Research
My primary research investigates the role of religious beliefs in influencing political preferences and conflict behavior. The notion that religion intensifies nationalism and escalates conflict is widely accepted. From the Christian Right in Trump-era America to the Hindutva movement in Modi’s India, from Islamic radicalism in the Middle East to Buddhist nationalism in Southeast Asia, belligerent nationalists wield religion to justify violence. However, under certain conditions, religion appears to have the radical power to deescalate conflict and reroute the expression of political grievances away from tactics of aggression. Yet little is known about the pathways and processes through which these mitigating mechanisms are activated. My research investigates how, and through what causal pathways, religious beliefs may mitigate nationalist conflict and deescalate ethnic violence. A second strand of my research examines China and its relationship to the peripheral nations of Tibet and Xinjiang.
Scholarly Publications
“Erasing Tibet,” in Foreign Affairs. With co-author Gyal Lo, University of Toronto. November 2023. Link.
“Learning to be Chinese: colonial-style boarding schools on the Tibetan plateau,” in Comparative Education. With co-author James Leibold, La Trobe University. Aug 2023 Special Issue. Link
“L’auto-immolation, une forme de résistance non-violente?” in Alternatives non-violentes, #206, March 2023. With co-author Amber French.
“Breaking Han Silence,” in the Journal of Democracy, December 2022. Link
“Foreign Policy and Religion: Tibetan Independence Movement,” in Oxford Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion, edited by Paul A. Djupe, Mark J. Rozell, Ted G. Jelen, published 2020. Link
“Tibetan Strategies and Chinese Counter-Strategies, 1985-2009,” in Asian American Policy Review, 2018-2019, Vol. 29. Link
Monograph: The Tibetan Nonviolent Struggle: A Strategic and Historical and Analysis (International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, 2015). Link
“Diplomacy vs. Mobilization: Tibetan Dilemma in the Struggle with China,” in China’s Internal and External Relations and Lessons for Korea and Asia, edited by Dr. Jae Ku & Dr. Bae Jung Ho (Korea Institute for National Unification, 2014). Link
Policy Publications
“Dying in Truth: A Closer Look at Self-immolations in Freedom Struggles,” Minds of the Movement Blog. With co-author Amber French. International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, December 12, 2022. Link
“Why Beijing Wants the Dalai Lama to Reincarnate,” China Brief, Vol. 22, Issue 5, Jamestown Foundation, March 11, 2022. Link
“The Question of Tibet-Xinjiang Equivalence: China’s Recent Policies in its Far West,” Asia Unbound, Council on Foreign Relations, May 6, 2021. Link
“Divide, Depoliticize, and Demobilize: China’s Strategies for Controlling the Tibetan Diaspora,” China Brief, Vol. 21, Issue 18, Jamestown Foundation, September 24, 2021. Link
“Anti-China is not Anti-Asian,” The Washington Post, April 6, 2021. Link
“WeChat Ban is a Difficult but Necessary Step Toward Opening China,” The Washington Post, September 18, 2020. Link
Working Papers
“The Puzzle of Suicide Protest: Why Some Nationalists Die Without Killing”
“Why Are Some Buddhist Nationalisms More Violent Than Others?”
“How Democratic is the Tibetan Exile Polity?”