Nye: Liddell Hart lecture and King's first Honorary Degree
14 Feb 2007, PR 21/07
Joseph Nye, widely recognised as one of the foremost thinkers on foreign policy, and one of the ten most influential scholars of international relations (as voted for in 2005), will be presented with the first Honorary Degree of the University of London, awarded by King's College London, today prior to delivering the prestigious Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives annual lecture.For the first time King's will exercise powers it has long held to confer honorary degrees of the University of London. Professor Nye is the first recipient in recognition of the outstanding contribution he has made to his field. He will be awarded Doctor of Social Sciences, Honoris Causa.
Having twice served in the United States government, Professor Nye is now University Distinguished Service Professor and Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
In his lecture, The Future of American Power, he will speculate about whether American power is now in decline; the rise of China; and whether the Iraq War is to the US is what the Boer War was to Victorian Britain.
The lecture will begin at 18.00 and take place in the Great Hall on the College's Strand Campus, WC2.
Previous people who have delivered the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives annual lecture include: Richard Holmes, General Lord Guthrie, Professor Harry Hinsley, General Sir Michael Rose, Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, The Rt Hon Alan Clark, Max Hastings, Nik Gowing, Professor Simon Wessley and Hew Strachan.
Honorary Graduates
At a secular ceremony to be held in the College's Strand Chapel on 8 March three further Honorary Degrees will be bestowed on:
- Baroness Hale of Richmond, the first woman to become a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
- Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, the geneticist who developed techniques for DNA fingerprinting and DNA profiling
- Judith Weir, a composer and former Foundation Visiting Professor at Harvard University, 2004
Honorary Degrees of the University of London awarded by King's College London are conferred on individuals who are of conspicuous merit as demonstrated by their outstanding academic contribution to their field.
Notes to editors
Professor Joseph Nye
Professor Nye is University Distinguished Service Professor and Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and he has previously served as dean there. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Princeton University and, after studying PPE as a Rhodes Scholar at Exeter College at Oxford University, obtained his PhD in political science from Harvard.
He developed, along with Robert Keohane, the international relations theory neo-liberalism and the concepts of asymmetrical and complex interdependence. More recently, he pioneered the theory of ‘soft power'.
He is the author of numerous books and more than 150 articles in professional journals. His most recent books include Understanding International Conflicts, The Power Game: A Washington Novel, and Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics.
From 1977-79 Joseph Nye served as Deputy to the UnderSecretary of State for Security Assistance, Science and Technology in the Carter Administration. He also chaired the National Security Council Group on Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In recognition of his service, he received the highest Department of State commendation, the Distinguished Honor Award.
During the presidency of Bill Clinton he was chairman of the National Intelligence Council and served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs.
The Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
Founded in 1964, the Centre, from the outset, was in the vanguard of repositories and museums which actively sought out private papers. Today it enjoys an international reputation for work in the field. The Centre was named in honour of Captain Sir Basil Liddell Hart in 1973 to mark the acquisition of his papers and library – the Centre's largest single collection.
The Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives is a unique collection: holding the papers of more than 700 officers and/or their families, including several Chiefs of Imperial Staff. It covers all the armed services, including the special services, and all wars, campaigns and peacekeeping initiatives in which British forces were engaged or acted as observers or specialist advisers.
The range of material includes diaries, correspondence, working papers and files, text of lectures, memoranda, unpublished memoirs, audio and video tapes of events, transcripts of interviews, photographs, maps and plans and press cuttings. It is also increasingly becoming an archive for independent television production companies.
In 2005 the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives was among the first archives awarded the Museum, Libraries and Archives Commission Designated Status in recognition of the significance of its holdings and high standards of stewardship.
King's College London
King's College London is the fourth oldest university in England with more than 13,700 undergraduates and nearly 5,600 graduate students in nine schools of study based at five London campuses. It is a member of the Russell Group: a coalition of the UK's major research-based universities. The College has had 24 of its subject-areas awarded the highest rating of 5* and 5 for research quality, demonstrating excellence at an international level, and it has recently received an excellent result in its audit by the Quality Assurance Agency.
King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, international relations, medicine, nursing and the sciences. The College has s played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to four Medical Research Council Centres, more than any other university.
King's is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings, with income from grants and contracts of more than £100 million, and has an annual turnover of more than £363 million.
Further information
Public Relations Department
Email: pr@kcl.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7848 3202
This information is provided by the Public Relations Department
Tel: 020-7848 3202 Fax: 020-7848 3739 Email: pr@kcl.ac.uk