The London School of Economics and Political Science – LSE – offers a unique opportunity to study the social sciences in a university institution with a worldwide academic reputation, while enjoying the cultural, social and recreational facilities of one of the world's greatest capital cities. Many influential developments in thinking about society, economics and politics have originated in work done here, including the basis of the modern welfare state and the development of free-market economics.

Debate on the proper place of the state in the promotion of prosperity and welfare has been a recurrent theme throughout LSE's history. LSE aims to be the place where these issues, and the solutions to the questions they pose, are debated. These include: intensifying globalisation; the changing nature of the nation state; new opportunities and problems for global business; the transformation of world financial markets; the emergence of new ethnic divisions and conflicts; shifts in geopolitical power; the impact of climate change. We study not only British areas of interest but also those of other countries, many of them in a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective. Few institutions in the world are as truly international as LSE.

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