Dr Jürgen Haacke

Dr Jürgen Haacke is Associate Professor in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science:

In his research he aims to combine an interest in concepts and theories with detailed empirical analysis.

While most of his research still lies at the intersection of Foreign Policy Analysis and Security Studies, his predominant regional focus has for long been Southeast Asia. For instance, he has been interested in the concept of "hedging" and "hedging" strategies in the context of shifting great power relations, with particular reference to the ASEAN states.

In previous work he focused on regional security culture and regional order (ASEAN's Diplomatic and Security Culture: Origins, Development and Prospects, 2003); as well as cooperative security and securitization (Cooperative Security in the Asia-Pacific: The ASEAN Regional Forum, 2010; co-edited with Noel Morada).

He has also undertaken a considerable amount of research in relation to Burma/Myanmar. His monograph Myanmar’s Foreign Policy: Domestic Influences and International Implications highlighted the link between the military’s perceived political imperative of state-building and foreign policy. Other related research has focused on the wider international politics of Burma/Myanmar, including discussions about the responsibility to protect.

From August 2016 until July 2018, He was the Director of the LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre. He is currently an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) where he is contributing to the Navigating the Indo-Pacific Programme.

Dr Haacke has limited availability to supervise, but is happy to consider PhD applications in relation to:

• IR-topics with reference to the Southeast Asian region;
• Research projects on strategy and defence.

Recent topics supervised include:

• The Interplay Between Grand Strategy and Defence Diplomacy: Examining Indonesia’s Post New Order Period (2021)
• Insurgency as a social process: authority and armed groups in Myanmar’s changing borderlands (2016)
• Saving the states’ face: an ethnography of the ASEAN secretariat and diplomatic field in Jakarta (2015)
• Ethnic politics and Malaysia’s China Policy: from Tun Abdul Razak to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi: a neoclassical realist interpretation (2014)

Expertise

International politics and security of Southeast Asia including great power relations, ASEAN regionalism and regional order, politics and foreign policy of Burma/Myanmar, foreign policy analysis

In recent years he has convened and taught the following four courses:

• IR 305 Strategic Aspects of International Relations (since 2020/21)
• IR 313 Managing China’s Rise in East Asia
• IR 314 Southeast Asia: Intra-regional politics and security
• IR 418 International Politics: Asia-Pacific