The Office or Ideology?

An independent research project examining why American presidents often govern differently on foreign policy than they campaign. Focusing on Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson, the paper analyzes the tension between institutional pressures, liberal ideology, and executive decision-making during periods of international crisis.

A Study in Atrophy

This paper explores how congressional divestment and declining staff capacity have weakened the legislative branch in modern American politics. It argues that reduced institutional expertise has increased reliance on lobbying groups, intensified partisan dysfunction, and expanded executive power.

Comparative Political Economy Final

This paper examines the rise of neoliberalism and its long-term impact on American political and economic life. Drawing from neo-Marxian and neo-Weberian perspectives, it analyzes inequality, deregulation, labor decline, and the relationship between corporate power and democratic institutions in the United States and other advanced economies.

War and Global Migration

Using Syria and Afghanistan as case studies, this research analyzes how war, inequality, and global political systems continue to shape forced migration in the modern era. The paper combines migration theory, political economy, and international relations to examine displacement, borders, and the challenges posed to liberal democracies by large-scale migration.

Humanity’s Greatest Struggle: The Eastern Front, 1941–1943

This capstone paper examines the Eastern Front during the Second World War as the largest and most destructive military struggle in human history. Through analysis of the Battles of Moscow and Stalingrad, the paper explores ideological warfare, industrial attrition, and the catastrophic human cost of total war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.