Looking back at 20 years of TRIUM with Mick Cox

TRIUM Professor Mick Cox is Founding Director of LSE IDEAS and Emeritus Professor of International Relations at LSE. He is a well-known speaker on global affairs and has lectured in the United States, Australia, Asia, and in the EU. He has spoken on a range of contemporary global issues, though most recently he has focused on the role of the United States in the international system, the rise of Asia, and whether or not the world is now in the midst of a major power shift. He helped establish the Cold War Studies Centre in 2004 and expand it into IDEAS, a foreign policy centre based at the LSE which aims to bring the academic and policy worlds together, in 2008.

The TRIUM class has had the privilege of Professor Cox’s insights at Module 1, often ending in rousing applause at the end of a module focusing on geopolitics to which Mick brings his observations, challenging the class to think beyond their existing assumptions on how the world is pivoting. Here he shares his reflections on TRIUM.

During the years I’ve taught on TRIUM, the biggest change as far as I can see is that the class profile has become even more global than it was at the beginning. In terms of subject matter there has been a big shift at least on my part of the course, from what I would call pre-Brexit and pre-Trump to the world after 2016. 2016 has thus become a big tipping point year.

Looking back, TRIUMer’s reaction to Trump was very mixed, with some of our US participants (by no means all) indicating a greater support for Trump than those from Europe and most other countries. On Brexit the general response across the board was one of bewilderment and surprise. On China views remain very mixed, and even if most members on the course are critical of what is going on in China politically they still see the PRC as the big opportunity of the 21st century.

I have some great memories of TRIUM. I have always enjoyed my Friday slot. I come in right at the end of a two week course and I can detect a definite ‘we’re going home’ mood which makes it a very appreciative almost demob happy class. The closing dinner afterwards in the House of Lords was always very special too. Thank you Baroness Falkner! I also liked doing the little ‘extras’ speaking in Istanbul, Rome and Paris on current affairs as well helping launch the Shanghai sessions.

Professor Mick Cox brings his knowledge, views and hypothesis on geopolitical shifts to TRIUM at Module 1 and beyond.

We recently got Mick’s take as part of the TRIUM Connects series, on today’s political and governance crisis in the US, what he sees as the future of globalisation and whether the current conflict between the US and China is likely to get better or worse.

If you want to hear more from Mick, read his perspective on Understanding the Global Rise of Populism.