• Tolulope Babalola

    Dissertation: “Cultural Heterogeneity, Colonialism, and Black Americans’ Political Behavior and Attitudes”

    Advisor: Jane Junn

    Placement: Visiting Assistant Professor, Loyola Marymount University

    Michelle Cornelius

    Dissertation: “Partisan Media Bias vs. Structural Media Bias: Which One Dominates in a Polarized Environment?”

    Advisor: Ann Crigler

    Yuji Idomoto

    Dissertation: “China’s Peaceful Rise, After All? The Threat of Rising Powers Reconsidered”

    Advisor: David Kang

    Placement: Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California, San Diego

    Pongkwan Sawasdipakdi

    Dissertation: “Hard Feelings: Friendship, Betrayal, and Outrage in International Relations”

    Advisor: Brian Rathbun

    Placement: Lecturer (Assistant Professor), Thammasat University, Bangkok

    Siu Hei “Jackie” Wong

    Dissertation: “Of Words and Deeds: A 70-year Analysis of China’s Official Rhetoric and Coercion since 1949”

    Advisor: David Kang

    Placement: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Princeton University

    Alix Ziff

    Alix Ziff

    Dissertation: “The Politics of Aid Allocation & Accessibility”

    Advisor: Benjamin Graham

    Placement: Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, University of Southern California

  • Claire Crawford

    Dissertation: “‘Hum So the Devil Doesn’t Hear You’: Rural Black Southern Political Existences as the Otherwise”

    Advisor: Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations and African American Studies, Wake Forest University

    Edward Gonzalez

    Dissertation: “Pathways to Nuclear Weapon Reversal: Exploring Mechanisms and Understanding Non-Proliferation Policy”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Visiting Lecturer in Master of Arts in International Relations program, New York University

    Whitney Hua

    Dissertation: “Signaling Identity: How Race and Gender Shape What Representatives Say Online”

    Advisor: Ann Crigler

    Placement: Director of Research & Stakeholder Analytics, The Center for Election Science

    Nicholas Napolio

    Dissertation: “Bureaucratic Politics and Power Building in the Administrative State”

    Advisor: Christian Grose

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of California, Riverside

    Dat Nguyen

    Dissertation: “Identity and Regional Integration: Case Studies on Central Asia and Southeast Asia”

    Advisor: Robert English

    Stefanie Neumeier

    Dissertation: “Refugee Protection and Empowerment Joint Venture: Understanding How and Why Public and Private Actors Cooperate to Tackle the Global Refugee Crisis”

    Advisor: Wayne Sandholtz

    Placement: Senior Clients Insight Analyst, Edward Jones

    Kendrick Roberson

    Dissertation: “Pernicious Racism And The Impacts Of Intentional Racist In A Color Blind Society”

    Advisor: Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science, Pepperdine University

  • Miriam Barnum

    Dissertation: “Lesser Evils? WMD Pursuit Beyond Nuclear Weapons”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science, Purdue University

    Ayana Best

    Dissertation: “Voices Unheard, Stories Untold: Black Women, Police Violence and Political Participation”

    Advisor: Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science, Howard University

    Jarred Cuellar

    Dissertation: “La Eleccion de la Pandemia: Analyzing the Adverse Effects of Covid-19 on Latinos during the 2020 Presidential Election”

    Advisor: Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

    Taylor Dalton

    Dissertation: “Things Fall Apart: The Unraveling of International Institutions through Withdrawal”

    Advisor: Wayne Sandholtz

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Law, Santa Clara University School of Law

    Maria Dominguez-Perez

    Dissertation: “The Strategy of Firms Towards Political Elites and Consumers in Polarized Western Democracies”

    Advisor: Gerardo Munck

    Sarah Cueva Egan

    Dissertation: “Identity Salience and Political Violence: Centering Social Identity in the Study of Intrastate Violence”

    Advisor: Laurie Brand

    Placement: Associate Director of Quantitative Research, Anti-Defamation League

    Spiros Jason Giannaros

    Dissertation: “Are You as Old as You Feel? A Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Leader Age and Foreign Policy Decision-Making”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of District of Columbia

    Eboni “Nola” Haynes

    Dissertation: “Valuation of National Security Threats: An Integrative Look at Ideational, Material Threats and Identity”

    Advisor: Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro

    Placement: Adjunct Professor in School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University and Research Fellow, Truman National Security Project

    Han-Hui Hsieh

    Dissertation: “Explaining the Variation in the Extent of China’s Hegemony, 1279-1840 — Multiple Sources of Ideational Power beyond Confucianism”

    Advisor: David Kang

    Placement: Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in Political Science and International Relations, University of Southern California

    Brian Knafou

    Dissertation: “Authoritarian Religion: Explaining When and Why Authoritarian Governments Instrumentalize Religion”

    Advisor: Laurie Brand

    Placement: Quantitative Program Evaluator, Ripple Effect

    Matthew Nelson

    Dissertation: “Can Election Reforms Improve Democracy?”

    Advisor: Christian Grose

    Placement: Quantitative Research Specialist, Purple Strategies

    Maria Daniela Maag Pardo

    Dissertation: “Politics Behind Appointments: Policy, Patronage, and Party Systems in the Andes”

    Advisor: Gerardo Munck

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador

    Paul Orner

    Dissertation: “The Logics of Chinese Strategy”

    Advisor: David Kang

    Placement: Research Analyst, Center of Naval Analysis

    Kyuri Park

    Dissertation: “Goldilocks’ Signal for Cooperation in East Asia: China’s Rise, Hedging, and Joint Military Exercises”

    Advisor: David Kang

    Placement: Postdoctoral Fellow at the Global Research Institute, William & Mary

    Michael Pfonner

    Dissertation: “Organized Intra-Ethnic Conflict and Cooperation in Divided Stateless Nations: The Competitive Dynamics of Rival Ethnonationalist Factions”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Kyle Rapp

    Dissertation: “By Word, Not Deed: Advancing a Theory of Rhetorical Compliance in International Law”

    Advisor: Wayne Sandholtz

    Placement: Postdoctoral Fellow at the Berlin-Potsdam Research Group, Freie Universität Berlin

    Joseph Saraceno

    Dissertation: “The Representation of LGBT Interests in the United States: A Multi-Method Approach”

    Advisor: Christian Grose

    Placement: Data Scientist, Team Lead, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

    Yue “Ada” Li Sarain

    Dissertation: “Engaging Together: Exploring the Peer Effects of Civic Engagement”

    Advisor: Jefferey Sellers

    Placement: Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in Political Science and International Relations, University of Southern California

    Anne van Wijk

    Dissertation: “The IO Contestation Project: A Multi-Method Approach Towards Understanding the Different Ways States Contest International Organizations”

    Advisor: Wayne Sandholtz

    Placement: Mixed-Methods UX Researcher @ Instagram, Meta

  • Nicolás Albertoni

    Dissertation: “The Risk of Trade Protectionism In An Interconnected and Uncertain Global Economy. A State, Industrial, and Regional Analysis”

    Advisor: Carol Wise

    Placement: Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay

    Cody Brown

    Dissertation: “A Theory of Status-Quo Terrorism: Democracies in Conflict and Their Proclivity to Outsource Repression”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Mixed-Methods Research Scientist, University of Southern California

    Gabrielle Lai Ting Cheung

    Dissertation: “Ambition in World Politics: The Domestic Sources of Global Economic Integration”

    Advisor: Saori N. Katada

    Placement: Lecturer, Brunel University of London

    Victoria Chonn Ching

    Dissertation: “Economic Policy-Making in a Changing Environment: The Politics of Success in Peru vis-a-vis China”

    Advisor: Carol Wise

    Placement: Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, University of Southern California and Non-resident Fellow, Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center

    Timo B. Dahler

    Dissertation: “Essays on the International Political Economy of Sovereign Debt”

    Advisors: Joshua Aizenman

    Placement: Quantitative Analyst, Raiffeisen Switzerland

    Fabián Naranjo Gonzalez

    Dissertation: “Running for Office? Three Different Models in U.S. Political Campaigns & Elections”

    Advisor: Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro

    Placement: Coordinator of Legislative Advocacy, Los Angeles Unified School District

    Evgeniia Iakhnis

    Dissertation: “Public Opinion and International Affairs. A Multi-Method Approach to Foreign Policy Attitudes”

    Advisor: Patrick James & Brian Rathbun

    Placement: Senior UX Researcher, Meta

     

    Ellen Kim

    Dissertation: “Fear or Greed? The Balance of Relative Interest under the Dual Hierarchical Order in Asia-Pacific”

    Advisor: David Kang

    Placement: Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies

    Alex Yu-Ting Lin

    Dissertation: “Challenges from Below: The Origins of Status Competitions in World Politics”

    Advisor: David Kang

    Placement: Assistant Director and Senior Research Fellow, International Security Center, University of Notre Dame

    Susan Mulesky

    Dissertation: “Selling Virtue: How Human Rights NGOs and Their Donors Work Together to Create a Better World…For Themselves”

    Advisor: Wayne Sandholtz

    Placement: Principal Behavioral Scientist, Vanguard

    David Somogyi

    Dissertation: “The Erosion of Democracy in the Post-Cold War World: Understanding the Phenomenon and its Causes”

    Advisor: Gerardo Munck

    Mao Suzuki

    Dissertation: “Deciding Modalities of Global Health Governance: What Facilitates or Hinders Public-Private Partnerships?”

    Advisor: Saori N. Katada

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science, Yale-NUS College and National University of Singapore

    Joshua Timm

    Dissertation: “The Small Dollar Political Donor: Why Regular Folks Give Money to Politics”

    Advisor: Christian Grose

    Placement: Insights Researcher, Riot Games

    Shiming Yang

    Dissertation: “A Global South Divided: Developing Countries in International Environmental Politics”

    Advisor: Carol Wise

    Placement: University Lectureship in Global Political Economy of China, Leiden University

    Kelebogile Zvobgo

    Dissertation: “Governing Truth: NGOs and the Politics of Transitional Justice”

    Advisor: Wayne Sandholtz

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Government, William & Mary

  • Therese Anders

    Dissertation: “Perspectives on State Capacity and the Political Geography of Conflict”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Data Scientist, Apple

    Adam Badawy

    Dissertation: “Analysis and Prediction of Malicious Users on Online Social Networks: Applications of Machine Learning and Network Analysis in Social”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Capital One

    Kevin Baron

    Dissertation: “California’s Adaptation to Sea Level Rise: Incorporating Environmental Justice Communities Along the State Coastline”

    Advisor: Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro

    Kristopher Coombs

    Dissertation: “Political Participation, Public Opinion, and the Law”

    Advisor: Jane Junn

    David Brooks Ebner

    Dissertation: “Politics Is Something We Do Together: Identity and Institutions in U.S. Elections”

    Advisor: Christian Grose

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science, Sweet Briar College

    Stephanie Nayoung Kang

    Dissertation: “The Origins and Evolution of the US Alliance Network: How Allies Transform and Transact”

    Advisor: David Kang

    Placement: Research Scientist, PXTCS, Amazon

    Jennifer Roglà

    Dissertation: “The Role of Local Actors in International Development: How Incentives Types Affect Foreign Aid Effectiveness”

    Advisor: Carol Wise

    Placement: Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning, iDE Global

  • Youssef Chouhoud

    Dissertation: “The Changing State of Tolerance and Tolerance in Changing States”

    Advisor: Laurie Brand

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science, Christopher Newport University

    Ronan Tse-Min Fu

    Dissertation: “Perceiving and Coping with Threat: Explaining East Asian Perceptions toward China’s Rise”

    Advisor: David Kang

    Placement: Assistant Researcher, Academia Sinica

    Theodora Giallouri

    Dissertation: “‘Neither Purse Nor Sword’: Strategic Minority Opinions and Judicial Policy-Making”

    Advisor: Wayne Sandholtz

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science, California State University, San Bernardino

    Xinru Ma

    Dissertation: “Volatile Nationalism: Nationalism and Its Influence on Maritime Disputes”

    Advisor: David Kang

    Placement: Research Scholar, APARC Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab, Stanford University

    Hai-Vu Phan

    Dissertation: “Circuit Breakers: How Policy Entrepreneurs Interrupted the Electric Flow with Peru’s First Renewable Energy Legislation for the Grid”

    Advisor: Patrick James & Carol Wise

    Placement: Government Relations Senior Specialist, Edison International

    Sara Sadhwani

    Dissertation: “Descriptive Representation in a Multiracial America”

    Advisor: Jane Junn

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Politics, Pomona College

    Jihyun Shin

    Dissertation: “Like Father, Like Son?: A Succession-Based Explanation on Conflict Initiation by Authoritarian Regimes”

    Advisor: David Kang

    Placement: Senior Research Scientist, Amazon

    Ming-Min Yang

    Dissertation: “Anti-Foreign Boycotts as a Tool of Economic Coercion: The Case of China”

    Advisor: Saori N. Katada

    Placement: Assistant Research Fellow, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research

  • Robert Joseph Huddleston

    Dissertation: “Legitimizing Self-Determination: Advancing the Sovereignty of Separatist Movements”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University

    Thomas Jamieson

    Dissertation: “Information, Public Opinion, and International Relations”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Lecturer in the School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations, Te Herenga Waka- Victoria University of Wellington

    In Young Min

    Dissertation: “Status Seeking in Hierarchy: Korea and Vietnam under Chinese Hegemony in Early Modern Asia”

    Advisor: David Kang

    Placement: Lecturer, Heidelberg University

    Jordan Carr Peterson

    Dissertation: “Private Interests in American Government Institutions”

    Advisor: Christian Grose

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

    Mayagüez Salinas

    Dissertation: “Code ‘War’ Theorizing: Information and Communication Technology’s Impact on International Relations Theorizing, Negotiation, and Cyber Relations”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Co-Founder and Executive Director, The Law Enforcement Work Inquiry System (LEWIS)

    Meredith Shaw

    Dissertation: “Forced March to Modernity: State-Imposed Cultural Change and Regime Stability in 20th Century East Asia”

    Advisor: David Kang

    Placement: Associate Professor at the Institute of Science, University of Tokyo

    Phoebe Mengxiao Tang

    Dissertation: “The Social Making of Authoritarian Environmentalism: Protest-Litigation Nexus and Policy Changes in China”

    Advisor: Jefferey Sellers

    Placement: Assistant Teaching Professor of Comparative Politics and Public Health, Drew University

    Scott Wilbur

    Dissertation: “Creating Destruction: The Political Economy of Zombie Firms”

    Advisor: Saori N. Katada

    Placement: International Relations Specialist, U.S. Customs and Border Protection

     

  • Adam Feldman

    Dissertation: “The Role of Merits Briefs in the Generation of Supreme Court Decisional Language”

    Advisor: Wayne Sandholtz

    Placement: Founder, Optimized Legal Solutions LLC

    Matthew Gratias

    Dissertation: “The Paradox of Personalism: Internal Political Constraints on Nuclear Posture in Authoritarian Regimes”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Regional Director, Department of Defense National Security Technology Accelerator (MD5)

    Elli Menounou

    Dissertation: “Global Judicial Dialogue and the U.S. Courts”

    Advisor: Wayne Sandholtz

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

    Mariana Rangel Padilla

    Dissertation: “Developing Countries in the Digital Era: State and Business Interactions for Industrial Upgrading”

    Advisor: Gerardo Munck

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science and National Academic Director of Political Science and International Relations, Tecnológico de Monterrey

    Keira Stearns

    Dissertation: “Women as Political Subjects: Discursive Constructions of Women in Peace Processes at the United Nations”

    Advisor: Alison Dundes Renteln

    Placement: Deputy Director of Research Strategy, Analyst Institute

  • Rod Albuyeh

    Dissertation: “Thawing Rivalries and Fading Friendships: A Multi-Method Approach to Rapprochement and Alienation”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Founder, Albell Cloud Lab

    Jiun Bang

    Dissertation: “The Business of Nationalism: How Commodification Sustains Bilateral Tensions”

    Advisor: David Kang

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science and Asian Studies, Colorado College

    Tyler Bonanno-Curley

    Dissertation: “Emergency-War Machine: National Crisis, Democratic Governance, and the Historical Construction of the American State”

    Advisor: J. Ann Tickner

    Placement: Manager of Government Affairs and Acting Deputy City Manager, City of Long Beach

    Benjamin Cohn

    Dissertation: “‘Fire Alarms’ Revisited: Limitations for Effectuating Institutional Change and the Promise of ‘Police Patrols”

    Advisor: Jane Junn

    Nicolas de Zamaróczy

    Dissertation: “Taking Orders from Brussels? External Actors and Regional Organizations in the Developing World”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Lead Computational Social Scientist, Interos Inc.

    Denise Gonzalez

    Dissertation: “Mexican Hometown Associations: Zacatecanos in Los Angeles, Gendered Participation and Mexican State Ties”

    Advisor: Ann Crigler

    Eunice Kang

    Dissertation: “Securitizing Language: Political Elites and Language Policy Securitization in South Korea”

    Advisor: Laurie Brand

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science, Vanguard University of Southern California

    Peter Knaack

    Dissertation: “Examining Global Financial Regulatory Reform in the G20 and the FSB”

    Advisor: Saori N. Katada

    Placement: Adjunct Professorial Lecturer in the School of International Service, American University and consultant to the World Bank

    Gloria Koo

    Dissertation: “Supply and Demand of Economic Hierarchy: the Northeast Asia Case”

    Advisor: David Kang

    Placement: Associate Director of the Korean Studies Institute, University of Southern California

    Kymberly MacNeal

    Dissertation: “When Bullets Are Not Enough: Determinants of Chemical Weapons Usage and Abstention”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Analyst, U.S. Department of Defense

    Cyrus Mohammadian

    Dissertation: “Forced Migration as a Cause and Consequence of Conflict”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Principal Data Scientist, 605

    Mark Paradis

    Dissertation: “The Treatable Masses? Experiments, American Public Opinion, and War”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Lecturer in Social Sciences, Champlain College Saint-Lambert and Adjunct Instructor, Concordia University

    Simon Radford

    Dissertation: “The Political Psychology of Democracy Promotion, or How Democracies Democratically Promote Democracy Promotion”

    Advisor: Robert English

    Placement: Associate Director of Policy and Content, UK and Europe, Milken Institute and Councillor for London Borough of Barnet

  • Juvenal Cortes

    Dissertation: “Power to the Masses? The Rise of Direct Democracy in Latin America”

    Advisor: Gerardo Munck

    Eric Hamilton

    Dissertation: “International Politics and Domestic Institutional Change: The Rise of Executive War-Making Autonomy in the United States”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Vice Provost of Research Policies & Governance and Lecturer of Political Science, NYU Abu Dhabi

    Míchel Angela Martinez

    Dissertation: “Photography in Movement: The Right to Photograph, Ethics in Imaging, and the Art of Making Social Change”

    Advisor: Alison Dundes Renteln

    Placement: Project Manager, Inner City Law Center

    Matthew Mendez-Garcia

    Dissertation: “In/Visible Constituents: The Representation of Undocumented Immigrants”

    Advisor: Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro

    Placement: Assistant Professor of Political Science, California State University, Long Beach

    Seanon Si-Lon Wong

    Dissertation: “When Passions Run High: Emotions and the Communication of Intentions in Face-to-face Diplomacy”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Assistant Professor at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Director of International Affairs Centre, Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

     

  • Roozbeh B. Baker

    Dissertation: “Towards an Inter-Disciplinary Approach to the Study of Transnational Relations”

    Advisors: Robert English & John Barnes

    Placement: Lecturer in Law & Political Science, University of Surrey

    Justin Berry

    Dissertation: “Changing Political Attitudes and Behavior in a Diverse America: Incorporating Individual and Contextual Determinants”

    Advisor: Jane Junn

    Placement: Associate Professor of Political Science, Kalamazoo College

    Mariano E. Bertucci

    Dissertation: “Habits and Policy: The Socio-Cognitive Foundations of Foreign Policy Stability”

    Advisors: Patrick James & Brian Rathbun

    Placement: Resident Assistant Professor of Politics, Occidental College

    Fabián A. Borges Herrero

    Dissertation: “Social Policy and Presidential Ideology in Latin America: The Political Economy of Social Spending and Anti-poverty Programs”

    Advisor: Gerardo Munck

    Placement: Associate Professor of Political Science, California State University, San Bernardino

    Chin-Hao Huang

    Dissertation: “Status, Security, and Socialization: Explaining Change in China’s Compliance in International Institutions”

    Advisor: David Kang

    Placement: Associate Professor of Political Science and Head of Studies (Global Affairs), Yale-NUS College

    Xiangfeng Yang

    Dissertation: “The Partial Good Samaritan States: China and Japan in the International Relations of Autocracy and Democracy”

    Advisor: Patrick James

    Placement: Associate Professor of Government and International Affairs, Lingnan University