Department of International Relations

Contributor(s): Dr Julia Gray, Dr James Morrison, Dr Stephen Woolcock | Featuring academics from the International Relations Department at the LSE, ‘Aspects of IR: International Political Economy’ is a short film about the study of international political economy, particularly at the LSE. The film looks at what we study, and why, and also at the major themes in IPE, such as the financial crisis, climate change and globalisation of markets. It debates how IPE fits into IR, and the rewards and value of studying IPE.

Contributor(s): Dr Peter Wilson | In this short video aimed at prospective students, Dr Peter Wilson gives an overview of the BSc International Relations programme.

Contributor(s): Peter Wilson | This course is compulsory for the MSc International Relations & MSc International Relations (Research) and for students taking MSc International Relations as part of the LSE-Sciences Po Double Degree in Affaires Internationales. It is not available to students on any other degree programme. This course has 5 objectives: (i) to enquire into the nature of international politics and the role of general theory in advancing our understanding of it; (ii) to introduce the main contributions to the general theory of international politics; (iii) to provide students with a range of concepts, ideas, and perspectives to enable them to widen and deepen their understanding of international politics; (iv) to encourage critical, independent, thought; (v) to ascertain the extent to which progress has been made in our understanding of international politics, and more tentatively to what degree international politics itself can be deemed intrinsically or latently progressive. The primary pedagogical device of the course is a close reading of 13 seminal IR texts. Students are encouraged to investigate the epistemological assumptions underlying these texts, the methods of analysis they employ, their importance in the canon of IR, and their value for thinking about international politics today.

Contributor(s): Dr Katerina Dalacoura | In this short video aimed at prospective students, Dr Katerina Dalacoura gives an overview of the MSc International Relations programme.

Contributor(s): Professor William A Callahan, Professor Iver Neumann, Dr Jens Meierhenrich, Dr Stephen Woolcock, Professor Karen Smith, Dr Toby Dodge | Featuring academics from the International Relations Department at the LSE, ‘International Relations: an introduction’ is a 10-minute film about the study of international relations, particularly at the LSE. The film looks at what we study, and why, and also at major themes and how to approach them, and debates Star Trek and whether there will ever be world peace.

Contributor(s): Dr Federica Bicchi | The course focuses on the foreign policy of the EU and of EU member states towards Arab-Israeli relations (with a special emphasis on Palestinian-Israeli relations), in comparison with the US foreign policy. The main focus will be on the European perspective, but it would be impossible to analyse this subject without taking into account the US position and, to some extent, Transatlantic relations.

Contributor(s): Mr Mark Hoffman | DISCLAIMER: This introductory video was recorded in November 2013. Some details of the research arrangements may change and you should always consult the FAQs for Prospective MPhil/PhD IR applicants for the most detailed and up-to-date information about the LSE IR Research Programme. The FAQs for offer holders and First Year Research Students (MPhil/PhD) may also be of use. In this short video, Deputy Head of Department for Teaching and Learning, Mr Mark Hoffman talks about the following aspects of the MPhil/PhD International Relations programme: Introduction, Application Process, Structure of the MPhil/PhD programme, Support provided, Teaching Opportunities, Funding, Application Deadlines and Careers.

Contributor(s): William Callahan | This course will provide students with an historical overview of the development of Chinese foreign and security policy, the theoretical concepts used for analysing the making of Chinese foreign policy, and an up-to-date survey of China's evolving relations around the world. The first five weeks will be dedicated to providing a long historical perspective, and use a number of case studies to show how basic factors used in foreign policy analysis shape policy outcomes, including economic factors, the role of perception, geopolitical influences, bureaucratic politics, nationalism, and socialisation into the international system. The remainder of the course will involve analysing case studies on China's relations with the United States, Japan and Korea, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Russia and Central Asia, Australasia and the Pacific Islands, the EU, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East.

Contributor(s): Jens Meierhenrich | This seminar course provides an introduction to the study of genocide. The course's disciplinary ambit ranges from anthropology to economics, from history to law, and from political science to sociology. Against the background of diverse disciplinary approaches, it explores major theoretical and empirical aspects of the role(s) of genocidal campaigns in international politics, inter alia, their origins, development, and termination; the manner of their perpetration, progression, and diffusion; their impact on the maintenance of international peace and security; their consequences for the reconstruction and development of states and the building of nations; and their adjudication in domestic and international courts and tribunals. Empirical cases to be discussed include Australia, Cambodia, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor, Nazi Germany, Guatemala, Iraq, Northern Ireland, the Ottoman Empire, Rwanda, Uganda, the Soviet Union, Sudan, and the former Yugoslavia, among others. The course is designed to equip students with the analytic tools necessary for making sense of the evolution of the international system from the nineteenth century to the present-and for critically assessing the promise and limits of responding to collective violence.

Contributor(s): Karen Smith | This course covers the development of the external activities of the European Communities since 1957, including the development of European Political Cooperation and the Common Foreign and Security Policy. The relationship between the member states and these external activities, in particular the impact of the evolution of EU institutions and policies on national foreign policies.

Contributor(s): Christopher Hughes | This course covers the international political experience of major powers and post-colonial states in a region beset by recurrent conflict and external intervention during the Cold War and subject to a novel multilateralism in its wake. The inter-linkages between the global, regional and local; the interests and role of the US; foreign and security policies of the major regional powers in relation to East Asia-Pacific; the impact of the legacy of colonialism and external intervention; the sources of bilateral and intra-regional conflict; the problem of regional order with reference to East and South-East Asia; the emergence and development of regional institutions.

Contributor(s): Fawaz Gerges | The course is intended to provide an analysis of the regional politics of the Middle East since 1918, and of their interaction with problems of international security, global resources and great power/super power/hyperpower politics. The emergence of the states system in the Middle East during the inter-war period. The interplay of domestic politics, regional conflicts and international rivalries. The Cold War and post-Cold War significance of the Middle East in global politics. The importance of oil and other economic factors and interests. Conflict in the Gulf and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The foreign policies of major Middle Eastern states and the Lebanese civil war. The role of ideologies and social movements: Arab nationalism, militarism, political Islam and global jihadism. State and non-state actors. Democracy and human rights issues. International relations theory and its significance for the study of Middle East politics.

Contributor(s): Ulrich Sedelmeier | The course places the development of EU policy-making in its international context. It examines the impact of the external factors on the evolution of common policies and the external impact of common policies. The USA and West European regional integration; the single market and social policies; finance and Economic and Monetary Union; trade policy; the pursuit of a common foreign policy, with a security and defence dimension; environmental policy; police cooperation and counter-terrorism, immigration and asylum policy; enlargement as a policy and a process.

Contributor(s): Karen Smith | This course examines EU enlargement from the point of view of International Relations. The principal aim is to understand the interplay between enlargement, EU foreign policy and wider geopolitics. With this in mind enlargement is considered both as an act of European foreign policy and as a phenomenon impacting on the foreign policies of other states and actors.

Contributor(s): John Sidel | Please note: the title of this course is now 'Islam in World Politics'. The course focuses on the role of Islam in world politics, posing two inter-related questions: First, how can we explain the varying nature and strength of Islam as a discursive and mobilisational force in international relations? Second, how should we understand the impact of changes in international relations on the institutions, authority structures, and identities associated with Islam?

Contributor(s): Tomila Lankina | The course covers the various factors shaping Soviet, post-communist Russian and Eurasian foreign and security policy. It explores both the traditional foreign policy and security issues, such as the arms race and Détente, the role of the military, economic power projection, etc., as well as new soft power and security factors shaping policy, such as transnational civil society, sub-national regionalization, transnational ethnic and cultural networks, migration, the role of ideas, norms and norm entrepreneurs, etc. Key topics covered are Cold War, East-West relations and Détente; relations with Eastern Europe; relations with the Third World; Gorbachev’s foreign policy and the end of the Cold War; post-Cold War Russian foreign and security policy; Russia and the ‘near abroad’; ethnic separatism and regional conflict; Russian national and sub-national engagement with the West; Russia’s relations with China and the other ‘rising powers’; other security challenges (demographic problems, social protest, regional developmental disparities, etc.); regionalism and multilateralism in Eurasia; domestic and external influences on foreign policy and security in Ukraine, Belarus and the states of the Caucasus and Central Asia; Caspian energy and foreign policies; the challenge of Afghanistan for the region; regional responses to the Middle Eastern uprisings.

Contributor(s): Dr George Lawson | In this short video aimed at prospective students MSc International Relations Theory Programme Director, Dr George Lawson, answers the following questions: What is theory of international relations? How does the IRT programme differ from others in the department and the School? What specific subjects are covered in the core course and options? What kinds of backgrounds do students on the course have? What kind of jobs do they get?

Contributor(s): Dr Stephen Woolcock | This course enables students to gain an in-depth understanding of the nature of economic diplomacy. The course focuses on decision making and negotiating processes in international economic relations and includes, as an integral part of the course, an opportunity for a dialogue with a range of senior policy practitioners and simulation of negotiations.

Contributor(s): Dr Toby Dodge | This course covers the ways in which international actors formulate decisions and strategies for dealing with other members of the international community. Critical examination of theoretical perspectives on foreign policy, involving the analysis of the foreign policy behaviour of a broad range of states through selective use of case studies.

Contributor(s): Mr Mark Hoffman | Editor's note: IR422 Conflict and Peace Studies, has been replaced by IR449 (Half Unit) Conflict and Peacebuilding. This course is intended for those interested in theoretical and practical approaches to the question of peace, the problems of conflict and violence, and responses to them particularly in the form of liberal peacebuilding and statebuilding. The course is divided into three unequal but interconnected parts. The first part examines ideas and debates about the causes, contexts, dynamics and characterisations of conflict. The second explores and problematises the nature and meanings of peace and peacebuilding. This leads into the third section which is concerned with a critical engagement with the range of international responses to conflict associated with the discourses and practices of liberal peacebuilding and statebuilding. The seminars explore the nexus between theory and practice. Although the course and its readings are mainly theoretical and conceptual rather than empirical, students are encouraged to apply the ideas to actual cases, past and present.