The International Relations and Comparative Politics Workshops take place on alternate Wednesdays at 12:30 pm. Sessions are held in SOS B40 and streamed on Zoom for remote attendees.
  • Papers are drafts for prospective journal articles in international relations and/or comparative politics.
  • Sessions begin with 15-minute presentations followed by brief comments from a discussant; the floor then opens to questions that engage the presenter in a back and forth; the presenter ends the session with five-minute remarks.
  • The goal of the series is to provide feedback that also gives the author (PhD students, faculty or visiting faculty) an opportunity to make a presentation and engage PhD students and faculty. The workshops also facilitate publishable papers for PhD students and develop critique skills for discussants and attendees.
  • Sessions last 75 minutes.
Both series strive to build community among faculty and graduate students while fostering professional development through mentorship.
Sessions are restricted to USC faculty and graduate students. Undergraduate honors thesis students in international relations and comparative politics are also invited to attend. For inquiries about specific presenters and papers, and to volunteer to be a presenter or discussant, please contact lascis@usc.edu.

Upcoming Fall 2024 Workshops

September 11, 2024

Comparative Politics Workshop
“The Limits of Electoral Gender Quotas”
Presenter: Varun Karekurve-Ramachandra, POIR Faculty
Co-author: Gaurav Sood
Discussant: Erik Hanson, POIR Postdoctoral Fellow

RSVP Here

September 18, 2024

International Relations Workshop
“Descriptive to Substantive Representation of Ethnic Minorities in the UK Parliament”
Presenter: Stephanie Zonszein Strauss, UC Berkeley
Co-authors: Apurav Bhatiya, William Dinneen, Guy Grossman
Discussant: Ewon Baik, POIR PhD Candidate

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September 25, 2024

Comparative Politics Workshop
“Exporting the Tools of Dictatorship: The Politics of China’s Technology Transfers”
Presenter: Brett Carter, POIR Faculty
Co-author: Erin Baggott Carter, POIR Faculty
Discussant: Pablo Argote, POIR Postdoctoral Fellow

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October 2, 2024

International Relations Workshop
“Injustice as Debt: Managing the Growing Costs of Japan-South Korea Reconciliation”
Presenter: Tom Le, Pomona College
Discussant: Stephen Schick, POIR PhD Candidate

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October 16, 2024

International Relations Workshop
“Reconceiving the Role of Undergraduate Research Assistants: Intentional Integration of Mentorship, Technical Training, and Professional Pipelines”
Presenter: Alix Ziff, POIR Postdoctoral Fellow
Discussant: Megan Becker, POIR Faculty

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October 23, 2024

Comparative Politics Workshop
“A Shift in Customary Norms: Broadening Vulnerable Migrant Rights in Contemporary Asylum Jurisprudence”
Presenter: Therese Franklin, POIR PhD Candidate
Discussant: Jessica Walker, POIR PhD Candidate

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October 30, 2024

International Relations Workshop
“Understanding Regime Complexity in Regional Governance”
Presenter: Yeiyoung Choo, POIR PhD Candidate
Discussant: Miguel Hijar-Chiapa, POIR PhD student

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November 6, 2024

Comparative Politics Workshop
“Ideology and Online Self-Censorship: The Analysis of the Turkish Case”
Presenter: Sinan Kircova, POIR PhD Candidate
Discussant: Ivana Jordanovska, POIR PhD Candidate

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November 13, 2024

International Relations Workshop
“The Revenge of Victor Orban? Central Europe Wobbles on Ukraine”
Presenters: Rob English, POIR Faculty
Discussant: Mietek Boduszyński, Pomona College

RSVP Here

November 20, 2024

Comparative Politics Workshop
“Ethnicity and Attitudes About Climate Change in Africa”
Presenter: Evan Lieberman, MIT
Co-authors: Devin Caughey and Preston Johnson
Discussant: Gaea Morales, POIR PhD Candidate

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  • April 24, 2024
    Comparative Politics & International Relations Workshop
    Year-End Gathering
    A special year-end session of the workshop series, where we will share a special lunch and discuss highlights from the year, feedback, and ideas for next year.

    April 17, 2024
    International Relations Workshop
    Victoria Chonn Ching, POIR Postdoctoral Fellow
    “One Region, Unifying and (De)Unifying Interests: The Many Chinas in Latin America and the Caribbean”
    Discussant: Jose Urias Flores**

    March 27, 2024
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Jillian Schwedler, Professor at Hunter College
    “Urban Planning and Political Protests”
    Discussant: Jane Mary Sakr**

    March 6, 2024
    International Relations Workshop
    Soo Yeon Kim, Associate Professor at National University of Singapore
    “Membership and its Benefits: Vote Shares in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank” (co-authored with Jesslene Lee, University of Toronto)
    Discussant: Pongkwan Sawasdipakdi**

    February 28, 2024
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Jessica Walker

    “Beyond Beliefs: Re-conceptualizing Rebel Group Ideology”
    Discussant: Chloe Bernadaux**

    February 21, 2024
    International Relations Workshop
    Joshua Leung

    “Face Culture and Asian International Relations”
    Discussant: Kayeon Roh**

    February 14, 2024
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Saran Uthayakumar

    “Dreaming in the Diaspora: Situating the Cambodian American Diaspora in Post-Genocide Healing”
    Discussant: Melissa Watanabe**

    January 31, 2024
    International Relations Workshop
    Allison Hartnett

    “After the Commons: Economic Opportunity and Colonial Legacies of Land Privatization”
    Discussant: Pablo Argote***

    January 24, 2024
    International Relations Workshop
    Miguel Hijar Chiapa
    “The Wretched of the Pantheon: Frantz Fanon and the Discipline of International Relations”
    Discussant: Brian Rathbun*

    January 17, 2024
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    José Múzquiz
    La Raza: Race and Legislator’s Responsivity in Mexico”
    Discussant: Gerry Munck*

     

    *POIR faculty

    **POIR PhD student/candidate

    ***POIR Postdoctoral Fellow

  • November 8, 2023
    International Relations Workshop
    Dana El Kurd, Professor at University of Richmond
    “Transnational Activism, Social Media, & Mobilization: The Case of the Pro-Palestine Movement”
    Discussant: Chloe Bernadaux, POIR PhD Student

    November 1, 2023
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Brian Palmer-Rubin* (coauthor with Candelaria Garay and Mathias Poertner)
    “Mass Politics 2.0: Organizations and Political Identity in Neoliberal Latin America”
    Discussant: Sinan Kircova**

    October 25, 2023
    International Relations Workshop
    Alison Dundes Renteln* & Cher Weixia Chen (George Mason University)
    Special Session – Book Discussion: “International Human Rights: A Survey” (Cambridge University Press, 2023)

    October 18, 2023
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Pablo Francisco Argote Tironi (USC Postdoctoral Fellow) (coauthor with Giancarlo Visconti)
    “Ideological vs. Issue Voting:  Evidence from Chile”
    Discussant: Ewon Baik**

    October 4, 2023
    Special Session: CIS Open House for PhD Students
    We will discuss upcoming programming and funding opportunities and invite questions.

    September 27, 2023
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Thomas Pepinsky (Cornell)
    “A Political Economy of Social Categories”
    Discussant: Stephen Schick**

    September 20, 2023
    International Relations Workshop
    Julia Morse (UCSB) (Co-author with Tyler Pratt, University of North Carolina)
    “Fighting Facts or Fighting Norms: Norm Transgressions, Reputation Management, and International Organizations”
    Discussant: Yeiyoung Choo**

    September 13, 2023
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Alden Young (UCLA)
    “Across the Red Sea: Diaspora, Revolution and Anti-Imperialism”
    Discussant: Saranyan Uthayakumar**

    September 6, 2023
    International Relations Workshop
    Brian Rathbun*
    “The Other Cheek: Costly Signaling, Moral Psychology, and the Effect of Nonviolence”
    Discussant: Laura Breen**

     

    *POIR faculty
    **POIR PhD student/candidate

  • April 5, 2023
    International Relations Workshop
    Amanda Kennard, Stanford University
    Discussant: Donald Grasse, CIS postdoctoral fellow
    Title: “Climate Change and Political (In)Stability”

    March 29, 2023
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Jefferey Sellers, POIR professor; Chloe Bernadaux, PhD student; and Ada Li Sarain,
    POIR PhD alumna
    Discussant: Sinan Kircova**
    Title: “Territorial Attachment, Globalization, and the City”

    March 22, 2023
    International Relations Workshop
    Pongkwan Sawasdipakdi, PhD candidate
    Discussant: Ewon Baik**
    Title: “How Dare You Betray Me: Betrayal, Emotion, and Outrage in International Relations”

    March 15, 2023
    IR/CP workshop A [NO SESSION – SPRING BREAK; ISA CONFERENCE]

    March 8, 2023
    International Relations Workshop
    Tyler Jost, Brown University
    Discussant: Don Grasse, CIS postdoctoral fellow
    Title: “The Roots of China’s Contemporary Arming Behavior”

    March 1, 2023
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Chloe Bernadaux and Stephen Schick, PhD students
    Discussant: Yeiyoung Choo**
    Title: Economic Conditions and the Shaping of Subnational Propaganda under Autocracy

    February 22, 2023
    International Relations Workshop
    Gaea Morales, PhD candidate
    Discussant: Therese Franklin**
    Title: “From Gatekeepers to Keys: The United Nations System and Local Authority Legitimacy”.

    February 15, 2023
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Agustina Paglayan, University of California, San Diego
    Discussant: Tine Paulsen*
    Title: “Countering Disobedience: The Rise and Spread of Mass Education”

     

    *POIR faculty

    **POIR PhD student/candidate

  • November 16, 2022
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Courtenay Conrad (University of California, Merced), “Judicial Decisions, Police Officer Uncertainty, and the Escalation of Force
    (co-authored with Sophia Hatz and Kristine Eck)
    Discussant: Tolu Babalola**

    November 9, 2022
    International Relations Workshop
    Donald Grasse (CIS postdoctoral fellow), “The Logic and Impacts of Rebel Public Services Provision: Evidence from Taliban Courts in Afghanistan”
    (co-authored with Renard Sexton and Austin Wright)
    Discussant: Chloe Bernadaux**

    November 2, 2022
    No session: Week of the conference of Peace Science

    October 26, 2022
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Tolu Babalola**, “In the Eye of the Beholder: The Relativity of Democracy and Redistributive Politics”
    (co-authored with Allison Hartnett*)
    Discussant: Alya Khemakhem**

    October 19, 2022
    International Relations Workshop
    Mariya Grinberg (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), “The Future of Economic Warfare (is Bleak)”
    Discussant: Yeiyoung Choo**

    October 12, 2022
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Brett Carter*, “The Kremlin and K Street: Vote-Buying in the U.S. Congress”
    (co-authored with Erin Baggott Carter* and Eva Isakovic, formerly an undergrad in POIR and now a Fulbright Scholar in Bosnia)
    Discussant: Stephen Schick**

    October 5, 2022
    International Relations Workshop
    Graeme Blair (University of California, Los Angeles), “Evidence-Based Decision-Making on Research Ethics in the Social Sciences”
    Co-authored with Rebecca Wolfe (University of Chicago), Rebecca Littman (University of Chicago), and Sarah Ryan (University of California Berkeley)
    Discussant: Donald Grasse, CIS postdoctoral fellow

    September 28, 2022
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Melissa Rogers (Claremont Graduate University), “Vote Your Region or Your Income? Decomposing Variance in Redistributive Voting”
    Discussant: Gaea Morales**

    September 14, 2022
    No session: Week of the conference of the American Political Science Association

    September 7, 2022
    International Relations Workshop
    Jacques C. Hymans*, “Anti-War or Anti-Nuclear? The Gender Gap in Testimonials by Survivors of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki”
    (co-authored with Tomoko Matsumoto, Tokyo University of Science)
    Discussant: Brian Rathbun*

    August 31, 2022
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Tine Paulsen*, “Mass Party Advantage under Party-Centered Local Governance”
    Discussant: Allison Hartnett*

     

    *POIR faculty

    **POIR PhD student/candidate

  • April 13, 2022
    International Relations Workshop
    Victoria Chonn Ching (USC postdcoc), “How Host Country Actors Can Shape BRI Projects: States, Elites, and Bureaucracies”
    (co-authored with Alvin Camba, Korbel School)
    Discussant: TBD

    April 6, 2022
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Presenter and Discussant TBD

    March 23, 2022
    International Relations Workshop
    Eric Min (UCLA), “I Meant What I Said: The Sequencing of Diplomatic Signals”
    (co-authored with Azusa Katagiri, Osaka University)
    Discussant: Jackie S. H. Wong**

    March 9, 2022
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Miguel Pereira*, “What Drives Politicians to Act on Climate? A Cross-National Field Experiment”
    (Co-authored with Nathalie Giger, University of Geneva; Maria Domiguez Perez, University of Southern California; Kaya Axelsson, University of Oxford)
    Discussant: Bijean Ghafouri

    March 2, 2022
    International Relations Workshop
    SPECIAL TIME: 12–1:30 pm
    Delgerjargal Uvsh (CIS postdoc), “Revenue Shocks and Policy Changes: When Do Resource-Rich Governments Invest in Economic Freedom?”
    Discussant: Victoria Chonn Ching (USC postdoctoral fellow)

    February 23, 2022
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Brian Knafou**, “Religious Messaging in Authoritarian Regimes: Analyzing the publications of the Egyptian Dar al-Ifta”
    Discussant: Alya Khemakhem**

    February 16, 2022
    International Relations Workshop
    Kyle Rapp**, “On What Grounds? Legal References and Effective Argumentation at the ICC”
    Discussant: Stefanie Neumeier**

    February 9, 2022
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Erin Baggott Carter* and Victor Shih (UCSD), “Terrifyingly Normal: How Bureaucratic Incentives Shape Repression in China”
    (co-authored with Jonghyuk Lee)
    Discussant: Stephen Schick**

    February 2, 2022
    Professional Development Session
    “Attending Conferences 101: Participating, Presenting, and Discussing,” moderated by Saori N. Katada, with panelists Sherry Zaks* and Taylor Dalton.**

    January 26, 2022
    Comparative Politics Workshop
    Yuen Yuen Ang (Michigan), “How Beijing Commands: An Automated Text Analysis of Central Directives, 1978–2017”
    (co-authored with Simeng Zeng, PhD Student, University of Minnesota)
    Discussant: Erin Baggott Carter*

    January 19, 2022
    International Relations Workshop
    Audrye Wong*,“Divide to Conquer: How Authoritarian Regimes Use Wedge Narratives to Marginalize Diaspora Communities”(Co-authored with Patrick Chester of NYU)
    Discussant: Laura Breen**

     

    *POIR faculty
    **POIR PhD student/candidate