Professor Richard Ned Lebow

Biography

I am Professor of International Political Theory in the Department of War Studies, King's College London (part-time) and James O. Freedman Presidential Professor Emeritus at Dartmouth College. I am also a Bye-Fellow of Pembroke College, University of Cambridge. I have taught strategy and the National and Naval War Colleges and served as a scholar-in-residence in the Central Intelligence Agency during the Carter administration. 

I have held visiting appointments at the University of Lund, Sciences Po, University of Cambridge, Austrian Diplomatic Academy, Vienna, London School of Economics and Political Science, Australian National University, University of California at Irvine, University of Milano, University of Munich and the Frankfurt Peace Research Institute. I have authored and edited 40 books and nearly 300 peer reviewed articles and book chapters. I am a Fellow of the British Academy.

Research Interests

My interests falls within two themes:

• Theory: International relations, conflict management, war and strategy, psychology of decision-making and learning, ancient and modern political theory, identity and its political and ethical consequences.

• Policy: Conflict prevention and management, regional conflict, bargaining and negotiation, strategy and intelligence. 

Recent Books

• Ethics and International Relations (Cambridge University Press, 2020)

• Between Peace and War: 40th Anniversary Edition (New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2020)

• Taming Sino-American Rivalry, co-authored with Feng Zhang (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020)

• Reason and Cause: Social Science in a Social World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019)

• A Democratic Foreign Policy: Regaining American Influence Abroad (New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2019)

• The Rise and Fall of Political Orders (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018).

• Max Weber and International Relations, ed. Richard Ned Lebow (Cambridge University Press, 2017).

• Avoiding War, Making Peace (London: Palgrave- Macmillan, 2017).

• National Identifications and International Relations, Cambridge University Press, 2016)

• Return of the Theorists: Encounters with Great Thinkers of the Past, coedited with Peer Schouten and Hidemi Suganami (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).

• Richard Ned Lebow: A Pioneer in International Relations Theory, History, Philosophy and Psychology, ed. Hans Günther Brauch (Heidelberg: Springer; New York: Dordrecht, 2016). 4 vols. [This and the subsequent three volumes contain excerpts from my publications, a bibliography, autobiography and essays by other scholars evaluating my work).

• Franz Ferdinand Lives! A World Without World War 1 (New York/London: Palgrave- Macmillan, January 2014)  

• Constructing Cause in International Relations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, February 2014).  

• Good-Bye Hegemony!  Power and Influence in the Global System (Princeton: Princeton University Press, February 2014) 

A list of recent articles can be found here.

Teaching 

I teach/convene the following modules:

BA

• 5SSW2061 Contemporary International Relations Theory

MA

• 7SSWM060 Causation in International Relations

• 7SSWM064 Politics and Ethics

• 7SSWM160 Theories in IR

• 7SSWM158 Concepts and Methods 

• 7SSWM099 Theories of War

Expertise and Public Engagement

• Co-recipient conference grant on the fragility and robustness of political orders, Swedish Foundation of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2020

• Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award, for Avoiding War, Making Peace, 2019

• Honourable Mention, Susan Strange Book Award for the best book of the year   in international relations from the British International Studies Association for The Rise and Fall of Political Orders. 2019

• Co-recipient Leverhulme Research Grant (Shakespeare and War, 2018

• Elected Fellow, British Academy, 2017

• Honourable Mention, Charles A. Taylor Book Award for the best book in interpretative methodologies and methods, for Causation in International Relations, 2016

• King’s College London, University-wide finalist for supervisory excellence award, 2016

• Honorary Doctorate, Panteion University, Athens, 2015

• Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award, for Toni Erskine and Richard Ned Lebow, Tragedy and International Relations, 2014

• Elected Distinguished Scholar, 2014, by the International Security Section of the International Studies Association

• Teaching Excellence Award, King’s College London, 2013

• Alexander L. George Award for best book of the year from the International Society of Political Psychology for The Politics and Ethics of Identity, 2013

• Honorary Doctorate, American University of Paris, 2012

• Jervis-Schroeder Award from the American Political Science Association and the Susan Strange Award from the British International Studies Association for A Cultural Theory of International Relations, 2009 

• Alexander L. George book award for Tragic Vision of Politics from the International Society of Political Psychology, 2004.