My research agenda has two major, interrelated areas. The first centers on governance norms and practice within ASEAN and other organizations in the Global South. The second advances interpretive methodologies and methods. You can read about each area and find links to my publications below. For a full list of publications and work-in-progress, please see my CV.

I. Regional Governance and Social IR Theory

The first area of my research examines regional diplomacy and governance in Southeast Asia and elsewhere in the Global South. To this end, I work with and develop social IR theory. In particular, I am interested in how communities of diplomatic officials within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other organizations understand and respond to conflict and crises. This focus leads me to investigate and theorize governance norms and their enactment in practice. These interests animate my 2022 book, Practicing Peace: Conflict Management in Southeast Asia and South America (Oxford University Press). I have conducted more than 130 interviews with diplomatic practitioners, including officials at ASEAN, the African Union (AU), and the Organization of American States (OAS). My published and in-progress research in this area theorizes continuity and change in diplomacy and governance and offers comparative perspectives on governance and conflict management across organizations and regions.

Related Publications:

• Aarie Glas (2022), Practicing Peace: Conflict Management in Southeast Asia and South America. Oxford University Press.*
  • Link: Publisher’s site

• Stéphanie Martel and Aarie Glas (2023), “The Contested Meaning-Making of Diplomatic Norms: Competence in Practice in Southeast Asian Multilateralism.” European Journal of International Relations. 29(1): 227-252.*
  • Link: Publisher’s site
  • An early version of our article won the “Best Conference Paper” and “Best New Scholar” awards from the International Studies Association Asia-Pacific (2020).

• Aarie Glas and Marion Laurence (2022), “Changing Norms in Practice: Noninterference in the UN and ASEAN.” Journal of Global Security Studies 7(3).*
  • Link: Publisher’s site

• Aarie Glas (2021), “Diplomacy in the ASEAN,” in Patrick James (ed.). Oxford Bibliographies in International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.*
  • Link: Publisher’s site

• Aarie Glas and Emmanuel Balogun (2020), “Norms in Practice: People-Centric Governance in ASEAN and ECOWAS,” International Affairs 96(4): pp. 1015-1032.*
  • Links: Article PDF; Publisher’s site
  • The article has been promoted in two International Affairs reading lists: the ISA 2021 reading list,”Globalization, regionalism and nationalism: Contending forces in world politics“, and “International Organizations.”
  • Please see our related commentary in the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage.

• Aarie Glas and David Zarnett (2020), “Regional Organizations” in Fen Osler Hampson, Alp Özerdem, and Jonathan Kent (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Peace, Security and Development. New York: Routledge, pp. 348-366.**
  • Link: Publisher’s site

• Aarie Glas (2018), “African Union Security Culture in Practice: African Problems and African Solutions,” International Affairs 94(5): 1121–1138.*
  • Links: Article PDF; Publisher’s siteThis article has been promoted in International Affairs’ “Africa”reading list.
  • Please see a related commentary published by All Africa and the International Affairs Blog.

• Aarie Glas (2017), “Habits of Peace: Long-Term Regional Cooperation in Southeast Asia,” European Journal of International Relations 23(4): 833–856.*
  • Links: Article PDF; Publisher’s site

Works-In-Progress:

• Aarie Glas and Stéphanie Martel (n.d.), “Boundary Work, Overlapping Identities, and Liminality in Communities of Practice.” Revise and Resubmit. Global Studies Quarterly. Invited article for special issue.

• Steven Bernstein, Aarie Glas, and Marion Laurence (n.d.), “Norms, Practices, and Social Change in International Politics.” Book manuscript in progress.

• Rithiya Serey, Tanner Bivens, and Aarie Glas (n.d.), “‘This is not the 90s’: Change in ASEAN’s Normative Order and the Regional Response to Myanmar.” Article with student co-authors in circulation.

• Scott Edwards and Aarie Glas (n.d.), “Trusting as normal? Adjusting ASEAN’s diplomatic practices in response to COVID-19.” Invited article for special issue in planning stages.
  

II. Interpretive Methodologies and Methods

The second area of my research explores and extends the interpretive methodologies and methods that are at the heart of my substantive research. In particular, I am interested in the effects of positionality in the production of knowledge and how to build reflexivity into research designs. I have a series of short, often co-authored, and related reflections on these dynamics published in APSA’s PS: Political Science and Politics. This series of articles is geared towards graduate student scholars with the aim of offering actionable means for doing rigorous, reflexive qualitative research. For more on related methodological issues, please visit the Interpretive Methodologies and Methods (IMM) Group at APSA, which I have worked with for the last six years in a number of capacities, and the Qualitative Inquiry Collaborative (QUIC) at NIU where I am a member of the executive committee.

Related Publications:

• Alesha Porisky and Aarie Glas (2023), “Insiders, Outsiders, and Credible Visitors in Research.” PS: Political Science and Politics. 56(1): 51-55.*
  • Link: Publisher’s site.

• Aarie Glas (2021), “Power, Positionality, and Positions of Power: Reflexivity in Elite Interviewing,” PS: Political Science and Politics. 54(3): pp. 438-442.*
  • Link: Publisher’s site.

• Jessica Soedirgo and Aarie Glas (2020), “Active Reflexivity: Positionality and Practice in the Production of Knowledge,” PS: Political Science and Politics 53(3): pp. 527-531.*
  • Links: Article PDF; Publisher’s site.

• Aarie Glas and Jessica Soedirgo (2018), “A Posture of Active Reflexivity: Learning from Lee Ann Fujii’s Approach to Research,” Qualitative & Multi-Method Research 16(1): pp. 53-55.**
  • Links: Article PDF; Publisher’s site.

Works-In-Progress:

• Aarie Glas and Jessica Soedirgo (n.d.), “Reflexive Methodologies and Methods.” In Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier, Valeria Sinclair-Chapman, and Dino Christenson (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Methodological Pluralism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Invited chapter under review.
  • I am an associate editor of this volume.

• Aarie Glas and Alesha Porisky (n.d.), “Situational and Group Reflexivity: Research Through Others and Online.” Article in progress; presented at APSA 2022.

• Aarie Glas, Alesha Porisky, and Colin Kuehl (n.d.), “Qualitative Research Quality in Political Science and International Relations” in Uwe Flick (ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research Quality. Invited chapter in progress.

Additional Research: Multilateralism  

Beyond the two core areas of my research, I am interested in broader questions of contemporary global governance, multilateralism, and the structures and practices that constitute the international system of states. These interests have driven a few additional publications:

• Aarie Glas, Clifton van der Linden, Matthew J. Hoffmann, and Robert Denemark (2018), “Understanding Multilateral Treaty-Making as Constitutive Practice” Journal of Global Security Studies 3(3): 339-357.*
  • Links: Article PDF; Publisher’s site; Replication data

• Aarie Glas and John Kirton (2012), “Global Governance from America, Canada and the Responsible Rest” in Sean Clark and Sabrina Hoque (eds.). Debating a Post-American World: What Lies Ahead. London: Routledge, pp. 221-225.**
  • Links: Chapter PDF; Publisher’s site

*peer reviewed publication; **editor-reviewed publication