PRIF welcomes Brian Christopher Rathbun as visiting professor. During his stay in October 2022 he will work on his project on advantages of nonviolent protests over violent protests. His work aims to explain how the former are better able to send costly signals of resolve while simultaneously winning over audiences. It is precisely because nonviolent protesters expose themselves to the possibility of harm while denying themselves the ability to protect themselves through physical violence that they can win the moral high ground.
Brian Christopher Rathbun is Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California Dornsife. His research focusses on Security politics, German foreign policy, the European Union, social movements, and theories of peace. He has published several monographs and numerous journal articles. His book “Reasoning of State” (Cambridge University Press 2019) won the 2018-2020 best book award from the Foreign Policy section of the American Political Science Association. Brian Rathbun is a member of the Editorial Boards of International Studies Quarterly, European Journal of European Security, Journal of Global Security Studies.
During his stay, Brian Rathbun will be working with the researchers from the research department “International Institutions”.