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Welcome! I am an incoming Lecturer (i.e., Assistant Professor, tenure) in International Relations & International Security at Victoria University of Wellington's School of History, Philosophy, Political Science, & International Relations, starting February 2026. Currently, I am a Security and Foreign Policy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Global Research Institute (GRI) and a faculty affiliate of the Public Policy Program at the College of William & Mary (W&M). Previously, I was a faculty affiliate of the Government Department at W&M and a 2022–2023 Postdoctoral Fellow at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) at Stanford University.
I study international security and cooperation, with a regional focus on the Asia-Pacific. My research examines the strategic behaviors of secondary states (i.e., non-great powers including small and middle powers) amid China’s rise and the intensifying U.S.–China rivalry. I employ mixed methods, including network analysis and case studies, which form the empirical foundation of my book manuscript. My current book project, Connection Strategies of Asia-Pacific Secondary States: Security Cooperation and Network Power, which builds on my dissertation, examines how Asia-Pacific secondary states enhance their security and strategic autonomy in a complex strategic environment. Existing studies on balancing, bandwagoning, and hedging rely on linear frameworks that position secondary states along a spectrum of alignment – with the US, China, or somewhere in between. However, these approaches oversimplify the multi-agent environment in which they operate. To better understand their security cooperation behaviors, this book introduces a new framework that examines how secondary states navigate the broader network structures they are embedded in. Building on the network power perspective, I argue that secondary states pursue three key connection strategies: (1) vertical diversification with competing great powers, (2) horizontal diversification with peer secondary states, and (3) bridging between disconnected or weakly connected states. To explore this argument, this book sheds light on joint military exercises (JMEs) and strategic partnerships as important yet understudied measures of interstate security cooperation in international relations (IR). Drawing on original mixed-method evidence, including network analysis and case studies, this book uncovers significant patterns of security cooperation often overlooked in existing literature, which tends to emphasize formal alliances. Using a unique dataset of JMEs in the Asia-Pacific (1970–2024), the book reveals that over the past two decades, U.S. junior allies and strategic partners, even those with territorial or maritime disputes with China, have increasingly conducted JMEs with Beijing while pursuing cooperation with the U.S. and other peer secondary states. These security cooperation patterns indicate the emergence of a heterarchical structure, evolving from a fragmented hub-and-spokes system to a more integrated, less centralized network with reduced peripheral segmentation. My other work, which has appeared in International Politics, examines South Korea’s middle power diplomacy. I received my Ph.D. in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California (USC), M.A. in Asian Studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service (SFS), and B.A. in International Studies at Ewha Womans University. I was a 2022-2023 US-Korea NextGen Scholar, an initiative of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Korea Chair and the USC Korean Studies Institute (KSI), a 2023–2025 non-resident fellow of the Texas A&M University's (TAMU) program on Grand Strategy, and a 2019-2021 US-Asia Grand Strategy Predoctoral Fellow at USC. I also served as a contributing author of 'Korea-Japan Relations' in Comparative Connections published by the Pacific Forum. |
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