Research

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Book Project: Rhetoric and Bargaining

My primary research investigates the role of government rhetoric during international bargaining. I compare the impact of moral and legal arguments to more strategic, material-based arguments on public preferences for compromise and subsequent dispute escalation. I use a mix of survey experimental methods, text analysis, and qualitative case studies to explore the core research question. This project received the 2019 John McCain Dissertation Award. (See media here.) The working paper based on the theory and case entitled, "A Point of Principle: The Role of Rhetoric in International Bargaining" is currently under review. In addition to this project, I have a number of working papers on topics related to bargaining -- projects on military signals, gender, nuclear weapons, and refugee flow. Please contact me for working papers.

military signals

"Flying to Fail: Costly Signals and Air Power in Crisis Bargaining." 2018. The Journal of Conflict Resolution.

"Hand-Tying versus Muscle-Flexing in Crisis Bargaining" (with Todd Sechser).

GENDER AND CONFLICT

"Why Can't a Woman be More Like a Man? Female Leaders in Crisis Bargaining." (With Paromita Sen.) 2019. International Interactions.

Media: "Obama said that if women ran the world, there’d be less war. Here’s the research." 2019. Washington Post - The Monkey Cage.

other research

"Norms, Public Opinion, and the Use of Nuclear Weapons" (with Todd Sechser).

"Preventing the Flood: Statecraft, Policy Tools, and Border Control" (with Bill Bernhard and David Leblang).