Undergraduate Research Assistantships

Faculty: Dr Boram Lee, Department of International Relations
Research Assistant: Mansa Kumar, Department of Mathematics

Political scientists are divided on whether states can ringfence cooperation on specific issues at a time of geopolitical competition. In academia, optimists have promoted the concept of “complex interdependence” in which states could still cooperate by trading concessions on certain issues. But pessimists argue that the high importance of geopolitical issues easily overshadows issues that are seen to be less important and make non-security issues about security. This project departs from these previous approaches that treat states as unitary actors. In their research, Dr Lee investigates how pressure groups strategically join different types of coalitions – pro-competition vs. pro-cooperation -- faced with geopolitical rivalries. The project examines the positions of American churches, environmental, women’s rights, and racial justice groups, on the US’ recent foreign economic policies that directly or indirectly target China (e.g., Strategic Competition Act, Inflation Reduction Act).

For this project, the Research Assistant will help collect newspaper articles and activists’ statements on their positions on US-China competition to contribute to the creation of a dataset on US-based non-governmental organizations’ positions on two specific policies. This project will help the Research Assistant to gain experiences creating a dataset on an important policy issue. They will learn how to use online databases and other internet-based sources to create new data. They will also learn how to manage a data set for computational analyses.

Faculty: Professor Cheryl Schonhardt-Bailey, Department of Government
Research Assistant: Ines McCairley, Department of Government 

This research project focuses on political conflicts surrounding public lands (e.g., wilderness areas, forests, national parks, conservation areas, grasslands, wetlands, etc) in the US. As part of this larger research project, the Research Assistant would assist in an ongoing effort to compile a database of legal cases involving public land disputes from 1960 to 2024. The database would include such information as the nature of the complaint, the case history, and the eventual outcome of the case, among other information. Most, but not all, of these legal cases involve legal challenges against government agencies and departments (e.g., US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, etc) by, for instance, environmental groups, mining industries, property developers, indigenous tribal groups, and so on.

The intent of this project is to map both the number of cases in various jurisdictions over time, but also (if possible), the substantive content of both the complaint and the ruling(s). This latter element will likely involve automated text analysis (e.g., topic modelling), so it may be helpful to have expertise in this area. However, content might also be assessed by a systematic (manual) coding, so expertise in topic modelling is not necessarily a requirement.

Tasks for the research assistant will include reading legal cases, digesting and recording key information in an Excel spreadsheet. Further research on legal terms and claimants may also be involved. There may also be an opportunity for quantitative and qualitative data analysis as part of this research assistantship.

Faculty: Dr David Madden, Department of Sociology
Research Assistant: Victoria Epshtein, Department of Social Policy 

This project examines the changing nature of housing tenure in the US and a number of comparative countries, exploring topics including the growing exclusivity and financialization of homeownership, the expansion of private renting, the politics of tenants unions, the complicated resurgence of interest in social housing, and the potential of alternative housing tenures to help address the housing crisis which is evident in the US, the UK, and globally. The primary output for this project will be a book manuscript, Owner and Occupiers, though there are a number of shorter articles connected to this as well.  

The Research Assistant’s (RA) tasks will include: 

• Identifying potential interviewees and arranging interviews (though not conducting them) with government officials, housing campaigners, real estate developers, and others involved in the housing system. The RA will need to communicate with potential interviewees, arrange times for Dr Madden to meet with them, help them complete necessary consent and research ethics forms, and organize interview data after the fact.
• Desk research to collect and organize organizing primary and secondary sources on housing tenure in the US and relevant comparator countries. This output will involve creating an electronic file with relevant research and an annotated bibliography to help access this information.

For this project, the RA should have skills in organizing qualitative research and conducting desk research. They should be organized, diligent, good at communication, familiar with social science norms, and good at following instructions as well as working independently. Knowledge of housing research would be helpful but is not necessary. 

Faculty: Dr James Morrison, Department of International Relations
Research Assistant: Lila Rota, Department of Government

This project extends previous research on Anglo-American financial cooperation and the “passing of the torch” from the UK to the US in the 20th Century. The research will involve the Research Assistant robustly organising and reviewing archival material previously generated by Dr Morrison and two PhD students that are related to Anglo-American interwar trade relations and Anglo-American financial relations in the 1930s and 1940s.

This project may also involve organising, reviewing, and re-packaging the collected writings of John Maynard Keynes, and potentially some work related to the creation of the Bank of England in the 1690s. 

Faculty: Johann Koehler, Department of Social Policy
Research Assistant: Nooralhoda Tillaih, Department of Anthropology

Teachers and police unions loom especially large among labour organising efforts in the United States in general and in Chicago in particular. However, those two unions have very different ways of taking part in politics. In part, those contrasts stem from features that distinguish teaching from policework as such; in part, they stem from the idiosyncrasies of local governance. The Research Assistant (RA) who contributes to this project will help pinpoint and analyse the social policy stakes of those contrasting efforts to mobilise labour. The primary dataset is made up of outward-facing official documents — chiefly in the form of newsletters — that both unions have published across the past two decades.

The RA’s work will include reading, coding, and synthesising a digital archive of newsletters published by the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Fraternal Order of the Police. The RA will be tasked with reading those texts closely, and with exercising critical sensibility and judgement to extract passages that speak to labour organising efforts. For this purpose, the RA will need to have some enthusiasm for the history and politics of labour organising, and some familiarity with qualitative research techniques. Methodological training as such is desirable but not necessary, if the RA shows sound judgment in the critical reading of texts and the thoughtful synthesis of large quantities of information.

The work can be completed remotely, but the RA should be comfortable collaborating with a team made up of scholars at different institutions and with different disciplinary outlooks. The RA will be expected to develop and maintain project tasks (including the construction of a codebook and data entries for each newsletter), to assemble progress reports, and to deliver updates in bi-weekly meetings. Since the project will move relatively quickly, considerable latitude can be afforded for self-directed work if the RA displays a keen grasp of the material and methods.

Faculty: Jonny Hall, Department of International Relations
Research Assistant: Han Chia, Department of International Relations

This project explores how US presidents have justified the withdrawal of American troops from the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Although there is a large International Relations literature on how wars end, these works mostly focus on bargaining models rather than the domestic politics of withdrawal. Likewise, whilst there is a great deal of scholarship on the narratives that American elites use to justify US interventionism in other countries, few works explore how American presidents have rhetorically justified withdrawing from military conflicts.

The project’s real-world relevance is highlighted by the challenges facing leaders when ending unsuccessful wars (which in part why the US often becomes embroiled in lengthy military conflicts). Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, despite initial support, underscores these difficulties. The project aims to explore how leaders try and maintain a coherent national identity when there are dominant narratives about American exceptionalism and the US being ever victorious in international politics?

The research assistant will have three tasks as part of this project:

• Carry out a literature review of literature on rhetorical justifications of military withdrawals/foreign policy failures. Building on an initial literature review, the Research Assistant (RA) conduct a more thorough review on the topic under study (including literature on the specific wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan), which will also help ground the RA in the research project more broadly
• The RA will be tasked with identifying key presidential speeches for analysis concerning the American withdrawals from Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. These will be derived from secondary literature mentioned and the American Presidency Project online database. The RA will read and document these speeches to highlight examples for later analysis by Dr Hall.
• Based on their reading of relevant secondary literature the RA will provide preliminary analysis of the project, particularly in terms of answering the overarching research question: how have US presidents justified withdrawal/war termination in unsuccessful wars. The RA will have some flexibility in how they want to present their provisional findings, with the option of writing a short essay of around 5,000 words.

Faculty: Dr Elizbeth Ingleson, Department of International History
Research Assistant: Savannah Culpepper, Department of International History

This project seeks to understand how scholars have used globalization as a conceptual framework to make sense of the past. The term “globalization” did not come into use until the 1990s. Since then, scholars have increasingly explored and debated the processes of global integration, some tracing periods of globalization as far back as the 15th century. Together with Dr Ingleson, the Research Assistant (RA) will explore the scholarship that has used globalization as a frame of analysis.  

The first aim of this project is to identify the various points of debate amongst scholars who write of globalization. Which time periods do they focus on? What did the concept look like from the perspective of the Global South? Are there other terms that scholars use either synonymously or as a precursor to globalization (interdependence, for example)?  

The second core idea driving this project is the ways this scholarship has influenced, and been influenced by, wider public intellectual and policy debates. In 2019 the World Economic Forum declared an era of “globalization 4.0”. “The new frontier of globalization is the cyber world,” the Forum declared. It pointed to cross-border digital integration enabled by recent developments in e-commerce, digital services, and 3D printing. In the Forum’s telling, this fourth iteration of globalization built upon earlier periods of global integration, starting in the 15th century. More recently, policymakers debate the extent to which we are living in an era of rising de-globalization.  

By considering the ways that scholars have used the concept of globalization to make sense of the past, this project is concerned with the possibilities, and limitations, of using large-scale frameworks in historical analysis. What do we gain, and what do we lose, by using a term that actors at the time did not use? And what are the political implications of doing so for the present? 

The RA’s tasks for this project will include library research and the creation of a literature review. The project will contribute to the RA’s professional development by strengthening their research skills, analytical skills, and time management skills. They will also gain an historical understanding of key aspects of globalization and its political uses today.  

The research will be an important component to a chapter Dr Ingleson is contributing to an edited volume. The RA will not only be acknowledged for their assistance but also have a direct insight into the processes involved in academic research and writing. 

Faculty: Dr Lauren Sukin, Department of International Relations
Research Assistant: Maria de Gregorio Cattaneo di S.Elia, Department of International Relations

This research project involves investigating the role of nuclear weapons in US alliance politics. First, this project will explore how US allies evaluate the credibility of the US nuclear security guarantee, using archival research and survey experiments to analyse how states assess various US signals of resolve. Second, this project assesses the conditions under which US nuclear security guarantees may backfire. Credible nuclear security guarantees are generally understood as providing critical reassurance to allies and, in doing so, dissuading them from seeking independent nuclear arsenals. Using survey experiments and historical case studies, this part of the project argues that, instead, credible nuclear guarantees can undercut alliance reassurance. Strong signals of resolve can create fears of reliance on the nuclear capabilities of the United States, leading to support within US allies for stronger and more independent military capabilities.

The research assistant will conduct library and archival research, assist with the design and analysis of survey experiments, and contribute to project management tasks. They will work with Dr Sukin to assess their career goals and any portable skills they could learn from this position that will help advance them. Their tasks will then by modified to reflect those learning goals, and we will re-assess their progress on those goals throughout the year.

The research assistant will primarily contribute to literature reviews through library and archival research. The research assistant will also perform project management tasks and additional research tasks, such as data entry, aiding in the design and analysis of survey experiments through translation, qualitative data analysis, and survey coding in Qualtrics.

Applicants should demonstrate show interest in the project topics, organization skills, and willingness to learn new research techniques. Applicants should note any relevant language skills and research experience. Applicants should especially indicate any experience with the following:archival research, survey experiments, translation, qualitative or statistical data analysis, data visualization, reference management systems, R, Stata, or LaTeX.

Faculty:  Professor Peter Trubowitz, Department of International Relations and the Phelan US Centre 
Research Assistant: M Aditta Arian, Department of Economics

Is the revolution in artificial intelligence and other digital technologies transforming great power competition and if so, what are the implications for US grand strategy? This project will help Professor Trubowitz with the background work for a new book on the history and politics of US grand strategy from the industrial revolution to the digital age. The book explores how US grand strategy has evolved in response to shifting combinations of geopolitical, technological, and domestic pressures and cross-pressures.    

This position requires a Research Assistant (RA) with an interest in international politics and strong library research and writing skills. The RA will be responsible for generating and compiling an annotated bibliography of relevant publications on technological innovation and strategic competition between the US, China, and others for a concluding chapter on how recent technological developments (e.g. artificial intelligence, autonomous robotics, 5G connectivity) are impacting US strategic interests and statecraft. The main deliverable will be individual summaries of these publications. This project will be of particular interest to students with interest in great power politics, technological innovation, and knowledge economies. 

Faculty: Peter Trubowitz and Chris Gilson, Department of International Relations and the Phelan US Centre
Research Assistant: Isabel Magnum, Department of International History

In 2018 the Phelan US Centre launched The State of the States, a map-based interactive online resource bringing together US state-level information all in one place. This resource went on to win a Guardian Universities Award for Digital Innovation in April 2019. The State of the States is now being developed, with the assistance of colleagues in LSE Research and Innovation, into a new subscriber-based online platform to help those working for US state and local government to make better decisions about policy and implementation through a database with important and useful state-level facts and figures, and a repository of best practice case studies on policy implementation and effectiveness.  

The Research Assistant will have the following main tasks and responsibilities in this project:    

1. To research and/or write short policy case studies to support the State of the States platform in policy areas including homelessness, unemployment, and COVID-19.
2. To identify, via desk research, organisations and individuals and other potential stakeholders (including US state and local authorities) to contact to assist with the further validation of the project.
3. To consolidate on existing literature reviews covering recent research into state policy learning and best practice sharing and state policy diffusion.
4. To monitor and update data sources related to state policy and political information relevant to The State of the States platform.

There is also the potential for contributing to public engagement around this project via contributing to blog posts and social media outputs.

This project will be co-managed by the Director of the Phelan US Centre, Professor Peter Trubowitz.