Past Seminars
2023-2024
November 3, 2023
Bobby Maxwell, PhD student, University of Washington
“Bringing Information Back in: Russia and the Pursuit of Limited Aims”
Discussant: Kayla Morton, PhD student, Political Science
Location: The Olson Room, Gowen Hall 1A, 3:30-5:00pm
December 1, 2023
Wendy He, PhD student, Nanyang Technological University, University of Washington
“In the Chief’s Confidence: Leaders, Advisors and the Making of (in)Accurate Judgments in War”
Discussant: Megan Erickson, PhD candidate, Political Science
Location: The Olson Room, Gowen Hall 1A, 3:30-5:00pm
January 26, 2024
Genevieve Bates, Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“Commitments and Follow-Through: Implementing Justice Provisions in Peace Agreements”
Discussant: Ian Callison, PhD candidate, Political Science
Location: The Olson Room, Gowen Hall 1A, 1:30-3:00pm
Genevieve Bates is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Julia Cooper Research Associate. Previously, she was an Assistant Professor at the University of British-Columbia and a postdoctoral fellow with the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. Her research interests include political violence and post-conflict politics, transitional justice, and human rights. She is also interested in combining formal theory with a variety of qualitative and quantitative empirical approaches.
February 16, 2024
Kelly Greenhill, Professor, Tufts University
“Better than the Truth: Extra-factual Sources of Threat Conception and Proliferation”
Discussant: Jessica Sciarone, PhD candidate, Political Science
Kelly Greenhill holds joint positions as a professor of political science and international relations at Tufts University and a Resident Senior Research Fellow and visiting professor at MIT, where she also serves as Director of the MIT-Seminar XXI Program. She is currently revising for publication a new book, a cross-national mixed methods study that explores the influence of rumors, conspiracy theories, propaganda, so-called “fake news” and other forms of extra-factual information (EFI) on international politics.
Location: The Olson Room, Gowen Hall 1A, 1:30-3:00pm
March 8, 2024
Rochelle Terman, Assistant Professor, University of Chicago
“Auditing Localized Google Search Results for Human Rights”
Discussant: Bobby Maxwell, PhD Student, Political Science
Rochelle Terman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago. She specializes in international relations, with an emphasis on international norms, human rights and the Muslim World. In her first book, “The Geopolitics of Shaming: When Human Rights Pressure Works – and when it Backfires” she develops a relational theory of human rights enforcement in which the strategic interaction between shamer and target generates incentives to comply with or defy International pressure.
Location: The Olson Room, Gowen Hall 1A, 1:30-3:00pm
April 5, 2024
Sheena Chestnut Greitens, Associate Professor, UT Austin
“Internal Security and Chinese Grand Strategy”
Discussant: Brian Leung, PhD candidate, Political Science
Sheena Chestnut Greitens is Associate Professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT-Austin, where she directs UT’s Asia Policy Program. In the Academic year 2023-2024, she is visiting Associate Research Professor of Indo-Pacific Security at the United States Army War College. Her research focuses on security, East Asia, and authoritarian politics and foreign policy. Her forthcoming book (2023) “Politics of the North Korean Diaspora” addresses how authoritarian perceptions of security shape diaspora politics. She is currently finishing her third book manuscript, which examines the effect of internal security concerns on Chinese grand Strategy.
Location: The Olson Room, Gowen Hall 1A, 1:30-3:00pm
April 26, 2024
Rob Blair, Associate Professor, Brown University
“Does it Matter if Peacekeepers Follow their Mandates?”
Discussant: Jana Foxe, PhD student, Political Science
Rob Blair is the Arkadij Eisler Goldman Sachs Associate Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs at Brown University. His research focuses on international intervention and the consolidation of state authority after civil warm with an emphasis on the rule of law and security institutions. He is also the co-founder and co-director of the Democratic Erosion Consortium, which spans more than 60 universities in the US, UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Israel, Turkey, Romania, South Korea, Australia and the Philippines.
Location: The Olson Room, Gowen Hall 1A, 1:30-3:00pm
April 29, 2024
Thomas Christensen, James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations, Columbia University
“Thomas Shelling, the United States, and China’s Rise”
Thomas Schelling’s theoretical work on coercive diplomacy carries important lessons for U.S. security policy toward a rising China. This talk will address the challenges in combining credible threats and credible assurances in deterring a PRC military attack on Taiwan and the need to differentiate clearly between unconditional restrictions on the transfer of militarily relevant technology to China and conditional threats to punish China economically if Beijing adopts certain proscribed policies.
Note: Thomas Christensen serves as a Senior Advisor to the Office of China Coordination at the U.S. Department of State. All opinions expressed in this talk and in the discussion that follows are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government. This talk is under Chatham House Rules.
This talk is co-sponsored with the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies and the China Studies Program.
Location: The Hub, Room 334, 3:30-4:50pm.
May 24, 2024
Jessica Sciarone, PhD Candidate, University of Washington
“Dark Visions for Society: The Spread of Extremist Ideas”
Discussant: Jihyeon Bae, PhD student, Political Science
Location: The Olson Room, Gowen Hall 1A, 1:30-3:00pm
2022-2023
October 28, 2022
Yang-Yang Zhou, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia
“Prolonged Contact Does Not Reshape Locals’ Attitudes toward Migrants in Wartime Settings: Experimental Evidence from Afghanistan”
Discussant: Rachel Castellano, PhD Student, Political Science
Location: Online, 3:00-4:30pm (Zoom invitation from Ian Callison via uwisc@uw.edu)
Dr. Yang-Yang Zhou is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia and is a Harvard Academy Scholar and CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar for 2021-2023. Her research examines the effects of migrants on host communities, and her work has been published in American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, the Journal of Experimental Political Science, the Journal of the American Statistical Association, and PS: Political Science and Politics, among others. Her book project, Rejecting Coethnicity: the Politics of Migrant Exclusion by Minoritized Citizens, is funded by the National Science Foundation, the CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars Program, and the SSHRC Insight Development Grant. Additionally, her book project with Margaret Peters, Dignity and the Decision to Migrate, Where to Move, and When to Return, has been funded by the National Science Foundation.
November 18, 2022
Megan Erickson, PhD Student, Political Science
“Organized Crime Dynamics and Violence Against Politicians in Mexico”
Discussant:Morgan Wack, PhD Student, Political Science
Location: The Olson Room, Gowen Hall 1A, 1:30-3:00pm
December 2, 2022
Jihyeon Bae, PhD Student, Political Science
“Motives behind the Legalization of Authoritarian Intergovernmental Organizations (AIGOs)”
Discussant: Bree Bang-Jensen
Location: The Olson Room, Gowen Hall 1A, 3:00-4:30pm
January 27, 2023
Naima Green-Riley, Princeton University
“Winning Hearts Without Changing Minds: The Limits of Broadcast Diplomacy”
Discussant: Jihyeon Bae , PhD Student, Political Science
Location: The Olson Room, Gowen Hall 1A, 3:00-4:30pm
Naima Green-Riley is an Instructor in the Department of Politics and at the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and will be converted to the role of Assistant Professor in Fall 2023. Her research, which focuses on U.S. and Chinese foreign policy, has been featured in the Journal of Experimental Political Science and various other outlets, including the Monkey Cage Blog at the Washington Post, the Emerging Voices on the New Normal in Asia Series of the National Bureau of Asian Research, The Diplomat, and The Root. Her forthcoming book, The China Questions II (Harvard University Press), compares U.S. and Chinese models of foreign audience engagement in public diplomacy.
February 17, 2023
Jessica Sciarone, PhD Student, Political Science
“Why Women Are (Not Always) Right: Radicalization Pathways of Women in Far-Right Extremist Organizations”
Discussant: Jana Foxe, PhD Student, Political Science
Location: The Olson Room, Gowen Hall 1A, 1:30-3:00pm
March 3, 2023
Ana Arjona, Northwestern University
“The Violent Bias in the Study of Civil War”
Discussant: Megan Erickson, PhD Student, Political Science
Location: The Olson Room, Gowen Hall 1A, 1:30-3:00pm
Dr. Ana Arjona is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Northwestern University. Her book, Rebelocracy: Social Order in the Colombian Civil War (Cambridge University Press, 2016), was the 2018 recipient of the Conflict Research Society’s Book of the Year Award. With Nelson Kasfir and Zachariah Mampilly, she is also the co-editor of Rebel Governance in Civil War (Cambridge University Press, 2015), which examines rebel governance during civil wars. Dr. Arjona’s research has been published or is forthcoming in American Political Science Review, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Perspectives on Politics, among other outlets.
April 21, 2023
Eduardo Moncada, Barnard College, Columbia University
“Citizens, Democracy and Violence Under Criminal Rule: Evidence from Latin America”
Discussant: Lucas Owen, PhD Student, Political Science
Location: The Olson Room, Gowen Hall 1A, 1:30-3:00pm
Dr. Eduardo Moncada is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Barnard College, Columbia University. In his first book, Cities, Business and the Politics of Urban Violence in Latin America (Stanford University Press, 2016), Dr. Moncada examined how the interaction of urban political economies and patterns of armed territorial control shape major cities’ in the developing world responses to urban violence. His current book, Resisting Extortion: Victims, Criminals, and States in Latin America (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics, 2021) investigates variation in victims’ strategies of resistance to criminal victimization through studying criminal extortion in Latin America.
May 5, 2023
Meredith Loken, University of Amsterdam
“Women, Gender, and Rebel Governance in Civil Wars”
Discussant: Jessica Sciarone, PhD Student, Political Science
Location: The Olson Room, Gowen Hall 1A, 1:30-3:00pm
Dr. Meredith Loken is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. She is a board member with the Amsterdam Research Centre for Gender and Sexuality (ARC-GS) and a faculty affiliate with the Amsterdam Centre for Conflict Studies (ACCS). Dr. Loken is a co-Principal Investigator for the Women’s Activities in Armed Rebellion (WAAR) Project, an original dataset measuring women’s participation in more than 370 rebel organizations between 1946-2015. Her research, which broadly focuses on contemporary political violence, has been published or is forthcoming in International Security, Journal of Peace Research, International Studies Quarterly, European Journal of International Security, Security Dialogue, Journal of Human Rights, and Security Studies, as well as in Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, and other outlets.
May 26, 2023
Morgan Wack, PhD Student, Political Science
“Examining how Election Observation Statements impact Perceptions of Misinformation, Fraud, and Violence: Evidence from Kenya’s 2022 General Election”
Discussant: Nela Mrchkovska, PhD Student, Political Science
Location:
The Olson Room, Gowen Hall 1A, 1:30-3:00pm
2021-2022
October 22, 2021
Sabrina Karim, Assistant Professor, Cornell University
“How Gender and Socialization Shapes Security Sector Restraint: Survey Evidence from Four Countries”
Discussant: Jessica Sciarone, PhD Student, Political Science
Location: Online, 12-1:20pm (Zoom invitation from Megan Erickson via uwisc@uw.edu)
Dr. Sabrina Karim is the Hardis Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University. She directs the Gender and Security Sector Lab, which engages in original research related to women, gender, peacekeeping, policing, and the military. She is the co-author of Equal Opportunity Peacekeeping: Women, Peace, and Security in Post-Conflict Countries, which was the winner of the Conflict Research Studies Best Book Prize for 2017 and the American Political Science Association Conflict Processes Best Book Award for 2018. She is also co-author of the book From Gender Equality to the Status of Women: Concepts and Measurement in Conflict and Peace Studies.
November 19, 2021
Sarah Zuckerman Daly, Assistant Professor, Columbia University
“Securing the Future: Why Bloodstained Parties Win Postwar Elections”
Discussant: Ian Callison, PhD Student, Political Science
Location: Online, 12-1:20pm (Zoom invitation from Megan Erickson via uwisc@uw.edu)
Dr. Sarah Zukerman Daly is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Columbia University. Her 2016 book, Organized Violence after Civil War: The Geography of Recruitment in Latin America, was the Honorable Mention for the Conflict Research Society’s 2017 Best Book of the Year Prize and her Journal of Peace Research article was Honorable Mention for the Nils Petter Gleditsch JPR Article of the Year Award. She is currently working on a second book on why citizens vote for political actors that used violence against the civilian population, for which she received the Minerva-United States Institute of Peace, Peace and Security Early Career Scholar Award and was named a 2018 Andrew Carnegie Fellow.
December 3, 2021
Megan Erickson, PhD Student, Political Science
“Strategies of Consolidation in the Afghan Civil War (1989-2001)”
Discussant: Bree Bang-Jensen, PhD Candidate, Political Science
Location: Gowen Hall 1A, Olson Room, 12-1:20pm
January 28, 2022
Ian Callison, PhD Student, Political Science
“Delegation Against Deterrence: The Impact of PGMs on Human Rights Compliance Under the ICC”
Discussant: Lucas Owen, PhD Student, Political Science
Location: Zoom, link here
February 18, 2022
Zachariah Mampilly, Marxe Endowed Chair of International Affairs, Baruch College, CUNY
“Reflections on Social Movements and the Global Order”
Discussant: Morgan Wack, PhD Student, Political Science
Location: Zoom, 12-1:20pm, please link here for more information: UW Political Science
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/97916314378?pwd=cXhlNjFnK3ZpUjUxN3F5SjZUdVBxdz09
Dr. Zachariah Mampilly is the Marxe Endowed Chair of International Affairs at the Marxe School of Public and International, City University of New York and a member of the doctoral faculty in the Department of Political Science at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He is the Co-Founder of the Program on African Social Research. He is the author of Rebel Rulers: Insurgent Governance and Civilian Life during War, published in 2011, and with Adam Branch, Africa Uprising: Popular Protest and Political Change, published in 2015. He is the co-editor of the 2015 volume Rebel Governance in Civil Wars with Ana Arjona and Nelson Kasfir; and the 2011 volume Peacemaking: From Practice to Theory with Andrea Bartoli and Susan Allen Nan. He has held fellowships with the Institute for Advanced Study, the Open Society Foundation, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Fulbright Program.
March 4, 2022
Ketian Zhang, Assistant Professor, George Mason University
“Just Do it: Explaining the Characteristics and Rationale of Chinese Economic Sanctions”
Discussant: Jihyeon Bae, PhD Student, Political Science
Location: Zoom, 3:00-4:20pm, please link here for more information: UW Political Science
Dr. Ketian Zhang is an Assistant Professor of International Security in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. Her research agenda emphasizes how globalized production and supply chains affect states’ foreign policy and domestic state-society relations, especially regarding coercion and protests. My book project examines when, why, and how China uses coercion when faced with issues of national security, such as territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas, foreign arms sales to Taiwan, and foreign leaders’ reception of the Dalai Lama.
April 22, 2022
Sidney Tarrow, Maxwell Upson Emeritus Professor of Government and Adjunct Professor, Cornell Law School
“From Movements and Parties to Movement-Parties: Comparative Perspectives on Contentious Politics”
Discussant: Christopher Sebastian Parker, Professor, Political Science
Location: Gowen Hall 1A, Olson Room, 12-1:20pm & Zoom
Dr. Sidney Tarrow is Maxwell M. Upson Professor Emeritus in the Government Department at Cornell, where he specializes in social movements, contentious politics and legal mobilization. Before coming to Cornell he taught at Yale and has been visiting professor at the European University Institute in Florence, the Central European University in Budapest and at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris.
Dr. Tarrow’s first book was Peasant Communism in Southern Italy, published in 1967, and his next project was the 1989 book Democracy and Disorder. He then published, with Doug McAdam and Charles Tilly, the 2001 book Dynamics of Contention and the 2006 book The New Transnational Activism. In 2011 he published Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics, and his most recent book came out this year, titled Movements and Parties: Critical Connections in American Political Development.
Dr. Tarrow is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been President of the Comparative Politics section of the APSA and of the Conference Group on Italian Politics. He is a founding member of the Contentious Politics series of Cambridge Press and serves on the editorial boards of many scholarly journals both in Europe and the United States.
May 6, 2022
Nela Mrchkovska, PhD Student, Political Science
“Religion in Insecure Time: Evidence from Eastern Europe”
Discussant: Sandra Ahmadi, PhD Student, Political Science
Location: Gowen Hall 1A, Olson Room, 12-1:20pm
May 27, 2022
Romain Malejacq, Assistant Professor, Radboud University Nijmegen
Discussant: Megan Erickson, PhD Student, Political Science
Location: Online, 12-1:20pm (Zoom invitation from Megan Erickson via uwisc@uw.edu)
Dr. Romain Malejacq is an Assistant Professor at Radboud University Nijmegen’s Department of Political Science and Centre for International Conflict Analysis and Management, in the Netherlands. His first book, Warlord Survival: The Delusion of State Building in Afghanistan, came out in December 2019. His new research project, “Commander Politics: Cooperation and Competition in Civil War” was recently awarded a VIDI grant as part of the Dutch Research Council (NWO)’s Talent Programme.
2020-2021
October 16, 2020
Sarah Dreier, NSF Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
“Emergency Law, Ordinary Violence: How Britain Justified Internment without Trial in Northern Ireland”
Discussant: Andrea Cancino Saenz
Ozgur Ozkan, Jackson School Ph.D Candidate
Discussant: Discussant: Nela Mrchkovska, PhD Candidate, Political Science
Sherry Zaks, Assistant Professor, University of Southern California
“Resilience Beyond Rebellion: How Today’s Rebels Become Tomorrow’s Parties”
Discussant: Megan Erickson, PhD Student, Political Science
Sherry Zaks is an Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Southern California. Her book project, Resilience Beyond Rebellion, examines the conditions under which rebel groups are able to transform into political parties in the aftermath of civil wars. She draws on organizational sociology to develop a comprehensive model of militant groups and trace how wartime structures either facilitate or inhibit rebel-to-party transformations. Her broader substantive interests lie at the intersection of international security, civil conflict, and democratization.
Kelebogile Zvobgo, Assistant Professor, William and Mary
“Complementarity and Public Views on Overlapping Domestic and International Courts”
Kelebogile Zvobgo is a Provost’s Fellow in the Social Sciences at the University of Southern California, where she recently defended her Ph.D. in Political Science and International Relations. Beginning in fall 2021, she will be an Assistant Professor of Government at William & Mary.
Her research broadly engages questions in human rights, transitional justice, and international law. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in the International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Human Rights, PS: Political Science & Politics, and Journal of Political Science Education, as well as in Foreign Policy and The Washington Post. Her primary research focuses on quasi-judicial bodies that have proliferated around the globe to fill the gaps left by domestic and international law and courts. Like courts, these accountability mechanisms collect statements from individuals who have been harmed by state or non-state actors, conduct an investigation, and enjoin appropriate reparative actions. Thus far, her work in this research stream has extended to truth commissions and international development banks’ compliance mechanisms.
Discussant: Morgan Wack, PhD Student, Political Science
April 23, 2021
Beth Simmons, Professor, University of Pennsylvania
“Globalization and Border Anxiety in International Discourse”
Beth Simmons is the Andrea Mitchel University Professor in Law, Political Science and Business Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania. Simmons is best known for her research on international political economy during the interwar years, policy diffusion globally, and her work demonstrating the influence that international law has on human rights outcomes around the world. Two of her books, Who Adjusts? Domestic Sources of Foreign Economic Policy During the Interwar Years (1994) and Mobilizing for Human Rights: International Law in Domestic Politics (2009) won the American Political Science Association’s Woodrow Wilson Award for the best book published in the United States on government, politics, or international affairs. The latter was also recognized by the American Society for International Law, the International Social Science Council and the International Studies Association as the best book of the year in 2010. She is currently conducting research in three areas: global performance assessments as informal governance mechanisms in international affairs; international border crossings, and especially evidence of their “thickening” in recent decades in many parts of the world; and international and transnational crime. Simmons has spent a year working at the International Monetary Fund, directed the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard, is a past president of the International Studies Association, and has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
May 14, 2021
Jennifer Spindel, Assistant Professor, University of New Hampshire
“In the Shadow of Sex: Gender Signaling and the Conventional Weapons Trade”
Jennifer Spindel is an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of New Hampshire. She was previously a professor at the University of Oklahoma, and for the 2019-2020 academic year, was a fellow at the Dickey Center at Dartmouth. She received a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota and was a pre-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies at George Washington University during the 2017-2018 academic year. She studies issues related to international security, foreign policy, and alliances. Her book project examines the foreign policy consequences of conventional weapons transfers, and argues that arms transfers are a form of political signaling. The project is based on extensive archival research and fieldwork at international weapons shows. Her research has been supported by the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation, the APSA Political Networks Section, the Minnesota Department of Political Science, and the Mixed Methods Interdisciplinary Graduate Group. Her dissertation won the 2019 Kenneth Waltz Prize for Best Dissertation in International Security.
Discussant: Chris Colligan, PhD Student, Political Science
June 4, 2021
Elena Shih, Manning Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University
“The Humanitarian Development Nexus: Anti-Trafficking in the Asia Pacific”
Elena Shih is the Manning Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University, where she directs a human trafficking research cluster through the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. Her book-in-progress, under advanced contract with UC Press, is a global ethnography of the transnational social movement to combat trafficking in China, Thailand, and the US. Her recently published New York Times op-ed, “How to Protect Massage Workers,” shares research conducted as a core organizer of Red Canary Song, a grassroots coalition of sex workers, migrant workers, and allies working in Flushing, Queens.
Political Science Ph.D student Rachel Castellano will serve as discussant
2019-2020
Winter Quarter 2020
January 31st
Christopher Colligan, PhD Candidate, Political Science, “Identity and Innovation”
Discussant: Jonathan Beck, PhD Candidate, Political Science
Location: Gowen 1A
February 28
Shihao Han, PhD Student, Political Science, “Deterioration From Inside: Facing a Revisionist Hegemon within the International Order”
Discussant: Christopher Colligan, PhD Candidate, Political Science
Location: Smith 40A
Spring Quarter 2020
April 24
Francis Abugbilla, PhD Candidate, JSIS, “The Effect of Post-Conflict Peace-building Mechanisms on Reconciliation in Africa: The Case of Côte d’Ivoire”
Discussant: Megan Erickson, PhD Student, Political Science
Location: Remote Zoom Session
May 15
Morgan Wack, PhD Student, Political Science, “ICT, Crime, and Perceptions of Crime in Africa”
Discussant: Megan Erickson, PhD Student, Political Science
Location: Remote Zoom Session
May 29
Megan Erickson, PhD Student, Political Science, “Variation in Pro-Government Militia Devolution”
Discussant: Morgan Wack, PhD Student, Political Science
Location: Remote Zoom Session
2018-2019
Autumn Quarter 2018
Friday October 12, 12:00 – 1:30pm
Anna Zelenz, UW PhD Candidate
“Living In-Between: Stories of Insecurity and Flourishing in Palestine”
Discussant: UW PhD Student Andrea Cancino-Saenz
Friday October 26, 12:00 – 1:30pm
Dominic Tierney, Associate Professor, Swarthmore College
“Bad World: The Negativity Bias in International Politics”
Discussant: UW PhD Student Bree Bang-Jensen
Friday November 16, 12:00 – 1:30pm
Michael Horowitz, Professor, University of Pennsylvania
“A Stable Nuclear Future? The Impact of Autonomous Systems and Artificial Intelligence”
Discussant: UW PhD Candidate Christopher Colligan
Winter Quarter 2019
Friday January 25, 12:00 – 1:30pm
Craig Parsons, Professor, University of Oregon
“Polanyian Muscles in Hayekian Brussels: The EU’s Economic Authority in Comparative and Theoretical Perspective”
Discussant: UW PhD Candidate Travis Nelson
Friday February 15, 12:00 – 1:30pm
Aila Matanock, Assistant Professor, UC-Berkeley
“Inviting Intervention: Statebuilding by Delegating Security”
Discussant: UW PhD Student Christianna Parr
Friday March 8, 12:00 – 1:30pm
Bree Bang-Jensen, UW PhD Student
“Managed Death: The ILO and Exit From Regressive Treaties”
Discussant: UW PhD Student Hanjie Wang
Spring Quarter 2019
Friday April 3, 12:00 – 1:30pm
Sarah Parkinson, Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University
“Crossing Collaborators: Surveillance, Inter-generational Networks, and Counterintelligence in Militant Organizations”
Discussant: Dr. Emily Gade
Friday May 31, 12:00 – 1:30pm
Aimee Fox, Lecturer, King’s College London
“A Race Against the Clock: Innovation and the Politics of Command in the British Army, Then and Now”
Discussant: UW PhD Student Shihao Han
2017-2018
Autumn Quarter 2017
Friday September 29, 1:30 – 3:00pm
Meredith Loken, UW PhD student
University of Washington Department of Political Science
“Women Militants and Rebel Trajectory in Asymmetric Conflict”
Friday October 27, 2017
Michael Barnett, Professor of International Affairs and Political Science
Elliott School of International Affairs
“Human Rights and Humanitarianism: Distinctions with or Without a Difference?”
Discussant: UW Ph.D student Paige Sechrest
Friday December 8, 2017
Jonathan Beck, PhD student
University of Washington Department of Political Science
“European Integration Detour: The Contentious Politics of EU Migrant Benefits”
Discussant: UW Ph.D student Wesley Zuidema
Winter Quarter 2018
Friday January 19, 2018
Kathy Powers, Associate Professor
University of New Mexico
“Making Amends: The New Politics of Global Reparations”
Discussant: UW Ph.D student Vanessa Quince
Friday February 16, 2018
Jack Levy, Board of Governors’ Professor
Rutgers University
“Economic Interdependence and the First World Warâ€Â
Discussant: UW Ph.D student Hanjie Wang
Friday March 2, 2018
Dr. Zoltán Búzás, Assistant Professor
Department of Politics, Drexel University
“Is the Good News About Law Compliance Good News About Norm Compliance? The Case of Racial Equality”
Discussant: UW Ph.D student Vanessa Quince
Spring Quarter 2018
Friday April 13, 2018, 1:30 – 3:00pm
Ellen Ahlness, UW PhD student
University of Washington Department of Political Science
“Arctic Motivations: Security v. Environmentalism in State Circumpolar Strategies”
Discussant: UW Ph.D student Christianna Parr
Friday April 20, 2018
Milli Lake, Assistant Professor
London School of Economics
“The Insecurity Trap: State Security and the Monopoly on Violence in Low Intensity
Armed Conflicts”
Discussant: UW Ph.D student Meredith Loken
Friday May 11, 2018
Jonathan Caverley, Associate Professor of Strategy
United States Naval War College
“Arms for Influence: The Global Arms Trade and the Future of U.S. Power”
Discussant: UW Ph.D student Christopher Colligan
2016-2017
Autumn Quarter 2016
Friday September 30, 2016
Paige Sechrest, PhD student
University of Washington Department of Political Science
“Violence by the People, for the People: Torture and Police Brutality in Democracies”
UW Political Science Professor Rachel Cichowski will serve as the discussant
Friday October 21, 2016Â
Stefano Recchia, Lecturer
University of Cambridge
“Status-enhancing multilateralism:Â French interventionism in Africa since 1994”
UW Ph.D student Christopher Colligan will serve as the discussant
Friday December 9, 2016
Severine Austerre, Professor
Barnard College
“International Peacebuilding and Local Success: Assumptions, Myths, and Reality”
UW Ph.D student Stephen Winkler will serve as the discussant
Winter Quarter 2017
Friday January 20, 2017
Erica Chenoweth, Professor & Associate Dean for Research
Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver
“How Risky is Popular Dissent?”
UW Ph.D student Anna Zelenz will serve as the discussant
Friday February 10, 2017
Michael Barnett, Professor
International Affairs and Political Science at the George Washington University
“Humanitarianism and Human Rights: Distinctions With or Without a Difference?”
UW Ph.D student Vanessa Quince will serve as the discussant
Friday February 17, 2017
Christopher Colligan, PhD student
University of Washington Department of Political Science
“Military Outsourcing: Battlefield Effectiveness and Foreign Proxies”
UW Ph.D student Wesley Zuidema will serve as the discussant
Spring Quarter 2017
Friday March 31, 2017
Travis Nelson, PhD student
University of Washington Department of Political Science
“Market Pressure and Ideological Desire: The Politics of Post-Crisis Policy Reform”
UW Ph.D student Jonathan Beck will serve as the discussant
Friday April 21, 2017
Jakana Thomas, Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science at Michigan State University
“The Impact of FDI Inflow on Political Instability in Authoritarian Regimes”
UW Ph.D student Nora Webb Williams will serve as the discussant
Friday April 28, 2017
Jeffrey Kucik , Assistant Professor, City College of New York
“How do previous dispute rulings affect future outcomes?”
Discussant: T.B.A.
Friday May 26, 2017
Tarak Barkawi , Professor
Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science
“The Idea of Battle in World Politics”
UW Ph.D student Ellen Ahlness will serve as the discussant
2015-2016
Autumn Quarter 2015
Friday October 2, 2015
Alexandra Scacco, Assistant Professor
Wilf Family Department of Politics at New York University
“An Experimental Test of Social Contact Theory in Nigeria”
UW Ph.D student Will Gochberg will serve as the discussant.
Friday November 20, 2015
Jonathan Kirshner, Professor
International Political Economy in the Department of Government at Cornell University
“Classical Realism in World Politics”
UW Ph.D student Travis Nelson will serve as the discussant.
Winter Quarter 2016
Friday February 5, 2016
Frank Foley, Lecturer
King’s College London
“Keeping the Gloves On? Anti-Torture Norms and British Counterterrorism
from the IRA to Al Qaeda”
UW Ph.D student Paige Sechrest will serve as the discussant.
Friday February 12, 2016
Vanessa Quince, PhD student
University of Washington Department of Political Science
“In & Out of Bounds: Black State Membership in Regional Organizations”
UW Ph.D student Rafeel Wasif will serve as the discussant.
Spring Quarter 2016
Friday April 1, 2016
Anna Zelenz, PhD student
University of Washington Department of Political Science
“Dynamics of Insurgency: Historical Process and Alliance Formation”
UW Ph.D student and Richard B. Wesley Fellow in International Security Meredith Loken will serve as the discussant.
Friday April 22, 2016
Fotini Christia, Associate Professor
Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“Networks of Sectarianism: Experimental Evidence on Access to Services in Baghdad”
UW Ph.D student Anna Zelenz will serve as the discussant.
Friday May 27, 2016
Wendy Pearlman, Associate Professor
Political Science at Northwestern University
“Narratives of Protest in Syria”
UW Ph.D candidate Emily Kalah Gade will serve as the discussant.
Friday June 3, 2016
Robert Vitalis, Professor
Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania
“A Mongrel-American Social Science: International Relations”
UW Ph.D student Vanessa Quince will serve as the discussant.
2014-2015
Autumn Quarter 2014
Friday, 10 October 2014
Mia Bloom, Lecturer, Professor of Security Studies, University of Massachusetts Lowell
“ISIL and gender based violence in the caliphate: is there a sexul jihad ? ”
Discussant: Meredith Loken, Ph.D. student, University of Washington
Friday, 31 October, 2014
Emily Gade, Political Science Ph.D. Student, University of Washington
“Civilian Side Choosing in Insurgency”
Discussant: Will Gohberg, Ph.D. student, University of Washington
Friday, 21 November, 2014
Brian Rathbun, Associate Professor of International Relations, University of Southern California
“Variation in Rationality in Foreign Policy Decision-Making”
Discussant: Travis Nelson, Ph.D. student, University of Washington
Winter Quarter 2015
Friday, 16 January, 2015
Meredith Loken, Political Science Ph.D. Student, University of Washington
“Gender and Political Violence”
Discussant: Paige Sechrest, Ph.D. student, University of Washington
Friday, 30 January, 2015
John Buchanan, Political Science Ph.D. Student, University of Washington
“The Resource – Conflict Nexus: Opium and Insurgency in the Shan State of Burma”
Discussant: Vanessa Quince, Ph.D. student, University of Washington
Friday, 13 February, 2015
Kristin Bakke, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, University College London
“From War-Making to State-Making in the post-Soviet de facto States”
Discussant: Emily Gade, Ph.D. student, University of Washington
Spring Quarter 2015
Friday, 17 April, 2015
Taylor Fravel, Associate Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“Active Defense: Explaining the Evolution of China’s Military Strategy”
Discussant: Steve Smith, Ph.D. student, Jackson School of International Studies
Friday, 1 May, 2015
Kimberly Marten, Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Political Science, Barnard College
“What IF NATO Hadn’t Expanded ? A Counterfactual Analysis of Russia and the West”
Discussant: Andrew Cockrell, Ph.D. student, University of Washington
Friday, 29 May, 2015
Jonathan Kirshner , Professor of Government, Cornell College
“Classical Realism in World Politics”
Discussant: James Harmon, Ph.D. student, University of Washington
2013-2014
Autumn Quarter 2013
Friday, 18 Oct 2013
Tanisha Fazal, Associate Professor at the University of Notre Dame
“Secessionism and Civilian Targeting”
Discussant: Kristan Seibel, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department
Friday, 1 Nov 2013
Stephan Hamberg, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department
“Electoral Violence in New Democracies: Institutionalizing Peaceful Transitions”
Discussant: David Lopez, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department
Friday, 15 Nov 2013
Crystal Pryor, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department
“Strategic Export Controls: Explaining Divergence among Similar Countries on Similar
Strategic Goods”
Discussant: Meredith Loken, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department
Winter Quarter 2014
Friday, 17 Jan 2014 – Severyns-Ravenholt Lecture
Saadia Pekkanen, Job & Gertrud Tamaki Professor at the Henry M. Jackson School of
International Studies at the University of Washington
“Asian Designs: Risen Powers and the Struggle for International Governance”
Discussant: Crystal Pryor, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department
Friday, 14 Feb 2014 – Severyns-Ravenholt Lecture
Matthew Nelson, Reader, Department of Politics and International Studies, School of
African and Oriental Studies (London, UK)
“Islamic States and the Securitization of the Muslim Self”
Discussant: Rachel Cook, UW Ph.D. student, Middle East Studies Department
Friday, 7 March 2014
John Owen, Professor, Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics, University of Virginia
“Springs and Their Offspring: The International Consequences of Domestic Uprisings”
Discussant: Will d’Ambruoso, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department
Spring Quarter 2014
Friday, 11 April 2014
Todd Hall, Lecturer, St. Anne’s College, Department of Politics and International Relations
at the University of Oxford
“Affected Actors: Theorizing Affective Politics after 9/11”
Discussant: James Harmon, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department
Friday, 23 May 2014 – Severyns-Ravenholt Lecture
Jennifer Lind, Associate Professor of Government, Dartmouth College
“Geography, Maritime Power, and the Pacific Rivalry”
Discussant: Andrew Cockrell, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department
2012-2013
Fall Quarter 2012
Friday, October 12, 2012
Matthew E. Goldman, UW Ph.D. student, Near and Middle East Studies.Â
“Development of Democracy in the Middle East”
12 to 1:20 pm, Gowen 1A
Discussant: Joakim Parslow, UW Ph.D. student, Near and Middle East Studies.
Friday, November 2, 2012
Christopher Jones, UW Professor, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. Â
“The Collapse of Soviet Deterrence Theory, 1979-1989”
12 to 1:20 pm, Gowen 1A
Discussant: Kristan Seibel, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Steven Zech, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department.
“Evangelicals and Insurgents: Narratives and Violence in the Peruvian Civil War”
12 to 1:20 pm, Gowen 1A
Discussant: Stephan Hamberg, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department.
Winter Quarter 2013
Friday, 18 January, 2013
Andrew Cockrell, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department.
“Friends Under Fire: Blame Attributions in the Fog of War”
12 to 1:20 pm, Gowen 1A
Discussant: James Harmon, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Kristan Seibel, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department.
“Verification Mechanisms in International Agreements”
12 to 1:20 pm, Gowen 1A
Discussant: Crystal Pryor, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Emily Gade, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department.
“Why and Under What Conditions Do Civilians Oppose Groups Who Brutalize Them?”
12 to 1:20 pm, Gowen 1A
Discussant: Andrew Cockrell, UW Ph.D. student, Political Science Department.
2011-2012
Autumn Quarter 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Charles Glaser, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University
“Reframing Energy Security: How Oil Dependence Influences U.S. National Security”
12-1:20pm, Gowen 1A
Discussant: Kristan Seibel, UW Political Science Ph.D student
Friday, November 18, 2011
Charli Carpenter, Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusettsâ€Amherst
“Explaining the Transnational Advocacy Agenda: Insights from Human Security Practitioners”
12-1:20pm, Gowen 1A
Discussant: Andrew Cockrell, UW Political Science Ph.D student
Winter Quarter 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012: Severynsâ€Ravenholt/UWISC Lecture
David Kang, Professor of International Relations and Business, University of Southern California
“Power and Authority in International Relations: Evidence from a Non-Western Case”
12-1:20pm, Gowen 1A
Discussant: James Harmon, UW Political Science Ph.D student
Friday, February 3, 2012
Stephan Hamberg, UW Political Science Ph.D student
“Electoral Violence in New Democracies: Institutionalizing Peaceful Transitionsâ€
12-1:20pm, Gowen 1A
Discussant: Aaron Erlich, UW Political Science Ph.D student
Friday, March 9, 2012
Joshua Eastin, UW Political Science Ph.D student
“Natural disasters and civil conflictâ€
12-1:20pm, Gowen 1A
Discussant: Stephan Hamberg, UW Political Science Ph.D student
Spring Quarter 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012: Severynsâ€Ravenholt/UWISC Lecture
Barry Buzan, Montague Burton Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science
Speaking on regional security in Asia, particularly South and East Asia
12-1:20pm, Gowen 1A
Discussant: Crystal Pryor, UW Political Science Ph.D. student
Friday, April 27th, 2012: Severynsâ€Ravenholt/UWISC Lecture
Yuen Foong Khong, Professor of International Relations, University of Oxford
“International Politics: The Rules of the Game”
12-1:20pm, Gowen 1A
Discussant: Will d’Ambruoso, UW Political Science Ph.D student
Friday, May 11th, 2012
Patrick Johnston, Associate Political Scientist, RAND Coorporation
“Aid Under Fire: How Development Projects Impact Civil Conflict”
12-1:20pm, Gowen 1A
Discussant: Joshua Eastin, UW Political Science Ph.D student
For a complete list of past seminars (2001-2012), click here.