Works in Progress

My research examines how, when, and why security outcomes are influenced by market and non-state actors. I research policies and institutions at the intersection of political economy and security in Europe, the US, and transnationally. I address the conditions under which parochial actors (industry and bureaucracy) either constrain or enable national and international security institutions. My work overlaps comparative politics and IR, and within IR, political economy and security studies, and draws on comparative historical institutionalism, state formation, new institutional economics, organizational theory, and complexity theory. I examine the links between interest groups and institutions in overlapping contexts: bureaucratic politics; defense spending and industry; defense industrial politics; information security; public opinion; arms exports and procurement policy; migration, trafficking, and border security; and European integration. I highlight four areas of research here: Outsourcing Security; Political Economy of Security; Defense Spending and Procurement; and EU and US Institutions, Interests, and Identities.