Does the Russian Federation in the Putin-Medvedev era follow a grand strategy, and if so, what does it look like, and how can we discern the making of Russian grand strategy? However, Russian grand strategy is neither formally codified nor readily accessible, and it remains opaque at best. In this...
Nature and Civilization is a focused interpretation of Kant’s politics insofar as it bears on the distinction between nature and civilization. It seeks to answer the question, How is Kant’s distinction between nature and civilization informing his global political thought? Kant thinks that in moving from the state of nature...
This dissertation examines how one pervasive state institution¬—schools—shapes the political behavior of young people along the lines of race and ethnicity. I make four primary claims. First, I show that the content of traditional civic education courses privileges the political experiences of white political actors. Second, I argue that this...
The social groups to which individuals belong, as well as the identities that result from these group memberships, exert powerful influences on their political attitudes. Additionally, political elites offer cues that shape these same preferences—often by targeting and interacting with identities. However, there remain underexplored pathways by which elites can...
This dissertation argues that the convergence of industrialized wage-labor, increased economic precariousness, close and partisan elections, and weak ballot laws dramatically increased the incidence of economic voter intimidation between 1873 and 1896. When this form of coercion primarily affected African American voters, as it did in the 1860s, politicians did...
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is much more politically powerful than we might expect it to be. Despite both shockingly high rates of gun violence and deep, durable public support for stricter rules on gun ownership, the NRA regularly defeats or weakens the content of gun control legislation. Its influence...
“(Being a) Feminist (is a) Struggle: Intersectional Feminist Politics in the Era of the Women’s March” argues that contemporary feminist politics are characterized by debates and contestations concerning the political demands of intersectionality. Contemporary feminist theory and politics are particularly and peculiarly preoccupied with making these judgements about the political...
How do ever-changing international systems and rapidly emerging technology shape counter-systemic revolutionary insurgent (CSRI) behavior and outcomes? The purpose of this publication is to identify causes and develop a conceptual typology of CSRI survival and behavior in a Post-9/11 era. I argue three global shocks acted as junctures for new...
Political leaders often engage in open fights for recognition, announcing that some crucial element of their state’s identity, status, or history, has not been properly acknowledged and respected in the conduct of diplomacy. Among international relations scholars, these instances are usually ascribed to the fact that states, like individuals, need...
What explains the difference in the timing of female enfranchisement in Latin America? Despite constituting an essential process of inclusion for democratization, no comparative analysis of the region has sought to explain the differences observed in the timing of reform. Common explanations – developed for other regions – concerning the...