Research
Our work focuses on how international institutions and law promote international cooperation from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective. We investigate issues related to multilateralism, treaty making, and preferential trade. A significant part of our work addresses the broad impact of international cooperation through multilateral treaties. Our current research efforts concentrate on dispute settlement under preferential trade agreements, and concepts and measurement of power in IR.
Dispute Settlement under Preferential Trade Agreements
This project addresses the procedures and practices of dispute settlement among trading parties. It explores how the institutional design of trade agreements affects the occurrence, escalation, and resolution of disputes. While we have substantial insights into how trade disputes arise and are settled under the World Trade Organization (WTO) umbrella, we know much less about how trade disputes are handled outside the multilateral framework – in bilateral, plurilateral, or regional trade agreements. We are currently compiling data on the occurrence of disputes outside of the WTO system, their settlement practices, and levels of escalation.
Concepts and Measurement of Power in International Relations
Power is a central though contested concept in global political economy, and a recurrent theme in our research. To this end, we explore the variety of power concepts and measurements used by contemporary international relations scholars. While there have been significant conceptual advances in theorizing power, these have not been sufficiently reflected in empirical work which remains mired in conventional uses of military and economic indicators of power. This project takes advantage of theoretical progress to develop a broader empirically-oriented analysis of different concepts of power. Combining traditional content analysis with computational text analysis, we investigate evolving approaches to power in six major international relations journals over time. Our goal is to promote cross-fertilization among existing approaches and to develop proposals for improving the use of power in empirically oriented international policy analysis.
Recent Publications:
Stiller, K.T. 2026. The changing boundaries of trade governance: The cases of the EU and the UK. Geopolitics 31(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2025.2454907
Stiller, K.T., and G. Spatafora. 2025. Clashing accountability. National politics and Oobstacles to electoral accountability in the European Parliament. In Matthew Flinders, Chris Monaghan and Gergana Dimova (eds.): Understanding Accountability: New Perspectives on a Fractured World. London: Routledge.
Stiller, K.T. 2024. The WTO as Multilateral Diffusion Hub: Institutional Learning in WTO Disputes and the Design of Preferential Trade Agreements. International Studies Quarterly 68(4), https://doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqae126
Snidal, D., T. Hale, E. Jones, C. Mertens, K. Milewicz. 2024. Special Issue: The power of the “weak” and international organizations. Review of International Organization 19(3), https://link.springer.com/journal/11558/volumes-and-issues/19-3
Snidal, D., T. Hale, E. Jones, C. Mertens, K. Milewicz. 2024. The power of the “weak” and international organizations. Review of International Organization 19(3): 385–409, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11558-024-09531-w