I am an Assistant Professor at Harvard’s Department of Government. My research interests focus on international security and the political economy of international organizations. I am the recipient of the APSA Merze Tate Award for the best dissertation in the field of international relations. My work has been published or is forthcoming in the American Journal of Political Science, European Union Politics, International Organization, the Journal of Conflict Resolution and the Review of International Organization. I hold a Ph.D. in political science from Princeton University.

In my book project, I investigate three questions about international institutions and power in world politics: To what extent can minor powers constrain great powers? Do institutional norms and practices shape state behavior? And which signals do international organizations convey when they are united or divided? I explain that great powers share disproportionately large influence in international organizations with smaller states to attain unanimity, which enhances the signaling effect of these institutions. A mixed-methods analysis of the UN Security Council tests this argument by investigating decision-making in this organization, compliance with its resolutions, its impact on public attitudes, and issue-linkage across international institutions. The study combines experiments, causal inference based on natural experiments, and qualitative case studies.

A second stream of my research focuses on political violence. A set of papers investigates Iraqi public attitudes toward ISIS, the Iraqi government, and U.S. airstrikes against ISIS, leveraging list experiments and two original national surveys. An additional paper estimates the effect of UN blue helmets on violence against civilians through design-based causal inference and a case study.

The picture at the top shows the UN Security Council’s working breakfast with the Turkish foreign minister during a closed-door retreat in Istanbul. I am seated in the foreground on the left side. For the qualitative component of my research I participated in seven Security Council retreats and interviewed diplomats in seven countries.