LINES – Leuven International and European Studies is the KU Leuven’s Institute for the Study of International Politics and European Affairs at the Faculty of Social Sciences. It hosts research in political science and international relations and fosters exchanges between scholars working on a broad range of topics, including the European Union’s foreign policy, the external trade policies of the European Union and the United States, climate change and energy policy in Europe and China, the regional and multilateral dimensions of global governance, peace and development (in close collaboration with the Centre for Research on Peace and Development), the politics of nationalism and minority protection, and current affairs in Eurasia, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Balkans.
LINES professors have previously taught or conducted research at renowned institutions such as Harvard University, Columbia University, George Washington University, Tsinghua University and the University of Oxford. In Leuven they teach some of the most popular courses in the bachelor and master’s programmes of the Faculty of Social Sciences, including History of International Relations, International Organizations, Nationalism and Political Mobilization, International Political Economy, and American government.
LINES has a vibrant international community of affiliates, visiting scholars, PhD students and junior research fellows. It is committed to methodological pluralism and hosts research projects conducted in various ways, including survey research, legal analysis, elite interviewing, narrative analysis, and ethnographic work.Bachelor and Master students are engaged in LINES in various ways, for example as research assistants or as participants in various free events.