The future of UK foreign policy: foreword

IDEAS was formed at the LSE to encourage a critical, but engaged, dialogue between academics and policy-makers. It was not so much a case of ‘truth talking to power’ (an odd formulation if ever there was one) but rather of trying to overcome that great British divide, and, in our own small way, help bring academics and policy-makers together in a forum where, to be frank, such forums had rarely, if ever, existed before. We have not yet moved mountains. To be sure. But two years on it would not be too immodest to suggest that we have fulfilled at least part of our original ambition of creating a space for genuine debate. With a great deal of support from the School itself – and in particular from its Director, Sir Howard Davies – IDEAS, we feel, has by now established itself as an important part of the School’s intellectual landscape.