I am associate professor of political science at Yale University.
My research, teaching, and commentary focus on international politics and security. Specifically, I am interested in questions related to the threat and use of military force, the role of power in inter-state relations, and the historical evolution of the global system. I am also interested in philosophical questions about the nature and limits of knowledge and the connection between the scientific study of IR and the formulation of foreign policy. My articles have appeared or are forthcoming in the Annual Review of Political Science, International Organization, International Security, International Theory, and Perspectives on Politics.
My first book, Theory of Unipolar Politics, was published by Cambridge University Press in April 2014. It focuses on whether a world with an unrivaled preponderant power — such as the one we have lived in since the end of the Cold War, in which the United States is the uncontested preponderant military power — can last, and whether it will generate incentives for peace or for frequent conflict. It also lays out the most adequate grand strategy for a country in the position of the contemporary United States.
My second book, Nuclear Politics: The Strategic Causes of Proliferation (with Alexandre Debs), analyzes the strategic conditions that make nuclear proliferation more likely and then applies our theory to sixteen historical cases of attempted or successful nuclear acquisition.
My commentary has appeared in the Guardian, Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, Project Syndicate, and the USA Today, as well as in Expresso, i, and Público in my home country, Portugal.
At Yale, I am also a research fellow at the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies and a fellow of Branford College.
I am a graduate of the University of Chicago (Ph.D. 2009).
My contact information is here.
