International Relations

International relations attempts to explain the interactions of states in the global interstate system, and it also attempts to explain the interactions of others whose behavior originates within one country and is targeted toward members of other countries. In short, the study of international relations is an attempt to explain behavior that occurs across the boundaries of states, the broader relationships of which such behavior is a part, and the institutions (private, state, nongovernmental, and intergovernmental) that oversee those interactions. Explanations of that behavior may be sought at any level of human aggregation. Some look to psychological and social-psychological understandings of why foreign policymakers act as they do. Others investigate institutional processes and politics as factors contributing to the externally directed goals and behavior of states. Alternatively, explanations may be found in the relationships between and among the participants (for example, balance of power), in the intergovernmental arrangements among states (for example, collective security), in the activities of multinational corporations (for example, the distribution of wealth), or in the distribution of power and control in the world as a single system.

International Relations Faculty

Mark Copelovitch

Position title: Professor of Political Science & Public Affairs | International Relations

Email: copelovitch@wisc.edu

Yoshiko M. Herrera

Position title: Professor of Political Science

Email: yherrera@wisc.edu

Lisa Martin

Position title: Professor: International Relations | Political Methodology

Email: lisa.martin@wisc.edu

Jon C. W. Pevehouse

Position title: Development Chair | Mary Herman Rubinstein Professor | International Relations | Political Methodology

Email: jcpevehouse@wisc.edu

Jonathan Renshon

Position title: Professor: International Relations | Political Methodology

Email: renshon@wisc.edu

Nadav Shelef

Position title: Department Chair | Professor | Comparative Politics | International Relations

Email: shelef@wisc.edu

Jessica L. P. Weeks

Position title: Professor of Political Science and H. Douglas Weaver Chair in Diplomacy and International Relations

Email: jweeks@wisc.edu

Zhenhuan (Reed) Lei

Position title: Assistant Professor Political Science and Public Affairs : Comparative Politics | Politics Methodology

Email: zhenhuan.lei@wisc.edu

Andrew Kydd

Position title: Professor

Email: kydd@wisc.edu