Areas of Interest: International political economy of development and international relations theory.
Thomas J. Biersteker, former director of the Watson Institute for International Studies and former Henry R. Luce Professor of Transnational Organizations at Brown University, is now professor of political science at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.
Biersteker's research focuses primarily on international relations theory and international political economy. His recent activities include work with the UN Secretariat and the governments of Switzerland, Sweden, and Germany on targeting sanctions, and membership on the Council on Foreign Relations' Independent Taskforce on Terrorist Financing.
He is author, editor, co-editor, or co-author of nine books. His most recent work, co-edited with Watson Institute Senior Fellow Sue Eckert, is titled Countering the Financing of Global Terrorism (Routledge, 2007). His other recent books include International Law and International Relations, co-edited with Veronica Raffo, Peter Sprio, and Chandra Sriram (Routledge , 2006), The Re-Bordering North America, co-edited with Peter Andreas (Routledge, 2003), The Emergence of Private Authority in Global Governance, co-edited with Rodney B. Hall (Cambridge University Press, 2002); Argument without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy (PublicAffairs Press, 1999) in which he co-authored the concluding chapter, "Lessons of Vietnam for the 21st Century," with Robert S. McNamara; and State Sovereignty As Social Construct, co-edited with Cynthia Weber (Cambridge University Press, 1996).
He currently serves on editorial advisory boards for the European Journal of International Relations, the Japanese Journal of International Studies, the Journal of Peace Research, and as North American Editor for Oxford Development Studies.
He received his PhD and MS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his BA from the University of Chicago.