International Relations

FSI researchers strive to understand how countries relate to one another, and what policies are needed to achieve global stability and prosperity. International relations experts focus on the challenging U.S.-Russian relationship, the alliance between the U.S. and Japan and the limitations of America’s counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan.

Foreign aid is also examined by scholars trying to understand whether money earmarked for health improvements reaches those who need it most. And FSI’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center has published on the need for strong South Korean leadership in dealing with its northern neighbor.

FSI researchers also look at the citizens who drive international relations, studying the effects of migration and how borders shape people’s lives. Meanwhile FSI students are very much involved in this area, working with the United Nations in Ethiopia to rethink refugee communities.

Trade is also a key component of international relations, with FSI approaching the topic from a slew of angles and states. The economy of trade is rife for study, with an APARC event on the implications of more open trade policies in Japan, and FSI researchers making sense of who would benefit from a free trade zone between the European Union and the United States.

Authors
Steven Pifer
News Type
News
Date
Paragraphs

Since regaining its independence in the aftermath of the Soviet Union’s collapse nearly 30 years ago, Ukraine has sought to build links with the West. This includes ties with institutions such as NATO, with which Ukraine has established a distinctive partnership. Kyiv has been keen on deepening those ties. Its interest in becoming a NATO member has continued to grow since 2014, as it views NATO as a means to protect Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity from its aggressive neighbor, Russia.

Although NATO-Ukraine cooperation has intensified, and the Alliance maintains its “open door” policy, NATO members appear reluctant to put Ukraine on a membership track. Despite the fact that Russia continues a low-intensity conflict against Ukraine—and occupies Ukrainian territory—Kyiv can expand its practical cooperation with NATO. However, in the near term, Kyiv will have to keep its expectations about membership modest.

Read the rest at Turkish Policy Quarterly

Hero Image
photo of man smiling
All News button
1
Subtitle

Since regaining its independence in the aftermath of the Soviet Union’s collapse nearly 30 years ago, Ukraine has sought to build links with the West. This includes ties with institutions such as NATO, with which Ukraine has established a distinctive partnership.

-

* Please note all CISAC events are scheduled using the Pacific Time Zone.

 

Seminar Recording: https://youtu.be/bUXHbUj5uxE

 

About the Event: While most civil wars today are fought within Muslim-majority states and, frequently, by armed groups that self-identify as Islamic, we know little about the relationships between and amongst Islamic humanitarian law, Western (treaty-based) humanitarian law, and the rhetoric and behavior of Islamic armed groups. Our legal analysis suggests that, while there is a great deal of overlap between Western and Islamic humanitarian law, this overlap is not perfect. Our empirical analysis, which focuses on both the words and behaviors of Islamic armed groups, suggests similarly mixed results. Specifically, we find that, on average, Islamic armed groups do not appear to be more or less compliant with Western or Islamic humanitarian law than non-Islamic armed groups when it comes to civilian targeting and child soldiering. While they often appeal to Islamic humanitarian law, Islamic armed groups appear to be bound by similar political and military – rather than religious or legal – constraints to non-Islamic armed groups.

 

About the Speaker: Tanisha Fazal is Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota. Her scholarship focuses on sovereignty, international law, and armed conflict.  Fazal’s current book project analyzes the effect of improvements in medical care in conflict zones on the long-term costs of war.  She is the author of State Death: The Politics and Geography of Conquest, Occupation, and Annexation (Princeton University Press, 2007), and Wars of Law: Unintended Consequences in the Regulation of Armed Conflict (Cornell University Press, 2018.

Virtual Seminar

Tanisha Fazal Professor of Political Science University of Minnesota
Seminars
0
paul.jpg PhD

T.V. Paul is Distinguished James McGill Professor in the Department of Political Science at McGill University, Montreal, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He served as President of the International Studies Association (ISA) during 2016-17. He is the Founding Director of the Global Research Network on Peaceful Change (GRENPEC).  Paul specializes in International Relations, especially peace and peaceful change, international security and South Asia.  He received his undergraduate education from Kerala University, India; MPhil in International Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Paul is the author or editor of 24 books, co-editor of 6 special journal issues, and author of over 90 journal articles and book chapters. He has lectured at universities and research institutions internationally. His 8 authored books areThe Unfinished Quest: India’s Search for Major Power Status from Nehru to Modi (Oxford University Press, 2024);  Restraining Great Powers: Soft Balancing from Empires to the Global Era (Yale University Press, 2018); The Warrior State: Pakistan in the Contemporary World (Oxford University Press, 2014, with multiple editions and translations); Globalization and the National Security State (with N. Ripsman), (Oxford University Press, 2010); The Tradition of Non-use of Nuclear Weapons (Stanford University Press, 2009);  India in the World Order (Cambridge University Press, 2002, with B. Nayar); Power versus Prudence: Why Nations Forgo Nuclear Weapons (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2000); and Asymmetric Conflicts: War Initiation by Weaker Powers (Cambridge University Press, 1994).

Paul is the editor or co-editor of 16 volumes:The New Cold War and the Remaking of Regions (co-editor and contributor with Markus Kornprobst), Georgetown University Press, 2025; International Organizations and Peaceful Change in World Politics (co-editor & contributor  with Anders Wivel and Kai He), Cambridge University Press, 2024.; The Oxford Handbook of Peaceful Change in International Relations, Oxford, 2021; International Institutions and Power Politics, with A. Wivel, Georgetown,  2019; India-China Maritime Competition, with R. Basrur and A. Mukherjee, Routledge, 2019; China-India Rivalry in the Globalization Era, Georgetown, 2018; The Accommodation of Rising Powers: Past, Present and Future, Cambridge, 2016; Status in World Politics, with W. Wholforth and D. Larson, Cambridge, 2014; International Relations Theory and Regional Transformation, Cambridge, 2012; South Asia’s Weak States: Understanding the Regional Insecurity Predicament, Stanford, 2010; Complex Deterrence: Strategy In the Global Age, with P.M. Morgan and J. J. Wirtz, Chicago, 2009; The India-Pakistan Conflict: An Enduring Rivalry, Cambridge, 2005; Balance of Power: Theory and Practice in the 21st Century, with J.J. Wirtz and M. Fortmann, Stanford, 2004; The Nation-State in Question, with G. J. Ikenberry and J.A. Hall, Princeton, 2003; International Order and the Future of World Politics, with J.A. Hall, Cambridge, 1999, 2000 (twice), 2001, 2002 & 2003; and The Absolute Weapon Revisited: Nuclear Arms and the Emerging International Order, with R. Harknett and  J.J. Wirtz, Michigan, 1998 & 2000.

He has also co-edited 6 special journal issues: International AffairsSoft Balancing in the Regions,” Special Journal Section, January 2025; Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs, “India’s Strategy toward Great Powers: Balancing and Diplomatic Engagement Revisited,” December 2024; (with C. Vinodan); International Affairs, Double Issue on “Deglobalization? The Future of the Liberal International Order,” Fall 2021 (with Markus Kornpbrobst); Ethics and International Affairs Special Section on “International Institutions and Peaceful Change,” Fall 2020 (with Kai He and Anders Wivel); Asian Security on “China-India Naval Competition,” Spring 2019 (with Rajesh Basrur and Anit Mukherjee); and  International Studies Review, 20(2), on “Understanding Change in World Politics,” June 2018, ISA Presidential Issue with J. Andrew Grant.

In November 2018, Paul was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada as a Senior Fellow. In December 2009, Paul’s Book, The Tradition of Non-use of Nuclear Weapons was selected for inclusion in the Peace Prize Laureate Exhibition honoring President Barack Obama by the Nobel Peace Center, Oslo. Power versus Prudence was selected as an ‘Outstanding Academic Title for 2001’ by the Choice Magazine and as a “Book for Understanding’ by the American Association of University Presses. In March 2005 Maclean Magazine’s Guide to Canadian Universities rated Paul as one of the “most popular professors” at McGill University and in May 2005 Paul became the recipient of High Distinction in Research Award by McGill’s Faculty of Arts. During 2009-12 he served as the Director (Founding) of the McGill University/Université de Montreal Centre for International Peace and Security Studies (CIPSS) which he helped to co-found. He has held visiting positions at Stanford University; Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Diplomatic Academy, Vienna; UC Berkeley; East-West Center, Honolulu; the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey; Harvard University; and as the KPS Menon Visiting Chair for Diplomacy and Erudite Fellow at the MG University, Kottayam, India.

He is the recipient of the inaugural Kim Dae-jung Award by the International Political Science Association (IPSA), 2025 (named after former South Korean President and Nobel Laureate for Peace); the 2025 Distinguished Scholar Award of ISA’s International Security Studies Section (ISSS), and the 2024 Distinguished Scholar Award of International Studies Association (ISA)-Canada. In July 2024, he was awarded Distinguished Fellow by the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada.  In 2024, he was honored with the establishment of T.V. Paul Best Book Award by the Global International Studies Section (GIRS) of ISA and in May 2024, with the creation of T.V. Paul Lecture series in Peace and Security by the Faculty of Arts at McGill University. In January 2023, he was selected as the first social science fellow under the Brain Gain program of the Kerala State Higher Education Council. In addition to President, during 2009-11, he served as the Chair of the International Security Section (ISSS) of the ISA (initiated the proposal for the creation of the Journal of Global Security Studies and the H-Diplo-ISS Forum along with Professor Robert Jervis of Columbia University); and in 2013-14 as Vice-President of ISA. As ISA president, he spearheaded a taskforce on improving conditions of Global South scholars in international studies. Since 2010, he has been serving as the editor of the Georgetown University Press book series: South Asia in World Affairs

For more, see: www.tvpaul.com

Affiliate
CV
Date Label
0
hazelton.jpg PhD

Jacqueline L. Hazelton is the executive editor of the journal International Security. She was previously an associate professor at the U.S. Naval War College and an associate of the International Security Program at the Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School. Hazelton's research ranges from grand strategy, great power military intervention, and U.S. foreign and military policy to counterinsurgency, terrorism, and the uses of military power. She recently published Bullets Not Ballots: Success in Counterinsurgency Warfare and is working on a manuscript about great powers, liberal values, and military intervention.

Prior to her faculty appointment at the Naval War College, Hazelton was a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Rochester and a research fellow with the Belfer Center's International Security Program. Earlier experience included a stint as an international journalist with the Associated Press where she analyzed and reported on world events from Tokyo to Kabul and covered U.S. news as well. She received M.A.’s in English Literature and in International Relations from the University of Chicago and her Ph.D. from Brandeis University's Department of Politics.

Affiliate
0
darnton.jpg PhD

Christopher Darnton has a PhD from the Department of Politics at Princeton University. At CISAC, Christopher is writing a book on the hundred-year history of U.S. security cooperation in Latin America, using declassified military documents to analyze the day-to-day work of alliance politics from the vantage point of officers in the field. How should we explain and understand military roles in inter-American relations beyond specific cases of intervention, and what lessons should inform US defense cooperation and military diplomacy today? Christopher’s broader work examines the domestic and bureaucratic politics of foreign policy in the Americas, particularly related to enduring rivalries and regional wars; conflict resolution and public diplomacy; developing-country diplomacy in the Cold War and in contemporary great power competition; and the refinement of archival and case-study research methods in security studies.

Christopher is an associate professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, where he has worked since 2016, teaching Latin American politics, international relations, and US foreign policy. Before NPS, Christopher taught for seven years at the Catholic University of America, and before that, for a year at Reed College. Christopher also served as president of the Foreign Policy section of the American Political Science Association; as a contributing editor to the Library of Congress' Handbook of Latin American Studies; and as a summer associate at the RAND Corporation.

Affiliate
0
baram.jpeg

Dr. Gil Baram is a senior lecturer (US Associate Professor) at the Political Studies Department, Bar Ilan University. She is a non-resident research scholar at the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC), University of California, Berkeley. She is also a senior adjunct research fellow at the Centre of Excellence for National Security, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Previously, she was a Fulbright Cybersecurity postdoctoral fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University.

Dr. Baram’s research explores, among other areas, AI-driven cyber threats, the impact of technology on national security, the role of Intelligence agencies in cyber operations, cyber threats to space systems, cyber diplomacy and norms development, and data-based approaches to cyber conflict research.

Affiliate
Date Label
0
ryanmusto.jpeg

Ryan A. Musto is the Director of Forums and Research Initiatives with the Global Research Institute (GRI) at William & Mary.

He is currently completing a book manuscript on the international history of regional nuclear weapon free zones. With his work, Ryan seeks to better understand the geopolitical and geostrategic dynamics that lead to proposals for regional denuclearization and determine their outcome. He also looks to further situate nuclear weapons within our understanding of the global north-south divide. Ultimately, Ryan aims to produce works of “applied history” that can inform contemporary efforts towards the completion of denuclearized zones and nuclear arms control more broadly.

Ryan served as a MacArthur Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow with CISAC from 2020 - 2022. He has also served as a Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and as a Nuclear Security Fellow with the Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) in São Paulo, Brazil. His work has been published in Diplomatic History, Cold War History, Diplomacy & Statecraft, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Arms Control Today, and Americas Quarterly, amongst other outlets. Ryan is a frequent contributor to the Wilson Center’s Nuclear Proliferation International History Project (NPIHP).

Ryan holds a Ph.D. in history from The George Washington University, master’s degrees in international and world history from Columbia University and the London School of Economics, and a B.A. (hons.) in history from New York University (NYU).

Affiliate
0
Research Scholar
rsd25_073_0302a.jpg

Sulgiye Park is a Research Scholar at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University. Previously, she was a Senior Scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, where she specialized in analyzing the nuclear fuel pathways of North Korea and China. She earned her Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Stanford, focusing on the behavior of nuclear materials under extreme environments, and later conducted research at the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences on fabricating nanodiamonds for technological applications. As both a Stanton Foundation and MacArthur Foundation Fellow at CISAC, her work encompassed geologic analysis of North Korea’s uranium and critical metal resources, regulatory frameworks for nuclear waste management, and the production and supply chains of rare-earth and other critical metals in the United States.

Date Label
0
emery.jpg

John R. Emery is an Assistant Professor of International Security at the University of Oklahoma in the Department of International and Area Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine. His research focuses broadly on the intersection of ethics of war, security studies and technology. His work on 1950s nuclear wargaming at the RAND Corporation and the impact of wargames on ethical intuition has been published in Texas National Security Review. Previous work on drones, ethics, counter-terrorism, and just war is published in Critical Military Studies, Ethics & International Affairs, and Peace Review. In 2017-2018 he was awarded the NSF-funded Technology, Law and Society Fellowship to undertake an interdisciplinary study of the impact of AI, Big Data, and blockchain on law and society scholarship.

Affiliate
0
buono_stephen.jpg

Stephen Buono is Assistant Professor of Humanities at the University of Florida, where he teaches at the Hamilton School of Classical and Civic Education. An historian of governance, technology, and international relations, he is the author of The Province of All Mankind: How Outer Space Became American Foreign Policy and Governing the Moon: A History. Buono was a Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow at CISAC in 2020–2022, and subsequently held fellowships at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the University of Chicago. He is currently at work on a book about universities in the American Century.

Affiliate
CV
Date Label
Subscribe to International Relations