Tag Archives: International Relations

New article in International Organization

My new article, co-authored with Carsten-Andreas Schulz of Cambridge University, has been published by International Organization. IO is perhaps the most prestigious outlet in the field of International Relations, and I’ve dreamed of publishing there since first finishing my PhD. The article, entitled “Compensatory Layering and the Birth of the Multipurpose Multilateral IGO in the Americas,” emerges from our AHRC-funded research on Latin America and the formation of international order. In the piece, we illustrate the innovations that led to the creation of the world’s first multipurpose, multilateral international organization–a form associated with the League of Nations and the United Nations. The first such body was the Pan American Union, which developed between 1890 and 1910 through a series of bargains between the United States and Latin American states. The article builds a bridge between Global International Relations and the study of institutional design, while also advancing institutionalist understanding of the design and development of IOs.

We’re beyond thrilled to see this piece online and eventually in print. We started working on it in mid-2019, initially for a workshop at Johns Hopkins University, and it was a long road with pandemic-related disruptions pushing our revisions back by nearly a year. It’s an honor to be in the pages of International Organization! Abstract below the image.

The Pan American Union building, located just off the national mall in Washington, DC.

Abstract

International organizations come in many shapes and sizes. Within this institutional gamut, the multipurpose multilateral intergovernmental organization (MMIGO) plays a central role. This institutional form is often traced to the creation of the League of Nations, but in fact the first MMIGO emerged in the Western Hemisphere at the close of the nineteenth century. Originally modeled on a single-issue European public international union, the Commercial Bureau of the American Republics evolved into the multipurpose, multilateral Pan American Union (PAU). Contrary to prominent explanations of institutional genesis, the PAU’s design did not result from functional needs nor from the blueprints of a hegemonic power. Advancing a recent synthesis between historical and rational institutionalism, we argue that the first MMIGO arose through a process of compensatory layering: a mechanism whereby a sequence of bargains over control and scope leads to gradual but transformative institutional change. We expect compensatory layering to occur when an organization is focal, power asymmetries among members of that organization are large, and preferences over institutional design diverge. Our empirical and theoretical contributions demonstrate the value a more global international relations (IR) perspective can bring to the study of institutional design. international relations (IR) scholars have long noted that international organizations provide smaller states with voice opportunities; our account suggests those spaces may be of smaller states’ own making.

Online book panel

New America, a Washington-based think tank, has organized a panel discussion on small states in international relations framed around my new book, A Small State’s Guide to Influence in World Politics.

The event is 1:30-2:30 Eastern Time, May 4, 2022. It includes some stellar speakers: moderator Professor Jim Goldgeier, Wazim Mowla of the Atlantic Council, and Dr Emily Wilkinson of London-based ODI. And I’ll be joining, too.

You can register for the event here.

Book discount: Small State’s Guide to Influence in World Politics

Oxford University Press is offering a special discount on my new book, A Small State’s Guide to Influence in World Politics. You can order direct here, through OUP, and add the discount code.

The book shows why small states matter to International Relations theory and practice, offers an account of when and how small states can gain influence, and includes a global range of cases regarding small states and international security, international political economy, and institutions, laws, and norms.

ISA 2016 Round-up

I spent last week at the 2016 International Studies Association conference in Atlanta. I am finding every ISA a little more beneficial, as I move away from being a grad student who feels like a bit of a supplicant to being an established “early career” scholar. That is, it is much nicer to be able to refer to past publications and ongoing projects than to always be talking about one’s dissertation and hoping to meet people on hiring committees.

isa_international_studies_associationISA was particularly useful this year, my first traveling from the UK to participate. On the one hand, it gave me the chance to catch up with many Washington contacts, which was professionally beneficial and personally gratifying. It’s wonderful that American University has such a presence. ISA feels a bit like homecoming, and that’s special when you are an ocean away. On the other, I had a great excuse to introduce myself to people from all over the UK, with whom I might be able to collaborate, but whom I might not usually meet here. The Bridging the Gap project has provided another, related, home at ISA. I am bumping into BtG folks wherever I go, and the community active and welcoming.

ISA is truly international, and I had many useful conversations with colleagues from CIDE and ColMex in Mexico City, from Los Andes in Bogota, from PUC in Rio, to name just a few. The Latin American participation appears to be growing (though I would love to see some numbers), despite some pretty obvious currency and fiscal pressures for many institutions there. I think there is growing interest in IR in Latin America and an increasing quality and professionalization at many Latin American universities (something in great evidence at CIDE, of course). The grad students I met from Latin America were also top notch. Perhaps the largest crowd for any panel I attended was for an 8:15 am panel on Latin American foreign policy. The papers were great and the discussion even better.

I presented a paper on asymmetry and small states in International Relations, with the great privilege of having many of the key authors I was citing (and at times arguing with) on the panel and in the audience. Again, it was a productive engagement that I think will lead, most directly, to a follow-up panel and, a bit later, to additional collaboration.

In grad school, I was a bit of a conference-skeptic, but at this point, I am already looking forward to ISA 2017. I assume the call for papers will go out in about a week…

Kindle edition available now!

amazon-kindle

Good news!

While we are still waiting for the first hardcover copies of Latin America Confronts the United States: Asymmetry and Influence, the Kindle version is now available from Amazon. You can also download a sample of the book for free to your Kindle or any other device that runs the Kindle Reader program.

The Amazon site also features more information about the book, including some advance reviews from some of the top scholars of U.S.-Latin American relations: Philip Brenner, Abraham F. Lowenthal, and Richard Feinberg. Check it out!

Available for pre-order: Latin America Confronts the United States

Latin America Confronts the United States
A new book on U.S.-Latin American relations, coming in November 2015 from Cambridge University Press.

My first book, Latin America Confronts the United States: Asymmetry and Influence is now available for pre-order through Cambridge University Press. It has a cover design, too! The book is due out in November–so why not do your holiday shopping now? (Don’t all families do hard-cover academic book exchanges?)

Here is the summary from Cambridge:

“Latin America Confronts the United States offers a new perspective on US-Latin America relations. Drawing on research in six countries, the book examines how Latin American leaders are able to overcome power asymmetries to influence US foreign policy. The book provides in-depth explorations of key moments in post-World War II inter-American relations – foreign economic policy before the Alliance for Progress, the negotiation of the Panama Canal Treaties, the expansion of trade through NAFTA, and the growth of counternarcotics in Plan Colombia. The new evidence challenges earlier, US-centric explanations of these momentous events. Though differences in power were fundamental to each of these cases, relative weakness did not prevent Latin American leaders from aggressively pursuing their interests vis-à-vis the United States. Drawing on studies of foreign policy and international relations, the book examines how Latin American leaders achieved this influence – and why they sometimes failed.”

Bridging the Gap: Reflections on IPSI 2015

I just attended the International Policy Summer Institute, a program put together by Bridging the Gap. The event was held at my alma mater, the American University School of International Service, and led by Dean James Goldgeier, Bruce Jentleson from Duke, Jordan Tama from AU, and Brent Durbin of Smith College. Heavily influenced by the work and mission of Alexander George, BtG seeks to help interested scholars connect their work with policymakers, the media, and the general public. My fellow participants were an impressive group, including many up-and-coming assistant professors with a book (or several) with top university presses. All shared interests in producing excellent scholarship that contributes to the scholarship and builds theory while also engaging with other audiences (though not always the same ones). In the spirit of the event, I want to draw a few lessons from my week.

Continue reading “Bridging the Gap: Reflections on IPSI 2015”