Dr Martin Bayly

Martin J Bayly is an Associate Professor in International Relations Theory in the Department of International Relations at LSE. His research interests span history and theory in International Relations with a particular focus on empire and anti-imperialism in South Asia. His research draws upon primary source archival research and the subfields of historical IR, historical sociology, constructivism, and postcolonial theory. His work has appeared in such journals as International Studies Quarterly, European Journal of International Relations, International Theory, Review of International Studies, and International History Review.

Martin's first book, Taming the Imperial Imagination: Colonial Knowledge, International Relations, and the Anglo-Afghan Encounter, 1808-1878 (CUP, 2016), provides a new history of Anglo-Afghan relations in the nineteenth century showing how the British Empire in India sought to understand and control its peripheries through the use of colonial knowledge. The book won the 2018 International Studies Association Francesco Guicciardini Prize for best book in historical IR.

His current book project, Worlds Amongst Empire: The Global Rise of Indian International Thought, proposes a global, intellectual, and institutional history of modern Indian conceptions of world order.

Martin has taught International Relations at LSE since 2014. Having first joined the Department as a postdoctoral LSE Fellow, he subsequently secured a three-year British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship between 2016-2019, and joined the International Relations faculty permanently in 2019. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2025.

Prior to joining LSE, Martin taught at King’s College London, where he also completed his PhD in International Relations from 2009-2013. During this time he was a Teaching Fellow at the Defence Studies Department, Shrivenham, and Assistant Director of the Centre for Defence Studies. He holds an MPhil in International Relations from St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, and a first class BA in Politics from the University of Newcastle Upon-Tyne.

Expertise

Historical International Relations, Historical Sociology, Constructivism, South Asia, Afghanistan, International Thought in South Asia, Empire and Colonialism, Knowledge and Expertise, Frontiers and Borderlands