News

Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education

Congratulations to Agisilaos Papageorgiou and Richard Saich, who have successfully completed the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education programme. Their award was confirmed at Board of Examiners meeting on 11 December 2024. This award also qualifies them for Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.  

Professor Kristina Spohr gives keynote at the Council of Europe - Observatory on History Teaching in Europe (OHTE)

On 6 December, Professor Spohr delivered keynote address "History at all Costs?" at the Council of Europe -OHTE Annual Conference. 

Kristina’s engaging and relevant talk dismantled the tactics of “memory makers” and their ways of using history to justify authoritarian or bellicose policies.

The recording of her talk is available HERE

Professor Kirsten Schulze Releases New Book

"Contesting Indonesia: Islamist, Separatist, and Communal Violence since 1945" explains Islamist, separatist and communal violence across Indonesian history since 1945. 

In a sweeping argument that connects endemic violence to a national narrative, Kirsten E. Schulze finds that the outbreak of violence is related to competing local notions of the national imaginary as well as contentious belonging.

Find out more HERE

Joya Chatterji Wins The Wolfson Prize

Joya Chatterji (who served at the Department of International History from 2000-2007) has received the prestigious Wolfson Prize for her genre-defying history of South Asia: “Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century”.

The winner of the most prestigious history writing prize in the UK was announced at a ceremony in central London. Chatterji was awarded £50,000 and celebrated alongside the other five shortlisted authors.

“Shadows at Noon”, previously longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction 2024 and shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize 2024, pushes back against standard narratives of the subcontinent that emphasise the differences between India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and instead seeks to highlight what unites these three nations and their peoples.

Read more about Joya's work HERE

Dr Ron Po Awarded TWO Visiting Fellowships

Many congratulations to Dr Po for being awarded two visiting fellowships!

The first is from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), supporting his role as a visiting professor at Tohoku University in Sendai from mid-December to mid-January next year.

The second fellowship is offered by the newly established Ying-shih Yü International Center for History and the Chinese Humanities (YCHCH) at National Taiwan University, which will host Dr. Po in April next year.

These fellowships will enable Dr. Po to consolidate his current book projects. They also signify a meaningful collaboration between our Department and these esteemed academic institutions.

Excellence in Education Awards 2024

We recently celebrated the Excellence in Education Awards 2024, honouring staff whose outstanding contributions and leadership have elevated the learning experience at LSE. 

This year's winners from the Department of International History were Nayna Bhatti, Demetra Frini, Elizabeth Ingleson, Alexander Mayhew, Max Smith and Qingfei Yin - well done guys!

LSE's Excellence in Education Awards are made on the recommendations of Heads of Department and Divisions to recognise staff who have demonstrated outstanding teaching contribution and educational leadership in their departments. Thank you to everyone who attended the 2024 ceremony and made this a great event.s

"From the Taliban to Andrew Tate there is a proliferation of global misogyny"

One of our Masters students, Eve Register, as co-written a piece with Dr Sajjan Gohel. The article looks at the present day implications of the conflict in Afghanistan.

Read the article HERE.

Dr Anna Cant speaks at the Catholicism and the Cold War in Latin America International conference.

Anna will present new research on the International Catholic Association for Radio and Television and its efforts to raise consciousness of injustice and inequality throughout Latin America, amid the cultural politics of the global Cold War.

Dr Ron Po's Book Released in Chinese Edition

Many congratulations to Dr. Ron Po on the publication of the Chinese edition of his book, The Blue Frontier: Maritime Vision and Power in the Qing Empire, with National Taiwan University Press! This revised edition includes additional content not found in the English version.

You can order a copy HERE

Our PhD student, Omar Nasr, has published a new essay, "Hadhrami Arabs in Britain's policy towards Muslims in Malaya before the Japanese occupation, 1939-41"

While Axis policies towards Muslims have been meticulously studied over the past few decades, the Islam-related policies of the Allies remain an underexplored field. 

Omar's doctoral project, “The British Empire and Islam during the Second World War,” elucidates how Britain, which regarded itself as ‘the Greatest Mohammedan Power’ ruling over half of the world’s Muslim population on the eve of the war, endeavoured to maintain Muslim support to save the Empire.

In this essay, Omar asserts the crucial role that Muslims played in the eventual Allied victory. His essay focuses particularly on the role Britain assigned specifically to Hadhrami Arabs in the Malay Peninsula within their broader imperial strategy towards Muslims in the war and their efforts to secure them as allies against the Axis powers.

Read the essay HERE

Dr Roham Alvandi Speaks on the BBC's Conflict Podcast

Dr Alvandi has appeared on the podcast to revisit the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the complexities of Iran's relationship with Israel.

The podcast episode is available here.

Dr Ron Po Publishes New Book!

Shaping the Blue Dragon: Maritime China in the Ming and Qing Dynasties is now available!

Dr. Po explores China’s relationship with the maritime world from the fourteenth through the early nineteenth centuries, following the stories of ordinary and extraordinary people engaging with the blue domain.

Grab a copy at major bookstores like Waterstones and Foyles, or order online via Amazon and Liverpool University Press. 

Dr Roham Alvandi Speaks on BBC Persian

Roham did an interview on 23 October with BBC Persian on the occasion of Prince Reza Pahlavi being awarded the Richard Nixon Foundation’s Architect of Peace Award.

He discussed the special relationship between President Nixon and the Shah of Iran in the context of the Vietnam War and the British withdrawal from the Persian Gulf. 

Watch the interview here

"Culture, Thought and Belief in British Political Life since 1800: Essays in Honour of Jonathan Parry"

This edited collection was put together by two academics to honour Prof Jon Parry their former lecturer, on the occasion of his retirement from the Faculty of History, Cambridge University.

Parry rose to become the world's leading expert on nineteenth century British political history in both a domestic and global context. Joanna, a former colleague of Jon's, was delighted to contribute a chapter entitled 'The curious of case of Wales's statue to Henry Morton Stanley.'

Here, Prof Joanna Lewis unravels a story of how a unique set of local circumstances explains how a town in North Wales ended up with a statue to this controversial Victorian explorer (in 2010!) and why this is not a reflection of Welsh support for empire.

Look up this book here

Dr David Motadel publishes new piece in the Cambridge Historical Journal

Dr Motadel, together with Christof Dejung, has published a new piece in the Historical Journal's Special Issue "Global Social History.

The piece in entitled "Global Social History: Rethinking Class and Social Transformation in the Modern World".

Read it here!

"Poso’s Second Jihad: The Local, the National, the Global", Professor Kirsten Schulze Publishes New Article

Prof. Kirsten E. Schulze has just published a co-authored article with Julie Chernov Hwang on ‘Poso’s Second Jihad: The Local, the National, the Global’ in Asian Security.

Read it HERE

Omar Nasr Publishes New Article

Omar Nasr (one of our PhD students) has contributed a chapter on "Colonialism and the Qur'ān" to the recently published edited volume ‘The European Qurʾān: Encounters with the Holy Text of Islam from the Ninth to the Twentieth Century,’ edited by Jan Loop, Naima Afif, and Weltmuseum Wien and published by De Gruyter.

Colonial powers often instrumentalized the Qur'an to assert control over Muslim populations, but their approaches and success varied. This article challenges simplistic views on the relationship between the Qur'an and European colonialism, offering a more nuanced understanding of how British, French, Austro-Hungarian, and German colonial traditions engaged with the sacred text of Islam.

Read the article HERE

Dr David Motadel Published New Book

On 2 October, Dr David Motadel published his new book "Global Monarchy: Royal Encounters in the Imperial Age". His work is based on the prestigious Ernst Kantorowicz Lecture which David gave in 2023.

The book examines how non-European monarchs used state visits to imperialist Europe in the 19th century to preserve their country's independence. It shows how the monarchs represented their country during state visits to the courts of Europe, to what extent rituals such as the exchange of gifts, the awarding of medals and participation in military parades supported the dynastic legitimacy of the non-European monarchs as well as the sovereignty of their country, and finally the extent to which state visits by non-European monarchs offered a way to integrate their country into an order of non-European powers dominated by the European powers. international relations.

Dr Motadel's book will be published in English next year, but for now you can view the German version here: Globale Monarchie - David Motadel | Wallstein Verlag (wallstein-verlag.de)

Dr Ron Po on The Chinese History Podcast

Dr Po was interviewed on The Chinese History Podcast, where he shared his views on the changing concept of maritime China in the long eighteenth century. The podcast is an educational platform designed for students, teachers, and anyone interested in Chinese history worldwide. Here is the link to the interview: 

https://www.chinesehistorypodcast.com/e/professor-ronald-po-on-qing-chinas-blue-frontier/

Please check it out if you're interested in joining Dr Po for a closer look at China and the sea!

"Muslims in Interwar Vienna: the Making and Failing of a Community" - Omar Nasr's (PhD student) new article

Muslims have been an integral part of European history and culture for a long time. This article explores how Muslims in interwar Austria attempted to establish a faith community and build a mosque in Vienna, and why they eventually failed.

The open-access article  titled "Muslims in interwar Vienna: the making and failing of a community" was published in Contemporary European History on 19 September 2024. It be accessed HERE.

Conference "Socialist Ideas of Europe in the World, 1871 - 1968": Recordings and Blog Write up

A few months ago, we hosted a thought-provoking conference organized by our own Edoardo Vaccari, titled "Socialist Ideas of Europe in the World, 1871-1968."

The event explored the history of socialist thought and its relevance to today’s international left. Scholars, students, and activists came together to discuss key socialist figures and traditions, sparking debates on the challenges facing socialism in a global context.

A write-up is now available on the Journal of the History of Ideas blog, and for those interested:
https://www.jhiblog.org/2024/09/12/what-direction-for-the-history-of-socialist-ideas-reflections-from-the-socialist-ideas-of-europe-in-the-world-conference-at-lse/

You can also watch/listen to the recordings of the conference here: https://www.lse.ac.uk/International-History/Podcasts

Professors Antony Best and Kirsten Schulze finish work on new edition of highly successful history text

We are pleased to announce the publication of the Fourth Edition of the highly successful  International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond written by the Department’s Professors Antony Best and Kirsten Schulze together with Professors Jussi Hanhimaki (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva) and Joe Maiolo (KCL).

Dr Ron Po speaks at the Chinese University of Hong Kong

As the CCK-APC Visiting Scholar at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Dr Po delivered two public lectures on cartographers and sea charts in late Imperial China. These lectures took place on 9 September at CUHK and 11 September at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Professor Hakim Adi wins the ASAUK Outstanding African Studies Award

We are delighted to announce that our Visiting Research Professor, Professor Hakim Adi, has been awarded the ASAUK (African Studies Association of the UK) Outstanding African Studies Award.

He has been recognised for advancing the understanding of African diasporic history, where his rigorous research, interdisciplinary analysis, and commitment to amplifying marginalised voices within historical narratives has helped to empower contemporary African communities. 

Read more about the award here

One of our alumni has just published a book!

Elizabeth De Santo earned an MSc in History of International Relations in 2002, and is now an Associate Professor and Chair of the Environmental Studies Program at Franklin & Marshall College, based in the Department of Earth and Environment.

Her new book "Securitizing Marine Protected Areas: Geopolitics, Environmental Justice, and Science" looks at Marine Protected Areas within a security context, bridging science, policy, and geopolitics, addressing the often-under-emphasized aspect of environmental justice.

Well done Elizabeth, and so great to hear from you all these years later!

"Diversifying Modern Austrian History: Exploring Parallels and Intersections between Jewish and Muslim Histories in Austria" - Read Omar Nasr's new article!

Our PhD student, Omar Nasr, has published a new article, which appears in the latest issue of PaRDeS: Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies in Germany. 

In this exploratory article, co-authored with Dr. Tim Corbett, they delve into the often overlooked similarities and entanglements between Jewish and Muslim histories in Austria and Central Europe. Their findings challenge the prevailing narratives that frequently seek to pit these communities against each other, especially in today's populist discourse.

Read the article here

Read Dr Ron Po's New Article!

Dr. Po has published an open-access article titled “The Dunn Map: An American and a Long-Forgotten Curio from Nineteenth-Century China,” in Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Asian Interactions. More than just a long-overlooked illustrative account that offers a glimpse into the seascape of Fuzhou, China, the map, as Dr. Po contends, is a crucial piece of evidence that reveals much about the times and contexts in which it was created and interpreted.

Read the article here

Re-visiting the ethical dimension of Cold War American interventionism

Dr. Agis Papageorgiou has published his first research article at St. Antony's International Review (STAIR) in which he explores the ethics of Cold War American interventionism through a consequentialist perspective. Dr. Agis' article challenges the conventional wisdom on the ethics of American interventionism, and explores how several - otherwise horrendous - US interventions across the globe may have been justified in the minds of American foreign policymakers because of the underlying dynamic of the Cold War: the existential showdown between American Exceptionalism and Leninist Socialism.

You can read the article here.

Prof Marc Baer discusses his book, on TVR, Romanian National Television with Cătălin Ștefănescu, 12 May 2024

Marc's book has recently been translated into Romanian and has since attracted a lot of attention in the country! He will be speaking again in Romania in September.

Watch the newsclip here

Dr Ron Po on BBC Radio 4

Dr Po was invited to attend the show In Our Time on BBC Radio 4 to discuss the Empress Dowager Cixi and the late Qing empire with Melvyn Bragg (the host), Rana Mitter (Harvard), and Yangwen Zheng (University of Manchester).

The podcast is now available online

“Taiwan Studies in Transition: Sources, Theories, and Approaches.”

On May 2, 2024, Dr. Ron Po, in collaboration with the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) and Leiden University, organized an international workshop in Taiwan studies titled “Taiwan Studies in Transition: Sources, Theories, and Approaches.” The lineup of speakers, coming from Taipei, Beijing, Portsmouth, Prague, Boston, London, Leiden, and Amsterdam, examined Taiwan from various perspectives — literature, frontier studies, environmental science, religion, and historical anthropology — providing unique insights into Taiwan’s rich and complex identity. Nearly 70 attendees participated in the event, highlighting the vibrant and interdisciplinary nature of this field.

More information about this event can be found on this website

Professor Steven Casey has just published the cover article in this month's issue of History Today.

Marking the 80^th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy, "D-Day Has Come" offers a small preview of Professor Casey's new book, The Skeptic Isle: How the British Government Sold the Second World War. This book will be published by Oxford University Press in the spring of 2025.

Find out more here

Professor Kristina Spohr’s new article out on Wilson Center’s website

It looks at Russia’s recent efforts to alter maritime borders in the Baltic sea. She highlights the potential implications for neighbouring states, and how the Kremlin might use this to sow uncertainty in the Euro-Atlantic community.

Read the full article here.

Jake Subryan Richards works as co-curator in the exhibition team behind Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance 

The exhibition was displayed at the University of Cambridge Museums and has been recognized by the Association for Art History, with the award of the 2024 Curatorial Prize for Exhibitions.

The exhibition team also received a Highly Commended award from Museums + Heritage Awards 2024 for best Temporary or Touring Exhibition of the Year – Budget over £80k.

Professor Steve Casey's Faculti interview has just been published

In this interview, Professor Casey talks about his most recent book, The War Beat, Pacific: The American Media at War against Japan, which was a Finalist for both the Tankard Book Prize and the Frank Luther Mott Award.

Watch the interview here

LSE Ranks no. 4 in the World for History!

The QS World University Rankings for 2024 have been released.

The QS rankings are some of the most authoritative of their kind, and we are so proud to see LSE rank in the top 5 for History.

"Making Sense of the Great War"

Alex Mayhew's book, Making Sense of the Great War, was published by Cambridge University Press. His monograph explores the morale, identities, perceptions, and sensemaking of infantrymen and reveals how they coped with and responded to crisis.

Find out more here

Dr. Po awarded the Research and Impact Support Fund

We are delighted to share that Dr. Po has been awarded the Research and Impact Support Fund (RISF) of £20,000, offered by our school, to support his new project concerning the cultural history of shark fins in China. 

Set up in 2020, the RISF is dedicated to supporting world-class research at LSE by academic faculty and researchers. Congratulations, Dr. Po!

Learn about the RISF

New perspectives on land, territory and agrarian reforms

Dr Anna Cant will be discussing her research on the 1969 Peruvian Agrarian Reform as part of the event 'New perspectives on land, territory and agrarian reforms in Bolivia, Peru and Mexico' at New York University on 22nd April.

Open to all. 

Pre-registration is required

An International Fisheries Exhibition in Milan: The Qing Empire and the World

Dr. Po was invited to give a keynote speech at the Annual Workshop organised by the CISEPS at the University of Milano-Bicocca on 12  April 2024.

His talk is titled "An International Fisheries Exhibition in Milan: The Qing Empire and the World," which will delve into the interactions between the Qing Empire and global powers through the perspective of fisheries.

It aims to shed light on the role of these exhibitions in promoting international dialogue and cooperation during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Learn about the CISEPS

Korea: The First Forever War

Professor Steven Casey was one of twelve international experts invited to speak at a symposium at TCU, Fort Worth, Texas, on 23 March,titled "Korea: The First Forever War". 

The event was filmed by C-SPAN and will be shown in America in late April.

Full details about the event

Perfidious Albion – Britain and the Spanish Civil War

Professor Paul Preston's latest book is essential reading for anyone interested in finding out more about the background to British attitudes to the Spanish Civil War. The book's title reflects the first three chapters that deal with the hypocrisy and prejudice of British foreign policy towards the Spanish Republic, greatly influenced by the right-wing diplomats Norman King and Sir Henry Chilton. The final two chapters assess the influence on British perceptions of the Spanish Civil War of four prominent 'writer-historians': George Orwell, Herbert Southworth, Burnett Bolloten and Gerald Brenan.post-empire.

Get your copy of the book

English Patriotism and the Implicit Nation: Homelands and Soldiers’ National Identity during the Great War

Alex Mayhew's newest article has been published by the English Historical Review. Focussing on the First World War, it explores English soldiers' patriotism and national identity through their relationship with their homelands and the 'implicit nation.

Read this open access article 

Lifescapes: A Biographer's Search for the Soul

Dr Victoria Phillips will interview the highly acclaimed biographer, poet and obituary writer for the Economist, Ann Wroe, who will be speaking about her recent book 'Lifescapes: A Biographer's Search for the Soul' (Penguin). Monday 26 February 2024 at 6:00 pm Open to the Public

Register to attend 

To Run the World: the Kremlin’s Foreign Policy from the Cold War to the post-Cold War

The Cold War Studies Project is delighted to announce that LSE alumni, Professor Sergei Radchenko will be delivering a seminar at the Research Forum on the 7th March.

The seminar is titled “To Run the World: the Kremlin’s Foreign Policy from the Cold War to the post-Cold War" and will be chaired by Prof Vladislav Zubok.

Full details about the seminar

Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance

We are excited to share that a smaller version of the Black Atlantic exhibition that our very own Jake Richards co-curated will move to the United Nations Headquarters in New York for the period 23 February – 28 March.

For all those in Columbia interested in visiting the exhibition this is your invitation!

Visit the website  

Trip to the National Army Museum

This year we are running a series of optional archive visits for our undergraduate module ‘Historical Approaches to the Modern World.’

Last week, Alex Mayhew led the first of these to the National Army Museum where Justin Saddington allowed the students to look at some of the treasures held by the museum.

Rewarding mobility? Towards a realistic European policy agenda for academics at risk

Dr Dina Gusejnova and Dr Artemis Photiadou have completed a seed project for CIVICA, which is part of a broader Horizon2020 project on "Protecting Academics at Risk" with colleagues from CEU (Vienna) and SNSPA (Bucharest), which will now reive continued support from a Gerda Henkel grant with a new partner from Uni Erfurt. 

The first publication is out, titled: "Rewarding mobility? Towards a realistic European policy agenda for academics at risk". It calls for a robust EU, UK and broader European response to an issue that is currently inadequately addressed by national governments, professional associations and NGOs.

Read the article 

Qing China and Its Offshore Islands in the Long Eighteenth Century

Dr. Po's first article of 2024 and the final piece in the Year of the Rabbit, “Qing China and Its Offshore Islands in the Long Eighteenth Century” is now available online with The Historical Journal!

If you're interested in the connections between frontier management, island governance, and the formation of the Qing as an early modern empire, please dive in through the link below! It is free and open access to all

Read the article

Congradulations Ségolène Le Stradic! 

A graduate of our LSE-Columbia Double Degree MSc in International and World History programme, Ségolène Le Stradic, has won a joint-first prize of the 2023 LSE Middle East Centre MA Dissertation prize. 

Ségolène's award winning dissertation is a study of radio broadcasting in the Levant between 1939-1941. Through careful analysis of a range of archival sources, Le Stradic advances historiography on radio broadcasting as propaganda and its relationship to colonial practices in the Levant. 

Ségolène has worked in multiple news and research organisations in France and Lebanon and is now interning at a French newspaper, hoping to pursue a career in journalism. 

Read more via the following page

"It is clear that we need Europe to step up [support to Ukraine] and we need the US to stay in the game".

Our very own Professor Kristina Spohr, currently a Fellow at The Wilson Centre in Washington DC, was in conversation with Finland’s Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering: Anders Adlercreutz. They discussed Finland’s foreign policy priorities and challenges entering 2024. 

View the video recording of the discussion

Indonesian Jihadi Training Camps: Home and Away

Dr. Kirsten E Schulze has published an article on ‘Indonesian Jihadi Training Camps: Home and Away’ (co-authored with Julie Chernov Hwang) in the Studies in Conflict and Terrorism journal. 

This article looks at Indonesian training in foreign camps in Afghanistan, the Philippines, and Syria as well as domestic training camps and opportunities in Ambon, Poso, Aceh, and Java. It examines the roles that these camps played not only in building military capacity but also with respect to ensuring organizational continuity, building networks, and fulfilling the obligation of jihad.

Read the article

Our former PhD student has published her first book with the University of California Press

Congratulations to our former PhD student, Dr Eline van Ommen who has published her first book this year!

The book is based on her doctoral dissertation, which was supervised by Tanya Harmer and Piers Ludlow

Read Eline's book

Academia and Democracy

Academic freedom of research and teaching is key to a democracy. Much of the knowledge we need to form a political opinion is the result of academic work. 

Join Dr Dina Gusejnova on Wednesday, 24 January as she speaks as part of a panel discussing Academia and Democracy at the Staatsbibliothek Berlin. 

Register now

Our former PhD student has published his first book with Palgrave

Dr Hamish McDougall who won the 2022 British International History Group Michael Dockrill prize for his PhD, has now published his book based mainly on his PhD. 

This is an important personal milestone, but it’s also a reminder to current and prospective PhD students of what can be achieved with our PhD programme!

Read Hamish's book

Assistant Professor in Modern South Asian History position

The Department of International History at the LSE invites applications for an Assistant Professor in Modern South Asian History.

We are especially interested in candidates who study South Asia with respect to international, transnational and global developments in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and who have a capacity to undertake research in at least one South Asian language. Applications are welcome on themes that include conflict, empires, political movements, the environment, gender and caste.

Position closed

Congradulations Hong Kai Koh! 

A graduate of our MSc International and Asian History programme, Hong Kai Koh, has won the 2023 LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre Postgraduate Dissertation Prize. 

His award-winning dissertation was supervised by Dr Qingfei Yin. 

Read more via the following page