Welcome

Welcome to my website! I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in International Relations at the University of St Andrews, and co-director of the Centre for Global Law and Governance (CGLG). I study international norms and organizations. One strand of my current research focuses on how (social, legal and moral) norms, taboos, and personal principles affect decision-making in international relations. Empirically, I am studying decision-making on gender-based violence, sex trafficking, and military humanitarian intervention. The other research strand focuses on principal-agent relationships and delegation decisions in international organizations, particularly the UN Security Council. Concretely, one of my long-standing research interests is the relationship between the UN Security Council and its Ombudsperson; more recently, I have studied penholding dynamics. More generally, I seek to bridge divides between constructivist and rational choice scholars.

My prior research has treated norm contestation as a problematique to understand norm development in international relations. Specifically, I developed theoretical frameworks on processes and possible outcomes of norm contestation that can guide empirical research. In a special section, published with International Affairs, Lea Wisken and I explore different ways of expressing dissent. We argue that it is possible to distinguish between norm contestation through words and action, that is discursive and behavioural contestation.

My book (2025, CUP), The Politics of International Norms: A Rhetorical Approach, develops a typology of the different outcomes that norm contestation can have and discuss explanations for this variation in outcome. I look at contestation by the United States but also by less powerful actors such as international courts and small states. My case studies include high-stakes debates over maritime boundaries, the interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya and over the right to self-determination. My dissertation – on which my book is based – has received the Political Studies Association’s Shirin Rai Prize and the Department of Politics and International Relations’ (Oxford University) Bapsybanoo Marchioness of Winchester Prize for the best dissertation in International Relations. I have also received an Award from the International Studies Association-Theory Section (2018) and an Honorable Mention from the International Studies Association-International Security Studies Section (2018) for a paper on alternate endings of norm contestation that laid the theoretical foundation of my book and was later published with International Studies Quarterly.

This website provides an overview of my academic research and teaching.