IR & CP Workshop Series

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.

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

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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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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