I am an SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo. My research focuses on the contestation and politics of global governance and international orders, particularly over the issues of state sovereignty, international trade, and economic development. I also study economic nationalism and the political impacts of beliefs about economic security and geopolitics. My work has been published in International Organization, Review of International Political Economy, and Policy Options.

My book project Identities, Ideas, and International Order Contestation examines clashes over social positioning and visions of international order in the post-Cold War period. It questions why international actors challenge or defend the legitimacy of existing international orders, and examines how political efforts by a variety of actors seeking to define their identities and place on the world stage affects the rules of the game in international politics. In a recent paper published in International Organization, I applied these insights to a historical study of international order contestation in early modern Southeast Asia.

I hold a PhD in Government from Cornell University, an MA in political science from McGill University, and a BA from the University of British Columbia. In 2020-21 I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton University. My doctoral research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Sage Fellowship and during this time I was also a Junior Visiting Fellow at the Graduate Institute of Geneva. I have presented at major academic conferences including the International Studies Association, American Political Science Association, Midwest Political Science Association, and specialist conferences like the University of Calgary Centre for Military and Strategic Studies and the Conference of Defence Associations Institute. During my time at McGill I was a graduate fellow at the Centre for International Peace and Security Studies. I also worked at the Institute for Research on Public Policy where I contributed to research on a wide range of policy issues including sick leave and disability benefits, international trade policy, income inequality, and federalism in Canada.

I can be contacted through email at dc824 [at] cornell.edu