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"