Older Research News WT25

from the Department of International Relations
Winter Term 2025

• In a piece for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Dr Lauren Sukin writes that growing doubts in Europe regarding the reliability of the United States as an ally could weaken deterrence, embolden adversaries like Russia and China, and destabilise international security.
• Our PhD Candidate Partha Moman has received the LSE Phelan US Centre PhD Summer Research Grant for his project.
• Watch Professor Fawaz Gerges' interview, where he discusses the US strikes on Yemenand their impact on US-Russia relations.
• Read our PhD candidate Albert Cullell Cano's, recently published article titled "Why we don’t talk about Brexit" in the British Politics and Policy blog.
• Dr Stephanie Schwartz co-wrote an article for the LSE United States Centre blog titled, "How the US immigration crackdown undermines democracy."
• Watch Professor Fawaz Gerges on CNN as he breaks down Saudi Arabia’s role in US-Ukraine talks, what it means for Saudi Arabia’s global image, and how a proposed ceasefire might just play into Russia’s advantage.
• Visiting Senior Fellow Dr Anahita Motazed Rad spoke as a keynote speaker for an online conference titled "The War on Terror: Success or Failure?", organised by Queen Mary University of London on Tuesday, 4 March 2025.
• DINAM Fellow Teona Giuashvili moderated a discussion with Ambassador Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven on the Geopolitics of Power.
• Our PhD candidate Albert Cullell Cano, 2024 recipient of Phelan US Centre Summer Research Grant, wrote an article for the LSE USAPP blog, exploring the Irish American diaspora's ongoing impact on US- Ireland relations and Northern Ireland policies.
• Professor Fawaz Gerges shared his insights with CNN on Trump, Israel, and what lies ahead for Gaza.
• Watch Professor Peter Trubowitz on Bloomberg Surveillanceas he analyses the aftermath of the Oval Office meeting between Trump and Zelensky and explores how Trump leverages US power to secure concessions internationally.
• Read an excerpt from the introduction to The Market in Global International Society: An English School Approach to International Political Economyby Barry Buzan and Robert Falkner.
• Watch Professor Fawaz Gerges on CNN as he talks about Trump’s Gaza plan, Arab states’ vision for Palestine, and the reconstruction of Gaza.
  He also spoke with Deutsche Welle News on the future of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire.
• Read Dr Stephen Woolcock's new article, "The US reciprocal tariff plan is anything but reciprocal".
• Dr Ida Roland Birkvad is organising an event at NYU's Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality titled "Provincializing Cisness: Transnational Scholars on the Diversity of Sex/Gender Systems."
• Dr Nikhil Kalyanpur shared his insights with MSN UK on why Musk is supporting Putin’s propaganda and siding with Russia.
• Professor Peter Trubowitz has recently published an article titled, "Trump’s attempts to realign US-Russian relations may mean an unjust peace for Ukraine."
• Professor Tomila Lankina has been awarded the prestigious fellowship at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin for the academic year 2025-2026. She has also been awarded the Einstein Visiting Fellowship for the period of 2025-2029. The Einstein Fellowship is a program that allows highly reputable foreign scholars to establish a research group in Germany at a university in Berlin and closely collaborate with Berlin-based colleagues. Tomila will be working with Professor Alexander Libman and other esteemed colleagues at the Free University in Berlin as part of the SCRIPTS Excellence Cluster.
• Watch Professor Fawaz Gerges on CNN as he discusses how King Abdullah of Jordan delicately rejected Trump's plan for the forced relocation of Palestinians to Jordan, the broader consequences of Trump's unpredictable Middle East policies, and the fragile state of the Gaza ceasefire.
• Read our DINAM Fellow Dr Teona Giuashvili's new article, "The Janus-faced geopolitics of the EU’s eastern enlargement," published in the EUROPP Blog.
• Visiting Senior Fellow Dr Anahita Motazed Rad has reviewed a book proposal titled Hold the Line, authored by Dr. Daniel Reynolds, Senior Lecturer in Byzantine History at the University of Birmingham, which has been submitted to Springer Nature for publication.
• Read Dr Tarsis Brito's research article "New materialism, whiteness and the politics of vitality: Rethinking activity/passivity in critical security studies" in Security Dialogue.
• Dr Asha Herten-Crabb has co-written a research article "An opportunity for gender transformation? UN Women’s policy response to COVID-19" for Global Public Health.
• Dr Ida Roland Birkvad is currently a visiting scholar at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS). She has been doing research presentations at DIIS, as well as at the Department of International Relations at the University of Copenhagen.
• Dr Rohan Mukherjee has been elected as a member of the Steering Committee of the Standing Group on International Relations in the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR).
• Read Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu's latest publication, "Trump's Energy Strategy: A Game-Changer for Global Oil Prices and Azerbaijan's Economy?"
• Dr Anna Getmansky has been interviewed for the Metroarticle, "The factors which could move the Doomsday Clock forward."
• PhD candidate Dino Mahtaniwrote an opinion piece on the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo for The Guardian.
• Watch the interview with Professor Fawaz Gerges on BBC News, where he provides insights on the exchange of hostages in the Gaza ceasefire deal.
• PhD candidate Dipyaman Chakrabarti co-wrote an opinion piece for Al Jazeera, "How MAGA fell out with ‘Indian Tech-Bros’"
• Dr Giulia Sciorati has published a chapter titled "Crafting 'Attractive' Histories: (Visual) Narrative Contestation Along the Silk Road" in The Implications of Ethnic Politics in Post-Socialist States for China.
• Dr Tarsis Brito has won the Brett William Campbell PhD Thesis Prize in International Studies for his doctoral dissertation titled, "Bordering Humanness, Securing Whiteness: Race, Colonialism, and Violence at the European Borders?"
• Read Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu's latest publication, "Russia’s Economic Landscape: Navigating Recession, Inflation, and Sanctions."
• Watch our PhD candidate Dino Mahtani on BBC News as he discusses the crisis in DR Congoand the ongoing efforts to de- escalate the situation.
  He has also been quoted in The New York Times on the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
  He has also been quoted in The Washington Post article, "Rwandan-backed rebels clash with Congolese forces over control of Goma."
• Read Professor Fawaz Gerges' most recent article "Syria's Post-Authoritarian Trap" in Foreign AffairsMagazine.
  
  He has also been quoted in the Voice of Americaarticle, "Former rebel leader is Syria’s new interim president."
• Read our DINAM Fellow Dr Teona Giuashvili's new article, "The European Union's Strategic Test in Georgia"published by the French Institute of International Relations.
• Watch our PhD candidate Albert Cullell Cano on Spanish national TV discussing the impact of Brexit on the UK.
• Professor Karen E Smith has been appointed to the Council of Chatham House.
  She has also been awarded funding under the LSE’s Engagement and Partnerships Development Fund for a project on "Building partnerships to strengthen the representation of women in diplomacy."
• Professor Fawaz Gerges recently delivered a public lecture at Georgetown University on the future of Syria.
• Visiting Senior Fellow Dr Anahita Motazed Rad has been appointed as an adjudicator for the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) committee, which is tasked with adjudicating the Leigh Douglas Memorial Fund Prize for the best PhD thesis in Middle East Studies for the second consecutive year.
• The editors of Volume 52 of Milliennium- our PhD candidate Albert C. Cano, along with Eva Leth Sørensen and Shreya Bhattacharya - have published the Special Issue "Remapping the Critical: Imagining Anti-Hierarchical Futures in International Studies." They also wrote an insightful introduction to the issue.
• Read the latest blog post by our PhD candidate Emanuele Errichiello, discussing the establishment of a dedicated DG for the Mediterranean at the European Commission and its significance for the Mediterranean region.
• Check out Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu's new publication, "Systemic Corruption and Mismanagement in Azerbaijan's Water Sector: The Human and Economic Toll."
• Dr Jonny Hall wrote a review of the book, The politics of antagonism: populist security narratives and the remaking of political identity by Dr Georg Löfflmann.
• Read our PhD candidate Kazimier Lim's new piece, "The great leap skyward:China’s jetliner dreamsare getting real"
• Dr Katerina Dalacoura had a workshop to discuss her book manuscript. It was sponsored by the Middle East Centre and the IR Department and included participants from Turkey, the United States and the UK. The title of the book, which will be submitted for review to the Middle East Studies series of Cambridge University Press later this month, is titled, An Intellectual History of Turkish Islamic International Thought: History, Civilisation and Nation.
• Dr Dimitrios Stroikos was quoted in The i Paper on space, NATO, and Elon Musk.
• Our PhD candidates Leon Sinfield and Kazimier Lim wrote an article, "The Downing of Flight 8243 Could Jeopardize Russia- Azerbaijan Relations."