About Me
I am an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Deputy Director of LSE IDEAS. Previously, I was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale-NUS College in Singapore. I am also a Nonresident Fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C.
My research focuses on the grand strategies of rising powers and their impact on international security and order, with an empirical specialization in the Asia-Pacific region. My book, Ascending Order: Rising Powers and the Politics of Status in International Institutions (Cambridge University Press), received the T.V. Paul Best Book in Global International Relations Award from the International Studies Association (ISA), the Hedley Bull Prize from the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) and the Hague Journal of Diplomacy Book Award.
My work has been published in academic journals such as International Affairs, Global Studies Quarterly, Contemporary Politics, Survival, Global Governance, International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, Asian Security, India Review, and International Journal, as well as in edited volumes from academic presses such as Oxford, Cambridge, Stanford, University of North Carolina, and Brookings. I have also co-edited a policy-focused volume that brings together top scholars and analysts across generations from Japan and India to chart the future course of bilateral relations.
I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Politics at Princeton University. I hold an MPA in International Development from Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs, and a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Oxford. I have also been a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the MIT Security Studies Program, and a non-resident Visiting Fellow at the United Nations University in Tokyo.
You can find me on Google Scholar, Academia.edu, ResearchGate, and Twitter.
Ascending Order: Rising Powers and the Politics of Status in International Institutions
(Cambridge Studies in International Relations, Cambridge University Press, 2022)
Buy an electronic or print copy
Read the Introduction
WINNER, HEDLEY BULL PRIZE (ECPR)
WINNER, HAGUE JOURNAL OF DIPLOMACY BOOK AWARD
WINNER, T.V. PAUL BEST BOOK IN GLOBAL INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (ISA)
Why do rising powers sometimes challenge an international order that enables their growth, and at other times support an order that constrains them? Ascending Order offers the first comprehensive study of conflict and cooperation as new powers join the global arena. International institutions shape the choices of rising states as they pursue equal status with established powers. Open membership rules and fair decision-making procedures facilitate equality and cooperation, while exclusion and unfairness frequently produce conflict. Using original and robust archival evidence, the book examines these dynamics in three cases: the United States and the maritime laws of war in the mid-nineteenth century; Japan and naval arms control in the interwar period; and India and nuclear nonproliferation in the Cold War. This study shows that the future of contemporary international order depends on the ability of international institutions to address the status ambitions of rising powers such as China and India.
Reviews: Foreign Affairs, Choice (Outstanding Title), International Affairs, Political Science Quarterly, Review of International Organizations, Ethics & International Affairs, Journal of Peace Research, Perspectives on Politics, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Small States & Territories, Finnish Journal of Foreign Affairs, Global Asia
Interviews: The Hague Diplomacy Podcast, 9DASHLINE, E-International Relations, TRIUM Connects podcast, LSE Review of Books, New Books Network podcast, Carnegie Endowment’s Grand Tamasha podcast
Featured: 2022 War on the Rocks Holiday Reading List, Research for the World, Page 99 Test blog
Cover art by Ganzeer
Teaching
METHODS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS RESEARCH
PhD level, LSE, 2024-present
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: CORE THEORIES & DEBATES
Master’s level, LSE, 2022-present
TECHNOLOGY & INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Undergraduate level (intermediate), Yale-NUS College, 2022 [syllabus]
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Undergraduate level (introductory), Yale-NUS College, 2017, 2019, 2021 [syllabus]
INDIA AS A RISING POWER
Undergraduate level (advanced), Yale-NUS College, 2017-19, 2022 [syllabus]
MODERN SOCIAL THOUGHT
Undergraduate level (intermediate), Yale-NUS College, 2016-18, 2020
GRAND STRATEGY
Undergraduate level, Princeton University, Assistant Instructor, 2014
HUMAN RIGHTS
Undergraduate level, Princeton University, Assistant Instructor, 2013
Contact
Mailing address: Department of International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE
Please see my C.V. for further contact information.
Image credits:
Homepage
"Uncle Sam: "Them fellers over there want to disarm but none of 'em dast do it first!"" By John Scott Clubb, 1906. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.
Uncredited image of Japan and the great power club, available here.
"This Insult, How Can We Bear?" Cartoon in Shankar's Weekly, June 2, 1974.
Book Project
"A Lesson for Anti-Expansionists. Showing how Uncle Sam has been an expansionist first, last, and all the time." By Victor Gillam in Judge, Arkell Publishing Company, New York, 1899.
Curriculum Vitae
"Columbia's Easter bonnet / Ehrhart after sketch by Dalrymple." Cover of Puck magazine, 6 April 1901.