Research

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

Job Market Paper

  1. Racism Beyond the Binary: The Penalty for Arab and Asian Countries in Conflict Support

    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. Using AI-generated images, I manipulate the race of a hypothetical invaded country and find white respondents are less supportive toward Arab and Asian countries, though Black countries were not penalized to the same degree. Beyond this downstream effect on policy preferences, I find evidence of an underappreciated upstream influence wherein race biases evaluations of ostensibly material and objective country capabilities. Then, to better mirror the real-world dynamics where the public decides its support with information about both invader and invaded, I field a paired 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 race not only biases support against certain countries in conflict, but also has a more subtle but consequential influence over how people interpret and evaluate country characteristics and behavior. Race then, not only has downstream effects on support but upstream influence over the inputs of strategic decision-making, coloring the material and strategic considerations that are fundamental to international security.

Peer-reviewed Articles

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

    • R&R at the International Organizations

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

    • R&R at the International Studies Quarterly

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

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

    • R&R at the International Studies Quarterly

Submitted Manuscripts

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

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

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

Research in Progress

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

    • Draft available upon request.

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

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

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

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