Status as a Driver of US foreign policy
Michelle Murray, Bard College
Dec’ 14, 2021
6 PM
Concerns about America’s status in the world can be considered a major driver of contemporary US foreign policy, particularly with the rise of China. Professor Michelle Murray will reflect on how we might think about the role of status concerns when attempting to explain American foreign policy behavior.
Michelle Murray is Associate Professor of Political Studies at Bard College. She received her Ph.D. in 2008 from the University of Chicago, specializing in international relations. Her principal research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of international relations theory, security studies and diplomatic history. Her first book—The Struggle for Recognition in International Relations: Status, Revisionism and Rising Powers—offers a new answer to a perennial question in international relations: how can an established power manage the peaceful rise of new great powers? The book argues that power transitions are principally social phenomena whereby rising powers struggle to obtain recognition of their status as great powers.