Position(s) at the Institute

Professor, International Relations/Political Science

Profile

PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Faculty member since 2007 and named the first Gasteyger Chairholder in the same year, Professor Biersteker previously served as Director of the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. He has taught at Yale University and the University of Southern California. He is the author/editor of nine books, including State Sovereignty as Social Construct (1996), The Emergence of Private Authority in Global Governance (2002), and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (2007). His research focuses primarily on international relations theory and economic aspects of contemporary global security issues. His recent activities include work with the United Nations’ Secretariat and the governments of Switzerland, Sweden and Germany on the design of targeted sanctions.

Areas of expertise

• Governance, global and international
• History of international relations
• International and targeted sanctions
• International organisations, UN
• State-building / Sovereignty
• Terrorism, crime

Selected publications

Books
Countering the Financing of Global Terrorism Co-edited with Sue Eckert, (New York and London: Routledge Publishers, 2007)
International Law and International Relations: Bridging Theory and Practice Co-edited with Veronica Raffo, Peter Spiro, and Chandra Sriram, (New York and London: Routledge Publishers, 2006)
The Rebordering of North America? Integration and Exclusion in a New Security Context Co-edited with Peter Andreas, (New York and London: Routledge Publishers, 2003)
The Emergence of Private Authority in Global Governance Co-edited with Rodney B. Hall, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002)

Articles

• ‘’The “Peculiar Problems” of Scholarly Engagement in the Policy Process,’’ International Studies Review, Volume 10, Issue 1, March 2008
• ‘’Prospects for the UN Peacebuilding Commission,’’ Disarmament Forum, March 2007
• “Émergence, évolution, effets et défis des sanctions ciblées,” Géoéconomie, Revue trimestrielle, N. 30, été 2004
• “Response to Sean L. Yom” Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Volume 17, Number 2, July 2004
• “La Gouvernance privée dans le systeme international” with Rodney B. Hall, L’économie politique, numero 12, 4e trimester, 2001: 5-18
• “L’émergence des autorités privées” with Rodney B. Hall, Alternatives Economiques, No. 47, 1er trimestre 2001

Book Chapters 

• “Unintended Consequences of Measures to Counter the Financing of Terrorism” in Christopher Daase and Cornelius Friesendorf (eds.) Security Governance and the Problem of Unintended Consequences (New York and London: Routledge Publishers, forthcoming 2010)
• “Global Governance” in Myriam Dunn Cavelty and Victor Mauer (eds.) Routledge Companion to Security (New York and London: Routledge Publishers, 2009)
• “Building and Maintaining an International Regime to Counter the Financing of Terrorism” in Steve Tsang (ed.) Combating Transnational Terrorism (New York and London: Praeger Publishers, 2009)
• “(Mis)measuring Success in the Financial “War” on Terrorism” with Sue E. Eckert in Peter Andreas and Kelly M. Greenhill (eds.) Sex, Drugs, and Body Counts: The Politics of Numbers in Crime and Conflict (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, forthcoming 2009)
• “The Parochialism of Hegemony: Challenges for ‘American’ International Relations” in Arlene Tickner and Ole Waever (eds.) International Relations Scholarship around the World (New York and London: Routledge Publishers, 2009)

Policy Reports

• Addressing Challenges to Targeted Sanctions: An Update of the “Watson Report” Presented at the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations, 28 September 2009
• Strengthening Targeted Sanctions through Fair and Clear Procedures, White Paper prepared by the Watson Institute Targeted Sanctions Project, Brown University, for the governments of Switzerland, Germany, and Sweden, presented at the United Nations, March 30, 2006 and published as a UN Security Council and General Assembly document (A/60/887-S/2006/331), June 14, 2006
• A Comparative Assessment of Saudi Arabia with other Countries of the Islamic World, Appendix prepared by the Watson Institute Targeting Terrorist Finances Project for the Council on Foreign Relations, published in the Second Report of an Independent Task Force on Terrorist Financing, titled An Update on the Campaign Against the Financing of Terrorism, New York: Council on Foreign Relations, June 2004 

Documents