In 2013, Dr. Joshua Shifrinson joined the Bush School, where he teaches courses on US foreign relations and international security. His research interests include US foreign policy, grand strategy, diplomatic history, and international relations theory. His forthcoming book, Rising Titans, Falling Giants: Rising States and the Fate of Declining Great Powers (Cornell University Press), draws heavily on the United States’ own growth as a great power to explore why some rising states prey upon declining great powers, while others embrace conciliatory and supportive strategies. Other projects investigate US-Soviet/Russian relations during and after the Cold War, alliance politics, and great power politics in the nuclear age using extensive archival research and other qualitative methods.
Shifrinson’s work has been supported by fellowships from the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson Center, Dickey Center for International Understanding, and George Washington University’s Institute for Security and Conflict Studies. His dissertation received the Lucien Pye Award for Outstanding Thesis from the MIT Political Science Department, while his 2016 International Security article received the Best Article award from the Diplomatic Studies Section of the International Studies Association.
Shifrinson holds a PhD in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BA (summa cum laude) in history and politics from Brandeis University.