Professor Inderjeet Parmar read Sociology at the London School of Economics, and Political Sociology at the University of London. His doctorate, from the University of Manchester, was in the fields of political science and international relations. Prior to appointment at City, University of London in 2012, he taught at the University of Manchester (1991-2012), mainly in its Department of Government which, between 2006-09, he served as Head of Department. His research interests focus on the history, politics and sociology of Anglo-American foreign policy elites over the past 100 years, specifically embodied in organisations such as philanthropic foundations, think tanks, policy research institutes, university foreign affairs institutes, and state agencies. Professor Parmar's latest book, Foundations of the American Century: Ford, Carnegie, and Rockefeller Foundations in the Rise of American Power was published in 2012 by Columbia University Press, reissued in paperback in 2015. The Chinese language edition was published by Peking University Press in 2018, and the Farsi edition in 2021. He is currently working on a long-term research monograph critiquing the post-1945 liberal international order: Presidents and Prime Ministers at War: Race, Class and Empire in Anglo-American Wars from Korea to the Wars on Terror. You can read more about him at his academic website. He regularly writes for The Wire.
The special issue’s concerns could easily be a passing ‘fad’ as the forces of the status quo bide their time. A focal point on race, necessary as it is, could elide class and material factors’ influence on world politics.