The LSE International Studies series comprises a boutique and award-winning collection of books dealing with international transdisciplinary matters, published by Cambridge University Press in association with the London School of Economics. The series is centred on three main themes. First, it is transdisciplinary, prioritising texts that challenge disciplinary conventions and develop arguments that cannot be grasped within a single disciplinary field. The series includes work combining a wide range of fields, including international relations, international law, political theory, history, sociology and ethics. Second, it comprises books that contain an overtly international or transnational dimension—whatever their topic, published books deal with matters that necessarily exceed or transcend national boundaries. Finally, books accepted to the series address pressing contemporary concerns—though their approach to scholarly inquiry may be predominantly either theoretical or empirical.
The series also has websites at the LSE IR Department and at Cambridge University Press.
Books in the Series
Joseph Mackay, The Counterinsurgent Imagination: A New Intellectual History
Counterinsurgency, the violent suppression of armed insurrection, is among the dominant kinds of war in contemporary world politics. Often linked to protecting populations and reconstructing legitimate political orders, it has appeared in other times and places in very different forms – and has taken on a range of politics in doing so. How did it arrive at its present form, and what generated these others, along the way?
Eren Duzgun, Capitalism, Jacobinism and International Relations: Revisiting Turkish Modernity
This book offers a radical reinterpretation of the development of the modern world through the concept of Jacobinism. It argues that the French Revolution was not just another step in the construction of capitalist modernity, but produced an alternative (geo)political economy – that is, 'Jacobinism.' Furthermore, Jacobinism provided a blueprint for other modernization projects, thereby profoundly impacting the content and tempo of global modernity in and beyond Europe.
Ayşe Zarakol, Before the West: The Rise and Fall of Eastern World Orders
How would the history of international relations in 'the East' be written if we did not always read the ending – the Rise of the West and the decline of the East – into the past? What if we did not assume that Asia was just a residual category, a variant of 'not-Europe', but saw it as a space of with its own particular history and sociopolitical dynamics, not defined only by encounters with European colonialism? How would our understanding of sovereignty, as well as our theories about the causes of the decline of Great Powers and international orders, change as a result?
Andrew Phillips, How the East Was Won: Barbarian Conquerors, Universal Conquest and the Making of Modern Asia
How did upstart outsiders forge vast new empires in early modern Asia, laying the foundations for today's modern mega-states of India and China? In How the East Was Won, Andrew Phillips reveals the crucial parallels uniting the Mughal Empire, the Qing Dynasty and the British Raj.
Chris Reus-Smit, On Cultural Diversity: International Theory in a World of Difference
Christian Reus-Smit details how the major theories of international relations have consistently misunderstood the nature and effects of culture, returning time and again to the idea of cultures as coherent, bounded, and constitutive.
Andrew Phillips and Chris Reus-Smit (eds), Culture and Order in World Politics
Through a pioneering interdisciplinary collaboration between leading historians, international lawyers, sociologists and international relations scholars, this book argues that cultural diversity in social life is ubiquitous rather than exceptional.
Winner: 2021 Best Edited Collection of the Year (Theory), International Studies Association
Daniela Lai, Socioeconomic Justice: International Intervention and Transition in Post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina
Daniela Lai provides the first systematic analysis of experiences of socioeconomic violence during war and how they give rise to strong, but unheeded justice claims in the aftermath.
Hendrik Spruyt, The World Imagined: Collective Beliefs and Political Order in the Sinocentric, Islamic and Southeast Asian International Societies
Taking an inter-disciplinary approach, Hendrik Spruyt explains the political organization of three non-European international societies from early modernity to the late nineteenth century: all of which differed in key respects from the modern Westphalian state system.
Winner: 2021 Best Book of the Year (Theory), International Studies Association
Submissions
There is no requirement for authors to hold a formal link to either the CIS or LSE – to the contrary, the series will predominately publish work from scholars who have no connection with the school. If you are interested in submitting a manuscript, please send a proposal to the series editors (details below).
There is no prescribed length for proposals – they should contain as much information as prospective authors would want to see when evaluating a project themselves. All proposals should include the following:
- The proposed title of the book
- An outline of its rationale and scope, including how it relates to the series themes, and how it makes a significant contribution to existing scholarship
- A breakdown of detailed contents, i.e. a table of contents and chapter abstracts
- Details of proposed length and intended completion date. Please also flag up if the manuscript includes illustrations
- A description of the intended readership
- A short biographical note
Initial assessment will take place by the editors. Strong proposals will be sent, along with a full manuscript, to CUP, who will arrange for external review. Final decisions on manuscripts rest with CUP and the series editors.
Editors
Stephen Humphreys (Lead Editor)
George Lawson
Kirsten Ainley
Ayça Çubukçu
Imaobong Umoren