Guidance and Feedback Hours

• 14.30-16.30 Wednesdays, and by appointment

Qualifications

• PhD, MA, Political Science (The Ohio State University)
• BA, Political Science (University of Oklahoma)

Biography

Juliet Kaarbo joined the Politics and International Relations department in June 2011 as a Senior Lecturer and was promoted to Professor with a Personal Chair in Foreign Policy (effective August 2015). She recently served as Postgraduate Adviser for Politics & International Relations (2013-2016) and is the founding co-Director of CeSeR http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/ceser.

Julie previously held posts at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva and the University of Kansas where she served as Director of Faculty Programs in the Office of International Programs, and as Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Political Science. In 2009, Julie was awarded a Visiting Scientist Fellowship by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey. She has received awards for conference papers and for post-graduate mentoring.

Research Interests

Julie’s research focuses on political psychology, leadership and decision making, group dynamics, foreign policy analysis, foreign policy roles, and parliamentary political systems. Areas of specialization include German, British, Israeli, Dutch, Japanese, Turkish, and U.S. foreign policy. Her research has appeared in various journals, including International Studies Quarterly, European Journal of International Relations, International Studies Review, Political Psychology, Cooperation and Conflict, and Foreign Policy Analysis, and Leadership Quarterly. She has co-written multiple versions of two textbooks -- Global Politics and Foreign Policy in Comparative Perspective:

Recent & Forthcoming Publications

• Cristian Cantir and Juliet Kaarbo, Editors (2016) Domestic Role Contestation, Foreign Policy, and International Relations  Routledge.  https://www.routledge.com/products/9781138653818

• Esra Cuhadar, Juliet Kaarbo, Baris Kesgin, Binnur Ozkececi-Taner, (2016) "Personality or Role? Comparisons of Turkish Leaders Across Different Institutional Positions,” Political Psychology, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pops.12333/abstract

• Juliet Kaarbo and Daniel Kenealy (2016) “No, Prime Minister:  Explaining the House of Commons Vote on Intervention in Syria,” European Security, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09662839.2015.1067615

• Esra Cuhadar, Juliet Kaarbo, Baris Kesgin, & Binnur Ozkececi-Taner (earlyview) “Examining Leaders’ Orientations to Structural Constraints: Turkey’s 1991 and 2003 Iraqi War Decisions , Journal of International Relations and Development, http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jird/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/jird201431a.html

• Juliet Kaarbo (2015) “The Domestic Politics & Decision Making Turn in IR Theory:  An FPA Perspective,” International Studies Review 10.1111/misr.12213

• Ryan Beasley & Juliet Kaarbo (2014), “Explaining Extremity in the Foreign Policies of Parliamentary Democracies,” International Studies Quarterly:  http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/isqu.12164/abstract

• Juliet Kaarbo (2012) Coalition Politics and Cabinet Decision Making: A Comparative Analysis of Foreign Policy Choices, University of Michigan Press: http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=419513

Personalities of Political World Leaders

This project includes a number of research tracks, including research on beliefs and styles (f Turkish prime ministers and presidents funded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.  I intend to extend this study to other world leaders, examining how leaders’ personalities change in office.  Related to this research, I am co-editing the Oxford Handbook of Political Executives.

National Roles:  Contestation & Socialisation

This research builds on recent developments in role theory to examine how internal political actors define their state's rolein the world and how external, international actors attempt to shape role development.  The empirical focus is Scotland's 2014 independence referendum and the 2016 Brexit referendum.  Another collaborative project engages role theory with the ‘EU as Power’ debates, using text analytical methods of diverse data.                                                                                                                      

 Coalition Cabinets, Political Parties, & Parliaments in Foreign Policy

My research continues to examine the effects of coalition cabinets and political party disagreements on foreign policy. I am part of a research team doing comparative analyses on parties’ positions on military deployments and the politicization of security policy in parliamentary votes.   This extends my previous work on historical precedents in parliamentary influence in foreign policy and the role of parliament in Turkish and UK foreign policy.  I have recently written a paper on the importance of prime ministers’ orientations toward parliament and party politics in foreign policy.

Foreign Policy Analysis:  Contributions to International Relations

Building on my recent article on how a foreign policy analysis perspective can inform the domestic and decision making turn in international relations theory, I am co-authoring a paper on how this argument applies to scholarship on the international relations of the Middle East. 

Recent Professional Activities

Expert Testimony

Invited witness for the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee’s Inquiry on the Foreign Policy Implications of and for a Separate Scotland, London, 15 January 2013.  

Invited witness for the Scottish Parliament European and External Relations Committee’s evidence session on ‘The Scottish Government’s Proposals for an Independent Scotland: International Policy (including membership of international organisations),’ Edinburgh, 12 June 2014.

Selective Presentations

 “The Scottish Question,” Brookings Center on the United States and Europe, Brookings Institution, 12 September 2014 (broadcast nationally in the U.S. on CSPAN; available at 

“Foreign Policy Considerations for an Independent Scotland,” Scottish Parliament Staff Development Seminar, 15 April 2014. 

“An Independent Scottish Foreign Policy,” in “The Independence Debate with Kirsty Wark,” at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, 13 August 2013.

Selective Blogs

“Too small for the big leagues? Foreign policy in an independent Scotland,” on the University of Edinburgh’s Blog Scotland’s Referendum:  Informing the Debate, 25 January 2013.

“The Birth of a State has Many Midwives,” with Ryan Beasley, on the University of Edinburgh’s Blog Scotland’s Referendum:  Informing the Debate, 8 December 2013: 

“Four Pillars of Foreign Policy,” on the University of Edinburgh’s Blog Scotland’s Referendum:  Informing the Debate, 16 December 2013: 

Topics interested in supervising

foreign & security policy * political psychology * political leadership * group decision-making * parliamentary systems * the role of individuals and domestic politics in international relations

If you are interested in being supervised by Juliet Kaarbo, please see the links below for more information: