I am an associate professor of political science and international relations at the University of Southern California. Born and raised in California, I went to Harvard for my undergraduate and graduate studies, then taught at Smith College before returning west to take up the position at USC. My research agenda is like a coin that has two, related sides. On one side of the coin, I leverage the insights of scholars of culture, identity, and psychology to explain nation-states’ policies regarding nuclear weapons and international security, energy, and the environment. My two solo-authored books on nuclear weapons proliferation have received a total of five major book prizes, including the renowned Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order, and I have published articles in many journals including Environmental Politics, Foreign Affairs, International Security, and Security Studies. On the other side of the coin, I leverage insights and methods from political science and international relations to better understand global trends in culture and identity. In particular, I have a longstanding research interest in the politics of currency iconography: the art of the banknote. I have systematically coded banknote iconographies to compare the basic cultural and identity messages that they are sending, and I have conducted pointillistic case study research on specific countries’ processes and politics of banknote iconography choices. I have published articles on this topic in journals including the European Journal of International Relations, Journal of East Asian Studies, and Political Geography, and I am currently working on a book manuscript.
![Jacques E.C. Hymans in Brazil](https://dornsife.usc.edu/jacques-hymans/wp-content/uploads/sites/323/2023/09/JECH_in_Brazil-768x600.jpg)