Author: LSE IDEAS

LSE IDEAS is a foreign policy think tank at the London School of Economics and Political Science. IDEAS was founded as a think tank for Diplomacy and Strategy in February 2008, succeeding the Cold War Studies Centre founded in 2004. The Chair is Professor Michael Cox and its Directors are Professor Christopher Coker and Professor Christopher Alden. The 2018 and 2017 Global Go To Think Tank Index run by the University of Pennsylvania's Think Tank and Civil Societies Program ranked LSE IDEAS as the number one European university-affiliated think tank, and the number two university-affiliated think tank in the world. IDEAS runs seven research projects, hosts public and private events (43 in 2017-2018), and publishes analyses of international affairs. From 2017 to 2018, it released 75 publications and held 43 fellowships and scholarships. In addition, IDEAS houses the LSE Executive MSc International Strategy and Diplomacy, a program designed to enhance the strategic vision of mid-career professionals.

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A Post-American Shift Complicates Growth Strategies for the Global South

by Lukas Fiala and Chris Alden From the BRICS to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), members of recently expanding international fora are quick to point to a multipolar order as a hopeful imaginary of post-Western internationalism.

UN Celebrates Chinese Peacekeepers in South Sudan Even as Questions Linger Over What Was Achieved

By Felix Brender 王哲謙 When seven hundred members of China’s 11th Peacekeeping Infantry Battalion were awarded the United Nations Peace Medal of Honour in Juba on 23 October 2025, Chinese media celebrated. State broadcaster Xinhua framed the event as proof of ...

U.S.-China Summit Demonstrates Who Matters in International Politics and Why That’s a Problem

By Lukas Fiala Who needs Michael Myers this Halloween when a look at this year’s major headlines should send shivers down the spine of even a seasoned observer of international relations? Amidst all the mayhem, the apparent deal between the U.S. ...

Afghanistan, Pakistan and (the Limitations of) China’s Neighborhood Engagement

By Lukas Fiala and Saniya Kulkarni The recent escalation between Afghanistan and Pakistan has demonstrated once more the potential for instability in China’s neighborhood. With both sides reaching an initial truce on Wednesday after a series of strikes, Beijing is ...

China’s Global Initiatives: More Questions, Fewer Answers

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Analysis from Cobus van Staden

The Pain of Un-Polarity

“THE G2 WILL BE CONVENING SHORTLY!”
This post by U.S. President Donald Trump in the run-up to his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week may end up leaving a more lasting mark than the actual summit he attended.

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Trump’s Attack on Multilateralism Leaves Xi Poised to Fill the Void

By Lukas Fiala U.S. President Donald Trump’s page turner of a speech at the UN General Assembly this week was many things, but certainly no homage to the United Nations. Exhibiting the president’s well-known skepticism of multilateralism and rejection of globalism, ...

Future-Gazing China’s Global Governance Initiative

By Lukas Fiala At China’s SCO summit earlier this month, Xi launched yet another one of his signature foreign policy-oriented projects: the Global Governance Initiative (GGI). Adding an umbrella framing to the existing alphabet soup of GSI, GDI, GCI and ...

Tianjin Summit in Review: The Winner Takes It All (But Not Much)

By Felix Brender 王哲謙 “We should continue to unequivocally oppose hegemonism and power politics, practice true multilateralism,” Xi declared in Tianjin last week. Yet for many of the leaders in the room, multilateralism appears to chiefly mean “more of me” ...

The New Normal in China-India Relations and Multipolarity in Asia

By Saniya Kulkarni Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi concluded a two-day visit to New Delhi after talks with Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This visit is another step towards the normalization of relations between the two ...

Disorder as Strategy at the Gate of Tears

By Felix Brender 王哲謙 In the latest vignette of maritime theater off Yemen’s coast, a Chinese frigate decided to dazzle a German surveillance plane with a military-grade laser, forcing it to turn tail and return to Djibouti. Berlin is ...

The Art of (Watching) War: China’s Fading MENA Moment

By Felix Brender 王哲謙 Amid escalating conflicts across the Middle East since 2023, Beijing has been increasingly silent. Long eager to position itself as benevolent and neutral, China has offered little more than carefully worded statements while the region spirals. It ...

China’s National Security Whitepaper: Old Wine in New and Important Bottles

By Lukas Fiala As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, China’s recently published national security whitepaper rightly deserves our attention at a crucial moment in global politics. Instructive both in terms of timing and implications, the paper cements Beijing’s ...
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