Research

Below are ongoing research projects, submitted manuscripts, and working papers, with links to drafts as applicable.

Job Market Paper

  1. More Equal the Others: Race and Religion Alter Support to Countries in Conflict

    How does the race of those suffering alter Americans' sympathy and support for invaded countries? Moving beyond the traditional White-Black binary, this research examines how the intertwined domestic and international racialization for both Asians and Arabs creates particular penalties in support. Survey data from the late Cold War provides evidence consistent with my theory. To establish causality, I use AI-generated images to manipulate the race of a hypothetical invaded country and find White respondents are less supportive toward Arab and Asian majority countries, though majority Black countries were not penalized to the same degree. Importantly, race also biases evaluations of ostensibly material and objective country capabilities. To better mirror the real-world dynamics where publics observe both invader and invaded, I field a paired-profile conjoint on a quota-based sample of Americans. While respondents support invaded (victim) countries in general, the cross-pull of outgroup racial or religious identity substantially weakens and in some cases eliminates the support for victims of aggression. These results show that race can bias support, but also condition how people react to aggressive behavior. Identity is not so easily separable from strategic or material considerations.

Peer-reviewed Articles

  1. “Preserve, Pressure, Protect, and Peel: The US-China Rivalry and the Politics of Vaccine Provision”

    • Forthcoming at the International Studies Quarterly

    • Best Paper in Foreign Policy from the American Political Science Association (2024)

  2. “From Allies to Neighbors: The Impact of Military Service on Public Support for Migrant Resettlement” (with Chris Blair)

    • R&R at the American Journal of Political Science

  3. “Democratic Solidarity: Does the Democratic Public Support Fellow Democracies in Conflicts?” (with Yusaku Horiuchi)

    • R&R at the International Organization

  4. “Unraveling American Sympathies toward Israelis and Palestinians” (with Yusaku Horiuchi)

    • R&R at the International Studies Quarterly

Submitted Manuscripts

  1. “Beyond Paternalism: How Leadership Diversity Shapes Foreign Aid Perceptions in South Africa” (with Soohyun Cho and Simone Dietrch)

  2. “Democratic Backsliding Damages Foreign Public Support for Security Cooperation” (with Yusaku Horiuchi, Eun A Jo, and Kelly Matush)

    • Submitted to APSR.

  3. “White Protectionism in International Relations: White Victimhood and the Repurposing of Racial Equality” (with Zoltán Búzás)

Research in Progress

  1. “Evacuation from Afghanistan: The Case of Japan” (with Yusaku Horiuchi and Atsushi Tago)

  2. “Seeing is (not) Believing: Diversity in Aid Leadership and Political Participation” (with Soohyun Cho and Simone Dietrch)

  3. “Lost in Translation: Racial Identity and Perceptions of Democracy Abroad” (with Gavin Medina-Hall and Burcu Kolcak)

  4. “Internalized Colonial Hegemony: Conceptualization and Measurement in Postcolonial Societies” (with Maria Nagawa and Gavin Medina-Hall)