Louise Fawcett elected to Académie Royale de Belgique

Louise Fawcett, Professor of International Relations and former Head of the Department, was recently elected to the Belgian Royal Academy (Académie Royale de Belgique) as Associate Member in ‘La Classe des Lettres et des Sciences morales et politiques’.  

The reception ceremony for new members took place in Brussels on 3 October.

In the ceremony, the Permanent Secretary of the Academy, Professor Didier Viviers, spoke of her contribution to the comparative and theoretical studies of global governance, the history of the Cold War, and the international relations of the Middle East.  The Permanent Secretary highlighted Professor Fawcett’s work on ‘New Regionalism’, and her efforts to bring non-Eurocentric perspectives to the field that included looking at alternative models and practices of cooperation in different parts of the world.  In addition, he praised her approaches to the study of international relations, sensitive to diverse historical traditions and cultures, and the successes of her volume The International Relations of the Middle East, now in its fifth edition.

Professor Fawcett commented: ‘I was very sorry, that due to the current circumstances, I was unable to attend the ceremony in person, but I am delighted and honoured that my academic work – particularly my work on comparative regionalism – has been recognised in Brussels, Belgium, the institutional heart of the European Union and source of inspiration for regional projects around the world’.

The Académie Royale, originally founded in 1772, comprises 200 full members elected from Belgium and 200 associate members from around the world.   Louise Fawcett was one of seven new members and associate members elected this year.