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

News
11.12.2025

Jonathan White on future thinking in democracies

On the second date of the lecture series "At the crossroads? On the crisis of democracy". Political scientist White discusses views on the future of democracies. A follow-up report

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News
04.12.2025

The crisis of democratic theory from a sociological perspective

Sociologist Jenny Brichzin's lecture "Crisis of Democratic Theory? A sociological intervention" opened our lecture series "At the crossroads? On the future of democratic theory". The sociologist criticized the fact that social coexistence has so far been insufficiently addressed in democratic theory. A follow-up report

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Publication
21.11.2025 | Anthology

Handbook of Leadership. Applied Business Psychology for Managers

Felfe, Jörg; Dick, Rolf van (eds.) (2025): Handbook of Leadership. Applied Business Psychology for Managers. Springer.

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News
20.11.2025

Voluntary or compulsory? Military service, peace and democratic responsibility

Review of the 58th "Römerberggespräche". The topic of compulsory military service and the question of what a democratic state is allowed to demand of its citizens were at the center of the 58th "Römerberggespräche" "Conditionally ready for action? Military service and the duty to serve the state", which took place on November 15 in cooperation with the Research Centre Normative Orders in the Chagallsaal at Schauspiel Frankfurt.

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News
13.11.2025

Goethe Lecture Offenbach on ableist discrimination

Regina Schidel hat im Rahmen der Goethe Lectures Offenbach eine Kritik ableistischer Diskriminierung präsentiert. In ihrem Vortrag „Ich kann, also bin ich?“ diskutierte sie praktische Ausprägungen und philosophische Herkünfte von Ableismus.

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Event
10.02.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Satanic Politics. Democracy after Liberalism

Lecture, Lecture Series

Lecture by Michael Rosen (Harvard University) as part of the lecture series "At the Crossroads? On the crisis of democracy" in the winter semester 2025/2026

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Event
04.02.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Demokratien verteidigen. Zur Aktualität des Gewaltbegriffs bei Camus und Derrida

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Christine Abbt (Universität St. Gallen) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung "Am Scheidepunkt? Zur Krise der Demokratie" im Wintersemester 2025/2026

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Event
29.01.2026 | Frankfurt

Civil Geopolitics and the Dilemmas of the Democratic State

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von David Owen (Universtiy of Southampton) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung "Am Scheidepunkt? Zur Krise der Demokratie" im Wintersemester 2025/2026

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Event
14.01.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Vom Retten der Welt zum Vorbereiten auf den Kollaps: Neuorientierungen in katastrophischen Zeiten

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Christine Hentschel (Universität Hamburg) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung "Am Scheidepunkt? Zur Krise der Demokratie" im Wintersemester 2025/2026

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