American politics and foreign policy
Our department has a range of expertise in the field of American diplomacy, intelligence and political history.
Our research focuses on the ways in which the United States interacts with the wider world, how it accomplishes its global goals and the domestic contexts that help to shape these processes.
The Centre for US in the World Studies
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The Centre is dedicated to the analysis of American foreign relations, politics and culture. Its mission is to produce and promote transnational, policy-relevant scholarship on the United States and its global role. Centre members write and teach about the Global Cold War, post-Cold War foreign policy and intelligence, the significance of race in U.S. history and politics, borderlands, transatlantic studies, and cultural and visual studies. Centre research and events debate issues of vital contemporary importance, ranging from climate change and energy security, to race and inequality, human rights and economics, technology and cultural representations, to peace and security, all of which inform the United States and its role in the world.
The Centre provides a space for academics, students, policymakers, cultural producers, and stakeholders in and beyond Nottingham to collaborate on research, educational outreach, and impact opportunities in the field of US. in the World Studies.
Research impact
Dr. Maria Ryan is completing an impact case study based on a two-year secondment to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London between 2019 and 2020. The impact case study relates to the fields of diplomatic relations and US foreign policy and draws on Dr Ryan's expertise in post-Cold War US foreign policy.
Research activities
In “What Next for American Democracy? US election 2024 Roundtable,” members of the Centre for US in the World Studies and speakers from across the university reflected on the outcome of the US election.
The Department co-hosted Emeritus Professor Peter Ling’s public lecture “Scandals and Presidential Elections: Checking the Rigging.”