Student-Faculty Collaborative Research

Elizabeth Bennett

Summer 2019 – Maggie Coit (IA/Econ 2019), Addie Grohs (IA/PE 2020), Cole Harris (IA/PE 2020), Nicole Godbout (IA/ENVS/PE 2020) and I collected data on the political economy of “ethical” cannabis (marijuana) products in Portland, Oregon. We visited 85 dispensaries, attended 21 events, and reviewed 6 sources of industry media and three sources of popular news coverage. Using inductive and deductive qualitative coding, quantitative methods, and spatial analysis (incorporating demographic data), we describe and explain the contours of supply and demand of fair trade, fair labor, sustainable, environmentally friendly, and socially responsible cannabis. The project is the basis for a research brief for industry actors and policy makers and an academic journal article. More here and here.

Spring 2019 - Marshall Piotrowski (IA/PE 2019) and I examined changes in the purchasing power of legal minimum wages workers in the apparel sector in the top five textile and clothing exporting countries (China, India, Vietnam, Turkey and the United States). The research contributes to a multi-year project on living wage initiatives in complex global supply chains.

Summer 2018 – Nicole Godbout (IA/ENVS/PE 2020) and I reviewed the standards and guidance documents of several major global sustainability certification programs to learn whether and how living wage standards are implemented on the ground and verified by auditors. We also interviewed the directors and standards managers of several of the international NGOs that own and oversee those certification programs. The research contributes to a multi-year project on living wage initiatives in complex global supply chains.

Spring/Summer 2018 – Chloe Safar (IA/Spanish 2021) and I reviewed the most recent research on fair trade (hundreds of articles, reports, books, etc.) and prepared a book chapter. We also developed a poster summary of three projects focused on the political economy of sustainable cannabis supply chains, to present at a conference.

Summer 2016 – Ben Beecroft (IA/PE 2017), Ellen Schwartz (IA/PE 2017), and I reviewed wage and collective bargaining standards from 16 organizations and researched the role of minimum wages in addressing sustainability goals, research that contributed to an article published in Sustainable Development.

Spring 2016 – Maya Anthony-Crosby (Political Science/PE 2017), Sophie Owens (IA2016), Jesse Simpson (ENVS 2016), Jacob Weiss (ENVS/PE 2016), and I collected data on the supply and demand of ethically-oriented cannabis from 64 dispensaries, research that contributed to an article published in Agriculture and Human Values.

Spring/Summer 2015 – Sophie Owens (IA 2016), Tamar Shuhendler (IA/PE 2017), and I reviewed the governance structures of 33 voluntary standards setting organizations, research that contributed to an article published in World Development.

Fall 2014 – Maggie Sholar (IA 2017) and I reviewed data bases of voluntary sustainability standards to select cases for a study on the governance systems of private regulatory bodies.

*IA=International Affairs major; PE = Political Economy minor, ENVS = Environmental Studies major

Kyle Lascurettes

Summer 2016: I worked with Drake MacFarlane (IA/Economics double major ’17) on various projects related to global governance and international order. In particular, Drake was invaluable for the research assistance he provided on the historical Concert of Europe in the 19th century. This work was published as a study for the RAND Corporation in 2017 (see here). Drake also helped with research on how to measure power in international relations, the international order the United States attempted to establish after the First World War, and the continuity in the liberal international order at the end of and after the Cold War. Much of this work will be published as a part of my book on great power politics and international order, which is forthcoming with Oxford University Press in the spring of 2020. 

Bob Mandel

In Summer 2019, I worked with Madison Thomas on a project leading to the completion of my 16^th book—Interdependent Yet Intolerant:  Native Citizen-Foreign Migrant Violence and Global Insecurity (currently under review for publication).  Again, Maddie was crucial in refining the case studies and in sharpening the conceptual arguments.

In Summer 2017, I worked with Micael Lonergan on a project leading to the completion of my 15^th book—Global Data Shock:  Strategic Ambiguity, Deception, and Surprise in an Age of Information Overload (Stanford University Press, 2019).  Micael was instrumental in improving the case studies and in helping to crystallize the conceptual argumentation.

In Summer 2015, I worked with Katherine Keller on a project leading to the completion of my 13th book—Deterring the Undeterrable:  Toward a Strategy Restraining Global Cyberattacks.  Katherine was absolutely instrumental in improving the case studies and in coming up with key questions and ideas to make the complex interconnections in the study a lot clearer.

In Summer 2013, I worked with Ugyen Llamo—a student from Bhutan who is a double major in International Affairs and Psychology—on a project that led to the completion and acceptance for publication of my 12th book, /Coercing Compliance:  State-Initiated Brute Force in Today’s World/ (Stanford University Press, 2015).  Ugyen not only researched many of the the case studies but also questioned and refined the conceptual propositions in the study.

Laura Vinson

Summer 2019 - I worked with Cole Harris on the development of a new project looking at the role and effectiveness of local religious actors in mediating government/political crises. He assisted in reviewing and critiquing relevant literature on international mediation (interventions and effectiveness), as well as in collecting case study information on recent or ongoing mediation interventions by religious actors.