national movement. Read about his research here.
• The hosted a research competition for students and staff. We're very pleased to announce the winners from the Department of International Relations:Constantin Gouvy won the Photography Prize for ‘Demystifying the Rise and Appeal of ISIS in Iraq: in conversation with "ISIS families" ’Olivia G, Jad Baghdadi, Victoria Shum won the Short Film (joint winners with another entry) for "Miles Away" Maria Soraghan and Maitrai Lapalikar (as part of a group of 5) won the Popular Prize for the written pitch "A European Democracy on a Domestic Level".
• PhD candidate Jacklyn Majnemer has won a Mobilizing Insights in Defence and Security Initiative Doctoral Award and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Award to support her studies.
• Jemima Ackah-Arthur, PhD candidate, was interviewed about her research into the ways governments respond to armed groups. Read about her research here.
• Carlotta Clivio, PhD candidate, was interviewed about her research into Chinese leadership's involvement in global climate governance structures. Read about her research here.
• New grant for Middle East religious diversity study: The $350,000 award, the Henry Luce Foundation's first gift to LSE, is in support of the 3 year project ‘Managing Religious Diversity in the Middle East: The Muhasasa Ta’ifia in Iraq, 2003-2018’, which will be headed by Professor Toby Dodge of LSE International Relations and LSE Middle East Centre. Find out more
• William A Callahan's article "The Politics of Walls: Barriers, Flows and the Sublime"(2018) has won the Best Article of the Year Prize from BISA and the Review of International Studies. Read the article Read a summary on the LSE US Centre blog
• The LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security (WPS) are leading a new coalition of research institutions addressing gendered injustice and insecurity around the world. Members of the IR Department faculty, Kirsten Ainley is Co-Director and Deputy Principal Investigator, while Milli Lake is a Co-Investigator. More information. Find out about the .
• Tarak Barkawi's book Soldiers of Empire: Indian and British Armies in World War II has been awarded the 2018 Paul Birdsall Prize for a major book on European military and strategic history since 1870 from the American Historical Association. More information here.
• Gender and bias in the International Relations curriculum: Insights from reading lists by Kiran Phull, Gokhan Ciflikli and Gustav Meibauer. Following growing academic interest and activism targeting gender bias in university curricula, the authors present the first analysis of female exclusion in a complete International Relations curriculum, across degree levels and disciplinary subfields. The IR curriculum as LSE was used as a dataset. The paper is based on the work of the IR PhD-led Gender & Diversity Project. Read or download the paper here.
• Ida Danewid, PhD graduate, was interviewed about her research into global solidarity and colonial patterns. Read about her research here.
• IR PhD candidate Siddarth Kaushal won the 2018 RUSI Trent Gascoigne Essay Prize for original writing on contemporary issues of defence and security with his essay entitled 'Positional Warfare: a Paradigm for understanding 21st Century Conflict'. Read the full essay here.
• Martin J Bayly's first book Taming the Imperial Imagination: Colonial Knowledge, International Relations, and the Anglo-Afghan Encounter, 1808–1878 was awarded the Francesco Guicciardini Prize for best book in historical international relations 2018, awarded by the historical IR section of the International Studies Association.
• Foreign Policy Magazine/TRIP list of best International Relations Schools in the world: 1500 scholars contributed to the Teaching, Research, and International Policy (TRIP) project, and voted the LSE as top UK institution for Masters Programmes for Policy Career in International Relations.They also voted for LSE in the top 15 PhD Programmes for Academic Career in International Relations. Foreign Policy's best International Relations Schools in the world

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