Filippo Costa Buranelli

Filippo holds a BA cum laude in International Sciences and European Institutions from the University of Milan, Italy, with a semester spent as visiting student at the Institute of International Relations, Warsaw University, Poland. He also holds an MSc (with distinction) in International Relations Theory from the London School of Economics and Political Science. His Master dissertation, which was awarded a distinction, the Fred Halliday Prize for the best dissertation in the field of International Relations Theory and which was short-listed for the Northedge Prize by Millennium:Journal of International Studies, focused on a critique to Kenneth Waltz's works and on the variety of hierarchic configurations in contemporary world politics.

Filippo started his PhD at King's College in January 2012. He is member of the International Studies Association, of the English School section of it, of the Post-Soviet Space research group at King's College London, young researcher at EUCAM (EU-Central Asia Monitor) and foreign contributor to International Affairs Watch, a magazine published by the Global India Foundation, a think-tank based in New Delhi, India.

Since February 2013, Filippo has been working as research assistant in a four-year project on ‘The International Dimensions of Authoritarian Rule' headed by Dr Oisín Tansey and funded by a €1million grant from the European Research Council. The project will examine the international influences on authoritarian rule through a multi-faceted approach, involving a team of researchers and the study of a wide array of contemporary and historical cases and data. 

Filippo has been awarded a King's Continuation Scholarship on the basis of its research merits and potential, and won the 2014 edition of the Best Graduate Student Paper Prize awarded by the English School section of the International Studies Association for his work on IR Theory and philosophy of language.

His current PhD thesis intends to link Central Asia with International Relations Theory in the attempt to disclose the agency and the dynamic character of the Central Asian states, and therefore moving away from a passive characterisation of them typical of the New Great Game narrative. By applying the concept of International Society, dear to the English School of International Relations, the research highlights in a historical fashion how Central Asian states have managed political relations among themselves, what the rules, norms and institutions that regulate such relations have been and whether contemporary Central Asia can be seen as an autonomous regional international society different from that at the global level.

Other research interests include international sociology, international history and philosophy of language applied to International Relations theory.