Former Fellow

Lucian Ashworth

Full Professor and Head of Department, Department of Political Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN)

Research project title:
Missing voices in the history of international thought. A critical re-evaluation of global thinking since 1880

Abstract
International thought of the last century and a half is not exhausted by what is remembered by the academic field of International Relations (IR). Indeed, IR itself even tends to forget large parts of its own past theorizing.
This project looks at how several of these lost narratives have been recovered in IR, with particular emphasis on lost approaches dealing with political economy, political geography, feminism, race and imperialism. This includes approaches outside of the English speaking world. I am particularly interested in how the recovery of past approaches affects our interpretations of both the origins and the nature of IR and international thought.

Events:
6July 2018
Workshop “The Hundred Years’ Crisis: Global Order in Historical Perspective”

  • Biografische Angaben

    Lucian M. Ashworth is a professor in political science at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's Canada. He is an International Relations (IR) scholar, and his main area of interest is the history of international thought. He has published widely on the topics of international thought and the disciplinary history of IR. His latest book is A History of International Thought (Routledge, 2014), and he is currently working on a new book for Routledge provisionally titled International Relations in the Stream of Time, which will be published in 2019.
  • Publikationen

    Lucian M. Ashworth, A History of International Thought. From the Origins of the Modern State to Academic International Relations (London: Routledge, 2014). International Relations Theory and the Labour Party: Intellectuals and Policy Making 1918-1945 (London: IBTauris, 2007). Creating International Studies. Angell, Mitrany and the Liberal Tradition (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999). (Edited with David Long) New Perspectives on International Functionalism (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999). Lucian M. Ashworth, Mapping a New World: Geography and the Interwar Study of International Relations. International Studies Quarterly, March 2013, 57(1), 138–149. Lucian M. Ashworth, “The Poverty of Paradigms: Subcultures, Trading Zones and the Case of Liberal Socialism in Interwar International Relations”, International Relations, March 2012, vol. 26 no. 1, 35-59. “Realism and the Spirit of 1919: Halford Mackinder, Geopolitics, and the Reality of the League of Nations”, European Journal of International Relations, June 2011, 17(2), 279-301.

News from the research center

Event
20.03.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

40 Jahre Schengen-Raum

Colloquium

Der 1984 geschlossene Schengen-Vertrag schuf einen heute 29 Staaten umfassenden Raum ohne Binnengrenzen, doch Migration über die Außengrenzen führte zuletzt zur Wiedereinführung von Kontrollen, auch durch die Bundesregierung ab 8. Mai 2025. Das Walter Hallstein-Kolloquium diskutiert die rechtliche Zulässigkeit, wirtschaftliche Folgen insbesondere für Arbeitsmigration und Arbeitsmarkt sowie die Zukunft des Schengen-Raums.

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News
12.02.2026

Satanist politics and the decline of reason in liberal democracies

For the last time in the winter semester 2025/26, the Research Center hosted the lecture series "Am Scheidepunkt. On the crisis of democracy". At the end, philosopher Michael Rosen from Harvard University presented his concept of "satanic politics" as a variant of the political interpretation of the world.

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News
09.02.2026

On the topicality of the concept of violence based on Camus and Derrida

Prof. Dr. Christine Abbt from the University of St. Gallen gave a lecture on democracies and the concept of violence as part of the lecture series "At the crossroads? On the crisis of democracy", she gave a lecture on democracies and the concept of violence. Under the title "Defending democracies. On the topicality of the concept of violence in Camus and Derrida", the philosopher discussed forms of violence and revolt and categorized them with regard to a democratic setting.

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Publication
04.02.2026 | Journal article

New Perspectives on Trust in International Conflicts

Wille, Tobias; Simon, Hendrik; Daase, Christopher; Deitelhoff, Nicole; Wheeler, Nicholas J.; Holmes, Marcus; Rathbun, Brian C.; Acharya, Amitav; Mitzen, Jennifer (2026): „New Perspectives on Trust in International Conflicts“. In: International Studies Review 28 (1), viaf027.

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News
02.02.2026

States competing for people - David Owen on civil geopolitics

As part of the lecture series "At the Crossroads - The Future of Democracy", David Owen from the University of Southampton presented his concept of civil geopolitics.

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News
20.01.2026

Christine Hentschel on reorientation in catastrophic times

As part of the lecture series "At the crossroads? On the crisis of democracy", the sociologist spoke about living in and dealing with catastrophic times. Against the backdrop of the destruction of living conditions, wars, permanent crises and threats to democracy, Hentschel addressed the infiltration of the catastrophic into everyday social life and a changing activist and literary approach to the future.

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Publication
08.01.2026 | Journal article

Gender Differences in Financial Advice

Bucher-Koenen, Tabea; Hackethal, Andreas; Koenen, Johannes; Laudenbach, Christine (2025): „Gender Differences in Financial Advice“. In: American Economic Review, 115 (12), pp. 4218–4252.

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Publication
19.12.2025 | Anthology

Faszination und Freiheit 

Günther, Klaus; Zabel, Benno (Hrsg.) (2025): Faszination und Freiheit - Gegenwartsdiagnosen im Anschluss an Christoph Menkes Theorie der Befreiung, Weilerswist (Velbrück Wissenschaft).

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Publication
12.12.2025 | Anthology

Zwischen Transformation und Abolitionismus. Das Strafrecht und die Vielfalt der Alternativen

Tobias Singelnstein, Christoph Burchard (2025)

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