Research Portfolio Post #2: Mentor Meeting

I met with my mentor, Professor Garrett Martin on August 30th over at the Dav. The conversation lasted about thirty minutes and began with some general chat regarding the areas of interest. Although I no longer plan on deliberately focusing on this area, Professor Martin and I briefly spoke about Sino-European relations as I was interested in how this subject might play into my research. Now, however, I am leaning more toward a historical analysis. Allison identifies four cases in which a rising power did not clash with the ruling power (contrasted by sixteen cases where the two states did engage in violent conflict). I know Professor Martin has experience in the field of history, so I intend on asking for pointers/advice during our next meeting. For now, I am continuing to read criticisms and reviews of Graham Allison’s book and the research put out by the Belfer Center. I also plan on reading more in-depth histories of the aforementioned cases of peace.

One thought on “Research Portfolio Post #2: Mentor Meeting

  1. It sounds like you had a productive meeting with Dr. Martin, and that you have some good ideas for your next steps in the research process. I would suggest moving beyond reading just about Allison’s book/argument, though, as it will be important to establish the basic landscape of facts/events for any case(s) that you might eventually analyze and, more broadly, for the conceptual puzzle that will inform your research and your exploration of each of three research methodologies that we will cover. Keep reading and researching–I look forward to seeing how the project develops!

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