Alexander Thompson
Office: 2139 Derby Hall
154 N. Oval Mall
Columbus, Ohio 43210
(o): (614) 292-9491
(f): (614) 292-1146
email: thompson.1191@osu.edu
Alexander Thompson
Associate Professor of Political Science
· International Relations
· International Organization and Law
· International Environmental Politics
· International Political Economy
· U.S. Foreign Policy
I have research and teaching interests in international relations, especially in the area of international institutions and cooperation. My book, Channels of Power: The UN Security Council and U.S. Statecraft in Iraq (Cornell University Press, 2009), asks why powerful states often conduct coercive foreign policies through international organizations rather than operate alone or through ad hoc coalitions. I provide an explanation based on the logic of strategic information transmission by institutions with certain design properties. The theoretical arguments are assessed with an analysis of U.S. policy toward Iraq from 1990 to the present.
Much of my research addresses issues of institutional delegation and design at the international level, with specific projects on the domestic politics of legalization in the WTO, the design of the climate change regime, the principal-agent politics of multilateral weapons inspections, the concept and determinants of IO performance, and the politics of treaty ratification in the context of trade and investment agreements. I also write and speak on the question of unilateralism versus multilateralism in U.S. foreign policy.
I co-direct, with Sarah Brooks, the workshop on Globalization, Institutions and Economic Security (GIES).
The tabs above contain more information on my teaching and research, including links to most of my articles.
Click here to learn more about Channels of Power
Selected Publications:
2009. Channels of Power: The UN Security Council and U.S. Statecraft in Iraq. Cornell University Press.
Forthcoming. “Rational Design in Motion: Uncertainty and Flexibility in the Global Climate Regime.” European Journal of International Relations.
2006. “The Independence of International Organizations: Concept and Applications.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 50(2): 253-75. (with Yoram Haftel)2006. “Coercion through IOs: The Security Council and the Logic of Information Transmission.” International Organization 60(1): 1-34. Winner of the Robert O. Keohane Award for the best article of the year in International Organization by an untenured scholar.
2006. “Screening Power: International Organizations as Informative Agents.” In Delegation and Agency in International Organizations, edited by Darren Hawkins, David Lake, Daniel Nielson and Michael Tierney. Cambridge University Press.
2006. “Management under Anarchy: The International Politics of Climate Change.” Climatic Change 78(1): 7-29.
Curriculum Vitae (pdf)
