Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University

The Department of International Politics was founded in 1919, with the help of a generous endowment of £20,000 given by David Davies as a memorial to the students killed and wounded in the First World War. Davies was moved by a global vision, forged in the fires of war, aimed at repairing the shattered family of nations and, more ambitiously, to redeem the claims of men and women in a great global commonwealth - the League of Nations. This vision found concrete expression in the world’s first chair in international politics, located in Aberystwyth and named in honour of the American president Woodrow Wilson, the man whose name is synonymous with the creation of a League of Nations for the maintenance of international justice and the preservation of peace. Davies himself believed that the problem of the twentieth century resolved itself in the ‘eternal quest of justice’, the conditions of which were the foundation of a lasting security, a lasting prosperity, and a lasting peace. With the turn of the millennium the Department continues to respond to a rapidly changing world with a collective sense of imagination that breaks the mould of tradition. The Department has built upon its reputation as the UK’s leading centre of excellence in theoretical explorations of international relations, with major contributions being made in the areas of Critical Theory, English School/international society, post-structuralism, historical sociology, and normative approaches to international relations. It is in the spirit of this legacy that the Department of International Politics continues to push the boundaries of the discipline by posing difficult questions that define the problems of the twenty-first century. But through it all, the Department remains true to the ideals in terms of which it was founded: to strive for a safe and more just world order.