Author profile: Stephen Chan

Stephen Chan OBE was Foundation Dean of Law and Social Sciences at SOAS University of London, where he remains as Professor of World Politics. He has occupied many named chairs around the world, most recently the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Chair of Academic Excellence at Bir Zeit University in 2015, and the George Soros Chair of Public Policy at the Central European University in 2016. He was the 2010 International Studies Association Eminent Scholar in Global Development. As an international civil servant he helped pioneer modern electoral observation in Zimbabwe in 1980, worked in many post-conflict zones – where ‘post’ was a largely fictional if politic appellation – and continues to be seconded to many diplomatic initiatives around the world today. He is the author of Meditations on Diplomacy: Comparative Cases in Diplomatic Practice and Foreign Policy (2017).

US and British Foreign Policy from One Regime Change to Another

Stephen Chan • Oct 29 2017 • Articles

The US sense of being a sole hegemonic superpower is under challenge, even as it pulls along the UK and allows it to think of their relationship as special.

Theories of Foreign Policy and International Relations

Stephen Chan • Oct 29 2017 • Articles

Diplomacy is not new. It has assumed various characteristics in the modern age, but the idea of sending emissaries to another state is old and was common to many cultures.

Open Access Book – Meditations on Diplomacy: Comparative Cases in Diplomatic Practice and Foreign Policy

Stephen Chan • Oct 15 2017 • Features

This book, by Stephen Chan, explores via a range of examples, the challenges diplomacy faces today as actors seek to change history and undermine interests.

A Ceremonial Ride into the Sunset for Mugabe?

Stephen Chan • Feb 12 2015 • Articles

Robert Mugabe, 91 in February 2015, assumed the chairmanship of the African Union; he may be more concerned about stage-managing his legacy than leading the continent.

Zimbabwe: The Sanctions of No Sanctions

Stephen Chan • Jul 25 2012 • Articles

The announcement of a suspension of sanctions pending a credibly free and fair referendum was a very low bar to cross. The real action lies in what is already going on behind the scenes. As with all major diplomatic breakthroughs, a heavy element of cynicism is the accompaniment.

Mugabe: How Much Longer?

Stephen Chan • Jan 19 2012 • Articles

Mugabe’s regime is hardly on its last legs and is not threatened beyond key points. He is strong enough to intimidate the most senior of his ambitious colleagues and there are many who trace the death in 2011 of Solomon Mujuru to his door.

What is this thing called the decline of the West?

Stephen Chan • Aug 18 2008 • Articles

In the west, China’s rise and increased attention to fundamentalist Islam have caused many to perceive a global contest in the export of values. At this particular crossroads of history there seem to be several very different maps for the future. In this context, many speak of the ‘decline of the west’, but what is it exactly?

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