My work sits at the intersection of IR and IPE, asking how the politics between states
and firms shapes the international governance of economic security — from critical
mineral supply chains to the broader architecture of supply chain risk management.
In progress
Western FDI in China-Embedded Critical Mineral Jurisdictions
Dissertation project
This project asks why Western firms invest in critical mineral jurisdictions that are
deeply embedded in Chinese-led supply networks, and why the volume and stage of that
investment varies so widely across cases. I argue that two factors interact to shape
outcomes: a jurisdiction's position in the trade network (a peripheral enclave versus a
centralized industrial hub) and its domestic political economy (a developmental versus
a rentier coalition). Counterintuitively, deeper embeddedness in a Chinese-led hub can
attract rather than deter Western investment where developmental state institutions can
credibly commit to diversification. The argument is tested using a country-mineral-year
panel, a staggered difference-in-differences design around U.S. Critical Minerals List
designations, and paired comparative case studies (Indonesia–Philippines nickel;
Chile–Bolivia lithium).
Nickel, Coalitions, and the Limits of Resource Nationalism: Indonesia and the Philippines Compared
Paper
A comparative study of Indonesia and the Philippines within the global nickel supply
chain, examining how differing domestic coalitions and network positions produced
divergent patterns of Chinese and Western investment despite a shared resource base.
In progress
Reengineering Interdependence: State–Firm Politics and International Economic Security Cooperation
Paper
A parallel strand of my dissertation examines how state–firm politics shapes the
mode of international cooperation states construct in response to supply chain
vulnerabilities. Building on a typology of firm embeddedness in global production
networks and state capacity to shape firm behavior, I identify three distinct modes of
cooperation — extension, network discipline, and pooled facilitation — and
trace them across contemporary cases (U.S. semiconductor and critical minerals policy,
EU–Russia energy realignment, Japanese rare earth diversification) alongside
historical anchors (COCOM, the IEA, and Allied economic war councils).