Nicholas Lees

Fascists | Cambridge University Press & Assessment

www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...

This is overall quite similar to Michael Mann's analysis of fascism's appeal as offering a) revenge for frightened elites b) 'cracking heads together' to get the nation moving again during a period of class conflict.

The bureaucratic/intragovernmental level of analysis is one of the least developed in the study of foreign policy & conflict studies, despite Allison's famous book Essence of Decision. Jost's work makes a new case that the way national security institutions operate has a big impact on war and peace.

Jost's recent book provides a new analysis of the dangers of fragmented national security institutions. The accompanying article in International Studies Quarterly has a slightly different (and better designed) quantitative analysis as well as an extra case study:
academic.oup.com/isq/article/...

Book launch event upcoming!

Very important point that doesn't seem to stick despite being made by Schweller and Glaser, as well as Wagner in the best book that few IR scholars seem to have read - War and the State.

Is the decline of war a delusion? An exchange between researchers following the publication of Azar Gat’s article on the subject Published in Journal of Strategic Studies (Vol. 48, No. 4, 2025)

'the Security Dilemma... does not exist without underlying competition – actual or potential – over scarce, coveted objects of human desire, which is the overlooked reason why the Dilemma flares up in the first place. The structural realists’ ‘explanation’ has no engine.'
Azar Gat

The International Relations of the North–South Divide The International Relations of the North–South Divide - Historical Inequality, Contemporary Disagreement and World Politics; Available open access digitally under a CC-BY-NC-ND license. This book exam...

The book is now with the publisher for printing and distribution.
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-internat...

It's a very funny article, confirming that Wendt wasn't really going to make a big academic contribution to IR again, and saying the quiet part out loud that there's an affinity between critical theory and really fringe counterculture Fortean ideas.

An absolute classic. I think it's a broader phenomenon: 'We pretend to work and you pretend to pay us' ; 'We pretend to study and you pretend to test us'.

But, their qualitative investigation raises additional complications! Interviewees report increased tensions within the Group of 77 at the UN and a tendency towards drafting lowest-common-denominator resolutions to maintain unity. It's a really interesting and worthwhile contribution.

They find that South-South solidarity hasn't just persisted in terms of their chosen quantitative measure at the United Nations General Assembly despite the economic development of some Global South states, but that economic development seems to increase a state's alignment with the Global South.

Southern Solidarity? A Mixed-Methods Analysis of The G77 in the United Nations General Assembly Abstract. North–South politics are a defining feature of modern international relations. Yet as the Global South becomes increasingly diverse, questions re

Just read this very interesting contribution to the debate on the Global South as a diplomatic coalition at the United Nations by Gorana Draguljić and @nickanspach.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/isagsq/artic...

Another great thread from Liam, genuinely very thought provoking.

Great Leeds band. Blackbirds Fall is standout.

Really great thread. Seems to me like some of the 'restrainers' and unilateralists were suffering from what Jon Elster calls the 'younger sibling' fallacy - that others won't react strategically to our own strategic actions.

We discussed inconsistencies in the foreign policies of all states and within both the N & S, the relationship between historical experiences & contemporary foreign policy positions, the different idioms through which Global South states register dissatisfaction. Thanks all who participated.

Had a great @mybisa.bsky.social panel on foreign policy of Global South states feat Obert Hodzi, Ahmed Umar, Thaís Doria with Meera Sabaratnam as discussant.

Most self-proclaimed 'geopolitics analysts' simply aren't very good at analysing geopolitics. It's usually little more than sports commentary, with a terrible signal to noise ratio.

Book cover for 'The International Relations of the North-South Divide'.

In a week and a day, I'll be presenting findings from my new book The International Relations of the North-South Divide as part of the British International Studies Association conference in Belfast. Looking forward to sharing ideas with others interested in Global South foreign policy.

Looking forward to @mybisa.bsky.social - where I'll be discussing 'Southern Strategies: Foreign Policy Perspectives of Global South States' with a great group of panelists. My paper offers a new way of looking at foreign policy differences between Global South states, using cluster analysis.

The International Relations of the North-South Divide Available open access digitally under a CC-BY-NC-ND license. This book examines the significance of both historical and contemporary inequality in shaping diplo

My forthcoming book with Bristol University Press, The International Relations of the North-South Divide, now available to pre-order from Blackwells.
blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...

Dictators at War and Peace by Jessica L. P. Weeks | Paperback | Cornell University Press The first book to focus systematically on the foreign policy of different types of authoritarian regimes, Dictators at War and Peace breaks new ground in our understanding of the international behavio...

Research (incl mine) shows that making decisions in a bubble based on loyalty rather than competence can be disastrous for foreign & economic policy (never thought my research on dictatorships would be relevant to the US rather than its adversaries) www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801...

The International Relations of the North-South Divide The International Relations of the North-South Divide - Historical Inequality, Contemporary Disagreement and World Politics; Available open access digitally under a CC-BY-NC-ND license. This book exam...

Forthcoming, my first book 'The International Relations of the North-South Divide' with Bristol University Press.
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-internat...

The International Relations of the North-South Divide The International Relations of the North-South Divide - Historical Inequality, Contemporary Disagreement and World Politics; Through a comprehensive and comparative study of data on foreign policy pos...

I go into even more depth about North-South relations and how historical inequality shapes foreign policy disagreements in my forthcoming book with Bristol University Press, reviewing theories and offering new quant & mixed method investigations.
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-internat...

The previous article built on my paper in Review of International Studies that argued that the North-South divide, based on the Brandt Line, still remains relevant in terms of economic inequalities and foreign policy disagreement.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

I have a longstanding interest in the Global South in diplomacy and multilateralism. Here I argue that the Group of 77 within the UN system promotes a ‘South-South ideology’ that shapes voting patterns and the issues states discuss at the General Assembly.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Is world politics class politics? States, social forces and voting in the United Nations General Assembly 1946–2020 - Nicholas Lees, 2024 Class is often neglected as a factor influencing foreign policy. While recent research explains the foreign policy positions of states in terms of the preferenc...

Most recently, I investigated whether a state’s voting behaviour at the UN General Assembly depends on what class-based groups support it domestically. I find evidence that class politics affected foreign policy, even after the Cold War.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

I have a lot of new followers, so I thought I’d introduce myself. I’m Nicholas Lees, Senior Lecturer (Associate Prof) of International Politics at Liverpool University. I mainly research role of material inequalities in shaping diplomatic relations between states. Recent research below.

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

With Maness, a pioneering effort to put the study of cyber conflict on a social scientific footing.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...