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.
Understanding Chinese Influence
By Lukas Fiala Xi Jinping’s current trip to Saudi Arabia has been accompanied by the usual framing of great power competition between the U.S. and China. The story in many of this week’s newspapers is one in which China increasingly ...
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor 2.0 — A New Risk Management Strategy
By Saniya Kulkarni With all eyes on Beijing’s response to the ongoing protests in China, it appears Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is making headway in mitigating growing unrest in the southwestern province of Balochistan. The resource-rich region is home to ...
A Glimmer of Hope in the Middle of a Dark Tunnel
By Lukas Fiala As someone working on international affairs in today’s world, it’s rare to end the week on an optimistic note. Yet, sometimes even the darkest of times offer a glimpse of hope. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s return to in-person ...
China, Russia, and Myanmar: Symptomatic of a Weakening ASEAN?
By Saniya Kulkarni According to reports the annual ASEAN summit, which takes place today in Phnom Penh, is prioritizing the issue of rising violence in member state Myanmar following the 2021 coup which resulted in a military junta displacing the elected government ...
Can Beijing Sell its Global Security Initiative?
By Lukas Fiala On Wednesday, Xi Jinping promised Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif ‘to advance the operationalization of the…Global Security Initiative.’ Announced by Xi only in April this year, the GSI is adding to an alphabet ...
3…2…1: Party Congress
By Lukas Fiala ‘China will not close its door to the world; we will only become more and more open.’ With the benefits of hindsight, Xi Jinping’s remarks at the 19th Party Congress of the Communist Party of China (CCP) ...
Locating the Global South in China’s Party Congress
By Lukas Fiala and Hugo Jones We’re fairly accustomed to observing how the issue of China feeds into elections across global south countries. China is a political football, often framed as a problem that needs to be dealt with and low-hanging ...
Xi, Putin and Modi in Central Asia
By Lukas Fiala With all eyes on Xi Jinping’s first foreign trip since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a flurry of commentators have been dissecting the significance of Xi’s meeting with Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation ...
Moving Beyond Blocs and Embracing Global Modes of Knowledge
By Lukas Fiala and Hugo Jones Over the past week, we’ve been reading the MERICS paper “Beyond Blocs: Global views on China and US-China relations”. Its authors write on the context-specific relations that Bangladesh, Chile, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, ...
How Will the Debt Crisis Affect China’s Image as a Development Partner?
By Lukas Fiala As the debt crisis across the Global South accelerates, many commentators are weighing in on the drivers and implications of repayment difficulties and defaults. Unsurprisingly, as a major bilateral creditor to many governments across the developing world, China is ...