The Phelan United States Centre at LSE is a hub for global expertise, analysis and commentary on America. Its mission is to promote policy-relevant and internationally-oriented scholarship to meet the demand for rigorous, clear-eyed, and independent analysis of the United States.
Pioneering an approach to understanding contemporary America that is diverse, multidisciplinary and internationalised, the Phelan US Centre draws on dozens of LSE faculty who write, teach and comment about the United States across virtually every department. Our work covers pressing issues ranging from global health and climate change, to race and inequality, to peace and security that inform and impact policymaking in the US and its role in the world.
Premised on the idea that American political life cannot be studied in isolation from the rest of the world, the Phelan US Centre encourages international perspectives on American policy, paying attention to how other advanced, industrialised democracies are responding to the same challenges and how their responses might shape the context and possibilities for US action.
The LSE’s academic and historical connections to the United States are legend. From the Rockefeller Foundation’s generous philanthropic gifts to the School in the 1920s and 1930s, to the “who’s who” of American opinion-makers who studied at the School during the long Cold War, to the hundreds of US students who now attend the LSE every year, the School’s ties have only expanded and become more vital over time. Today, more than 18,000 LSE alumni reside in the United States, nearly two-thirds of them having graduated since 1990.
The Phelan US Centre does not run degree programmes. Students interested in studying at LSE should explore the various teaching departments.
“US Capitol Building” by Upendra Kanda is licensed under CC BY 2.0