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International Relations; Methods
Dissertation Description: I am working on the effect of legal claims over territory on disputants' use of force in territorial disputes. I investigate whether having a stronger legal argument over ownership makes a challenger state more aggressive in these disputes while making this use of force more acceptable for third-party actors that are willing to enforce international law.
Email: fbenliog@ucsd.edu
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Comparative Politics
Dissertation Description: I study the political economy of development and distributive politics. My dissertation focuses on clientelism in healhtcare access in Brasil.
Email: lbueno@ucsd.edu
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Comparative Politics; International Relations
Dissertation Description: I study democratic backsliding and civil-military relations. My research explores the role of the military in politics, with a focus on how political identities and private incentives shape military decisions and behavior and how those dynamics can threaten democratic stability. My job market paper examines how political polarization can lead to a self-sustaining politicization of military organizations from within.
Email: jhc013@ucsd.edu
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International Relations; Methods
Dissertation Description: My research argues that weapons acquisitions are interstate bargaining determined by the seller's reliability, the buyer's defense industrial capacity, and the buyer's strategic value. I use social network analysis, interviews, and archives to show how states engage in domestic production, importation, or collaboration to obtain weapons.
Email: c1fang@ucsd.edu
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International Relations; Methods
Dissertation Description: Great power influence over smaller states is most successful when there are both cultural and economic ties. I show this using the case of the post-Soviet states and Russia.
Email: gisayeva@ucsd.edu
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Comparative Politics
Dissertation Description: I study the dynamics of contemporary state building and state-minority relations. Through the lens of internal migration and ethnic minority language/education policy, I explore the extent to which these policy tools can help (or hurt) the state.
Email: klle@ucsd.edu
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Comparative Politics; International Relations
Dissertation Description: My book-style dissertation examines how autocratic regimes redefine the meaning of democracy and related norms, and how this strategy is used to mobilize popular support and deter opposition. I focus in particular on Vietnam, a single-party Communist regime.
Email: dtp002@ucsd.edu
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Comparative Politics; Methods
Dissertation Description: My research examines how rulers extract resources from their populations, with a focus on Latin America and Spanish colonialism in particular. To explore this topic, I combine formal theory with quasi-experimental methods, drawing from historical and geospatial data.
Email: krenk@ucsd.edu
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Comparative Politics; Formal Theory
Dissertation Description: I study how AI-powered mass surveillance is transforming state-society relations, with implications for authoritarian durability, opposition politics, digital privacy and security, and international dynamics. Methodologically, I develop formal theories using dynamic games and apply computational tools, such as large language models, to uncover empirical evidence for my theoretical claims.
Email: sic015@ucsd.edu
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International Relations; Formal Theory
Dissertation Description: I study the bargaining dynamics of interstate wartime negotiation and war termination.
Email: y5wan@ucsd.edu
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Comparative Politics; Methods
Dissertation Description: I study how state propaganda and education shape Chinese citizens' economic ideology and how the state-owned economic system affects the resilience of authoritarian regimes.
Email: mixiao@ucsd.edu
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American Politics; International Relations
Dissertation Description: My research bridges American politics and International Relations, with a focus on the role of legislative institutions in foreign policymaking. My job market paper and dissertation examines how members of Congress gather information, conduct oversight, and influence U.S. foreign policy.
Email: rqyu@ucsd.edu