Watson Institute at Brown University
International Relations

Thesis Awards

Mark and Betty Garrison Prize

Awarded for the best thesis in international relations, foreign policy analysis, or diplomatic history. The prize honors the work of Mark and Betty Garrison who helped create the Center for Foreign Policy Development (CFPD) at Brown University in 1981. 

2019  Katarina Zivec "Veins of Influence: Revisiting the Impact of Energy Politics on Inter-State Relations"
2018 Not awarded
2017 Dolan Bortner "Compliance in Context: Extralegal Determinants of Extradition in Chile and Japan"
2016 James Janison "Examining the International Political Economy of the Firm: The Dynamics of State Aggression in Georgian-Russian Trade 1996-2014"
2015 Tomonobu Kumahira "Modeling Internet-based Citizen Activism and Foreign Policy: The Islands Dispute between China and Japan"
2014 Hannah Braun "A Critical Approach to Energy Security: The Field of National Practice in Poland and Germany"
2013 Jorge Tamames "A Crisis of Consensus: Legacies of the Spanish Transition, 1975-2013"
2012 Sarah Wilbanks "Cherry-Picked Humanitarian Interventions: A Complexity Approach to Explaining Libya 2011"

Samuel C. Lamport Prize

Awarded for the best thesis on international understanding with an emphasis on cooperation and tolerance.

2019 Isabel Paolini "The Tides of Rapprochement: Integrating a Social Approach to Examine the Origins of Hydropolitical Cooperation"
2018 Not awarded
2017 Emily Cunniffe "Humanitarianism As Border: The Governance of Migration and the Reinforcement of Exclusion in Ceuta, Spain"
2016 Aida Patricia Palma Carpio "Chinese “Paisanos” in Guadalajara, Mexico: Rethinking South-South Migration Flows"
2015 Emma Strother "Political Economy and Global Arts for Social Change: A Comparative Analysis of Youth Orchestras in Venezuela and Chile"
2014 Galen Hunt "The People Business: Revisiting the Function of Networks in the Practice of Human Smuggling"
2013 Vanes Ibric "The Selectivity and Inconsistency of Security Council-Authorized Humanitarian Intervention: Explaining Syria in Light of Libya"
Ana Carolina Barry Laso "Explaining Social Inclusion Policies: Emergence Theory and the Case of Brazil (1988-2013)"
2012 Julia Sheehy-Chan "Government Strategy Behind Religious Conflict: Explaining Violence Against Christians in Egypt and Jordan"

Watson Institute Outstanding Thesis Award

For the best IR thesis related to the Institute’s core research areas of security, development, or governance.

2019 Sukanya Roy "Transnational Linkages of Belonging: Migrant Destinations and Remittances in Burkina Faso and Senegal"
2018 Arundhati Ponnapa "Violent Conflict, Nation-Building, and Language Policy Formation: A Comparative Study of India and Indonesia"
2017 Paula Martinez Gutierrez "Explaining Variations in Violence: Civil Allyship and Drug War Outcomes in China and Mexico"
2016 Not awarded
2015 Yelena Bidé "Social Movements and Processes of Political Change: The Political Outcomes of the Chilean Student Movement, 2011-2015"
2014 Youbin Kang "Manual Intervention: A Path-dependency Analysis of the Influence of Values in Three Private Voluntary Initiatives"

The Brown University Distinguished Senior Thesis Award

Recognizes exemplary senior thesis projects by undergraduate students across the university.

2014 - Hannah Braun "A Critical Approach to Energy Security: The Field of National Practice in Poland and Germany"

Ying-Mao and Anna Kau Thesis Prize 

Awarded for the best thesis in East Asian Politics and Peace.

2014 - Justin Crist Lee "Challenging the Relationship between Institutions and Economic Integration: The Path to Cross-Strait Commerce"