International
Relations and
Economics

About

The International Relations and Economics group (IRE) conducts collaborative research into the issues fundamental to human life—state and social infrastructure, war and peace, and food and energy security. The group will look to grasp the economic changes and new international order currently emerging at the end of this post-Cold War period, driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s increasing influence globally, and develop research that brings together the Center’s existing expertise in border studies, Cold War history, and Arctic studies. By asking fundamental questions about the future course of relations between states, how the world’s political map will be redrawn, and the prospects for energy and environmental sustainability, the group will focus on how to support and maintain the lives of people. Combining macro-level analysis with fine-grained micro-investigations enables the research to focus on individuals rather than people, and the group will conduct such multi-scalar studies through examinations of migration, gender, and tourism in specific localities.