James Raymond Hughes is professor of comparative politics at the London School of Economics (LSE). Hughes' research interests relate to political violence and terrorism, secession, national and ethnic conflict in the former Soviet Union, the Balkans, and Northern Ireland.
Hughes studied Political Science and Ancient History at Queen's University Belfast, and graduated with a BA (Hons) First-Class in 1982. He was awarded two university prizes. Subsequently, he was awarded a Department of Education Northern Ireland scholarship to study for a PhD at the LSE (1982-7), and was supervised first by Professor Peter Reddaway, and then by Professor Dominic Lieven. While at LSE, he studied Russian language at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies. In 1985-6 he held a British Council Scholarship and was a student at Moscow State University, USSR, where he worked in Soviet archives.