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Jeffrey T. Checkel

Full-time Professor

Department of Political and Social Sciences

Contact info

jeffrey.checkel@eui.eu

[+39] 055 4685 231

Office

Villa Sanfelice, SF002

Office hours

By appointment.

Administrative contact

Pia Dittmar

Working languages

English

Curriculum vitae

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EUI Publications Repository

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Jeffrey T. Checkel

Full-time Professor

Department of Political and Social Sciences

Biography

Jeffrey T. Checkel joined the Department of Political and Social Sciences in January 2020, as Chair in International Politics, moving from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, where he held the Simons Chair in International Law and Human Security. He had previously taught at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Oslo.

After a first degree from Cornell University in applied physics, Checkel received a PhD in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A consistent theme in his scholarship has been to bridge divides of meta-theory, discipline, and subfield. After a start in Sovietology and arms control, Checkel turned to the study of institutions and norms; to European politics and identity; to transnationalism, civil wars and political violence; and - most recently - to the politics of identity formation and processual methods in the social sciences.

Checkel's research interests include international relations theory (identity formation, constructivism, international institutions, civil war, domestic-international linkages) and qualitative methods (meta-theoretical foundations, process tracing, practice analytics, bridging positivist-interpretive techniques). He has published broadly on these topics, including four books from Cambridge University Press and one volume from Yale University Press. At EUI, he offers seminars on international-relations theory; international institutions; philosophies of social science; and qualitative methods (introductory and advanced seminars; workshops).

Supervisees

Mentor for

Fields of expertise

Additional information

Processual Methods in the Social Sciences: From (Meta-) Theory to Practice.
For over 25 years, political scientists have debated whether and how to put the social world into motion. As a discipline, we have developed philosophical concepts (agent and structure), understandings of causation (causal effects, expected outcomes) and methods (regression analysis; causal identification strategies) that give us valuable snapshots of the social world. The problem – or better said, challenge – is that same social world is always in motion. If true, then our job as social scientists should also be to make motion pictures.

This book contextualizes then assesses the ever-growing number of methods through which we access, measure and operationalize ‘process’ - those motion pictures. I argue that pluralism at the level of meta-theory opens new conceptual doors and brings to the fore additional methods and designs – what I will call ‘process analytics’ – for understanding a social world that is not just there, but also and always coming into being.

The argument proceeds in four steps. In chapter 1, I sketch how political science – in its positivist/critical-realist, interpretive and post-Newtonian flavors – has added processual understandings of the social world to its conceptual and methodological toolkits. I then argue – chapter 2 - that attention to relational ontologies has made possible and legitimated this processual turn. The pluralist meta-theoretical space I describe allows for a critical exploration – chapter 3 – of the multiple tools available to capture process. These include multi-sited methods from anthropology; following methods from anthropology and geography; practice tracing from sociology; and the standard-Bayesian process tracing that dominates contemporary political science. When it comes to theorizing and measuring process, it turns out that process tracing is far from the only (method) game in town.

In the conclusion – chapter 4 - I argue that the current gold standard in political science for advancing the knowledge frontier – experimental design plus causal identification – is in need of a rethink. If we take our collective, disciplinary foot off the meta-theoretical accelerator, then new designs and methods, coupled with a richer and deeper understanding of process and cause, appear. Such process analytics will give political scientists a ‘gold-plus standard’ for measuring and accessing an increasingly turbulent, coming-into-being social world.

 

Institutions at bay? Regional integration and identity.
Identity is back. It is simultaneously being manipulated (by politicians), negotiated (by citizens), and crafted (by international institutions). These new dynamics of identity construction often come with a rejection of the norms and institutions of the global order. To understand this trend, we need to explore the interplay between local and national identities – those citizens and politicians – and the broader senses of community promoted by regional organizations – those institutions. This project argues that regional organizations (ROs) do shape identity, but this process is mediated by local politics, daily experiences, and articulated beliefs. Our theory-building explores these identity dynamics across three regions and country cases: the Africa Union and South Africa; the Association of South-East Asian Nations and Singapore; and the European Union and Germany.

We harness an interdisciplinary set of theories and methods to understand how mechanisms and practices construct identity, and the role ROs play in this process. From political science, we draw on international relations and institutional theory, process tracing and standard interview methods; from sociology and everyday nationalism, we use practice theory, ethnography, and interpretive interviewing. This epistemological, theoretical, and methodological pluralism is the project’s backbone; it is essential for opening the black box of identity construction in today’s globalized yet increasingly inward-looking world.

Our findings will provide novel insights on the tools and policies – both strengths and limitations – that ROs and states can mobilize to counter populist backlashes against the institutions of the global order. These institutions are indeed increasingly ‘at bay’ – be it over the globalized economy, security, or human rights and norms. To reverse or at least slow this trend, we must first understand it.

This project is funded by EUI's Research Council and included in the Institute's Research Hub.

Google Scholar (May 2025): Publications = 99; Citations = 24,308; h-index = 43; i10-index = 64

  • “Identity Politics and Deep Contestation of the Liberal International Order: The Case of Europe,” in Antje Wiener, David Lake and Thomas Risse, Editors, Deep Contestations of the Liberal International Order. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025

  • “Why ‘From Case to Phenomenon’? Reflections & Implications,” in Maxine Both, Ophelia Nicole-Berva and Juliette Saetre, Editors, “From Case to Phenomenon: Incorporating the Multi-Sited Approach in Political Science (Symposium),” QMMR: Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Vol.23, No.1 (Spring 2025)

  • "Process Tracing and International Political Economy," in Jon Pevehouse and Leonard Seabrooke, Editors, Oxford Handbook of International Political Economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021

  • “Identities in Motion: Articulation, Enactment, Narration,” American Political Science Association Annual Convention, September 2025

  • “Processual Methods in the Social Sciences: From (Meta-) Theory to Practice,” Workshop on “Advances in Qualitative and Multi-Method Research,” Institute for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research, Syracuse University, June 2025

  • "Process Analytics in Political Science: How, Why & Where Next,” American Political Science Association Annual Convention, September 2024

  • "International Institutions and Identity,” International Studies Association Annual Convention, March 2023

"International Institutions: Ideology and Real Powers," Diplomacy Festival, Roma, October 2024

"Process Tracing: To Deepen or to Broaden - and Why It Matters," Methods Seminar, Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, October 2023

“Identity is Everywhere ... But How Should We Study It?” School of International Studies, University of Trento, October 2023

“Democracy and Peace in Europe: What Went Wrong?” Keynote Address, Swiss Summer School in Democracy Studies, University of Zuerich, September 2023

“Domestic Politics and Peace … or Conflict? The Soviet Union in 1991 and Russia Today,” Swiss Summer School in Democracy Studies, University of Zuerich, September 2023

“Process Tracing - Between Broadening and Deepening,” Methods Seminar, Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, May 2023

“Identity and (International) Institutions,” Berlin Social Science Center (WZB), December 2019

“Institutions at Bay? Rethinking the Connection between International Institutions and Identity,” University of Potsdam, December 2019

“Research on Norms: Thinking beyond Institutions,” Keynote Address, Conference on “Liberal Biases in IR Norms Research,” University of Giessen, December 2019

“Social Science in an Era of Transparency,” Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam, November 2019

Co-Editor-in-Chief (with Samuel Ritholtz, University of Oxford, and Lisa Wedeen, University of Chicago), QMMR: Qualitative and Multi-Method Research (2026-2027)

President, Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Organized Section, American Political Science Association (2025-2027)

Editor, Cambridge Element in International Relations, Cambridge University Press (2025-Present)

Associate Editor, International Relations Theory, Cambridge Element in International Relations, Cambridge University Press (2017-2024)

Associate Editor, Journal of Peace Research (2017-Present)

Member, Editorial Board, Journal of International Relations and Development (2003-Present)

European University Institute

 

Seminars and Workshops (External)

At EUI, I co-chair and coordinate three working groups.

IR Theory Working Group - I co-chair this group, which meets every two weeks during the academic year, with Stefano Guzzini. It is for researchers and post-doctoral fellows working with us. We utilize it as a forum for presentations of work-in-progress (prospectuses, thesis chapters, drafts of conference papers); discussing current trends and controversies in IR theory, be they over ethics, data, meta-theory, theory or method; and critically evaluating arguments in the literature (journal articles, book chapters). The focus is on helping researchers and fellows make better arguments in their projects; skill building; and a bit of professional socialization. For more information, click here.

Qualitative and Fieldwork Working Group - This Working Group is a student-led knowledge exchange and community hub for researchers, post-doctoral fellows and faculty members with an interest in fieldwork, ethnography, interviewing and qualitative methodology more broadly. It serves as a forum to learn about, debate and discuss different aspects of fieldwork as well as to learn from each other’s experiences and practices. I am the mentoring professor for the Group, which meets regularly during the academic year. For more information, click here.

International Relations Working Group - Professor Guzzini and I are the mentoring professors for this group, which is run by PhD researchers. It is a critical - but collegial - forum where researchers working on international relations broadly defined get feedback on their work.  The group also sponsors lectures and seminars with leading IR scholars, including Dr. Ayse Zarakol, Prof. Robert Keohane and Prof. Christian Reus-Smit. Members come from across the EUI community - Political and Social Sciences, other departments, as well as the Schuman Centre. Its website can be found here

I welcome PhD proposals on a broad range of topics.

In terms of IR theory, I am especially interested in new theories built on inter-disciplinary grounds or that cut across epistemological boundaries. While I have long-standing interests in constructivism, I am equally at home working with other theoretical schools.

Aside from IR, I welcome projects on peace & conflict studies (rebel group mobilization, international interventions, civil wars), international institutions and organizations (governance, domestic-international linkages, legitimacy), identity politics, and European integration.

Methodologically, I can advise best on qualitative methods, but am open to other approaches. Whatever the method chosen - qualitative, quantitative, mixed, positivist or interpretive - the goal is for students to master a set of techniques that can be used in an operational, applied and ethically-sound way to explain-understand-critique the world around us.

I work with each researcher to produce a cutting-edge thesis, one that excites you and that promises in some way – theory, methods, ethics, or data – to push social science in new directions. I will insist that you are trained broadly. This means that during the first two years, you will take seminars in your area of specialization, but you will also enroll in courses in other subfields and disciplines. In addition, you will take one or more theory seminars – ‘Philosophies of Social Science’ or ‘Power,’ for example. The purpose of all this out-of-area training is to ensure you are a well-rounded social scientist, one with considerable expertise on a particular topic/area.

The goal is to find that sweet spot that avoids two extremes. You are neither an abstract theorist whose work connects weakly to the troubled, turbulent world in which we live; nor are you a skilled technician who is content to attack any theoretical puzzle with the same method or experiment.

In my advising relationships you, the researcher, have the agency. We meet when you request it, or I provide feedback when you ask for it. However, during your first two years, I will intervene a bit more. Specifically, in September of your first and second years, we will meet and agree a series of goals for the coming year and – equally important – deadlines for reaching those goals.

General Rules

  • Respect: I strive to treat you with respect, always. If you feel something is amiss in the advising relation, please reach out; I am always approachable on such matters.
  • Letter Writing: If you require a letter of recommendation from me, I must have all material for writing the letter three weeks before the deadline.
  • Providing Feedback: When you send me a chapter or essay on which to comment, please specify by when you need the feedback. I will reply, agreeing to the date or suggesting a new one. This is then my contract for getting you comments in a timely manner.
  • IR Theory Working Group: Attendance at all sessions is mandatory.
  • Residency: Your doctoral grant requires you to be in residence in San Domenico di Fiesole during all four years of the grant. The only exceptions – and very good ones indeed – are when you are in the field collecting data, or participating in an academic exchange.
  • No E-Mails on Weekends: Finally, here is a very practical rule, one to help us all (Checkel too!) maintain a healthy work–life balance. It is simple: No work-related e-mails between 18.00 on Fridays and 7.00 on Mondays.

PhD Researchers 

Marius Ghincea: Dr. Ghincea was a PhD student at EUI in 2019-24, working with Checkel. He defended his thesis, Manufacturing Consensus: The Domestic Politics of Foreign and Security Policy, in March 2024. Marius is an international-relations specialist, with a particular focus on the domestic politics of foreign policy in advanced democracies. In September 2024, Ghincea started a three-year position as Postdoctoral Researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zuerich), working on Professor Frank Schimmelfennig's European Research Council project 'Bordering Europe: Boundary Formation in European Integration.' 

Lars Erik L. Gjerde: Dr. Gjerde was a PhD student at the EUI in 2020-2024, working with Checkel. His thesis, Leviathans of Scandinavia: A Weberian-Foucauldian Study of the Politics of COVID-19 in Norway and Sweden, was defended in June 2024. Gjerde is a political sociologist and theorist, studying issues related to ideology as well as state power, primarily from a Weberian-Foucauldian perspective. Empirically, his work has primarily revolved around the politics of COVID-19. Gjerde's research has been published in Acta Sociologica and the Journal of Political Power.

Selma Kropp: Dr. Kropp was a PhD student at EUI in 2020-25, working with Checkel and Stephanie Hofmann (co-supervisor). She defended her thesis, Children's Rights in Regional Organizations: Bureaucratic Agency and Normative Change, in April 2025. Selma is an international relations scholar with interests in regional organizations. Her publications include an article in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (co-authored with Wolfgang Minatti). During 2024-25, Dr. Kropp is Claus Wisser Postdoctoral Fellow, Normative Orders Project, Goethe-University Frankfurt.

Wolfgang Minatti: Dr. Minatti was a PhD student at EUI in 2019-24, working with Checkel and Stephanie Hofmann (co-supervisor). He defended his thesis, A Theory of Legitimation in Civil War: The Justification of Power and Governance in the Colombian Conflict, in February 2024. Wolfgang specialises in conflict dynamics, international relations theory, and qualitative methodology. His publications include articles in the Review of International Studies, Qualitative Research and the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (co-authored with Selma Kropp). From June 2024 to September 2025, Wolfgang was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Potsdam, working with Professor Andrea Liese. In October 2025, Wolfgang will move to Leuphana University, where he continues his research as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Chair of International Relations with Professor Tobias Lenz.

Ophelia Nicole-Berva: Dr. Nicole-Berva was a PhD student at EUI in 2020-25, working with Checkel and Martin Ruhs (co-supervisor). She defended her thesis, Feeling the Border. Everyday Solidarity Activism at the Internal Borders of Europe, in March 2025. Ophelia’s dissertation is based on multi-sited ethnography with activists along the northern Italian border; in it, she explores the solidarity movement with migrants through a conceptual approach that examines the intersection of space and affect in everyday activism. More broadly, her research interests include social movement studies, border studies, critical and feminist theory, research methodology, collaborative methods, and research ethics. Dr. Nicole-Berva is now a Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Citizenship Studies (InCite), University of Geneva. Ophelia is part of the Horizon Europe DEMETRA project, which focuses on food democracy in urban settings, and for which she conducts fieldwork with various actors from the food system and civil society.

Melanie Sauter: Dr. Sauter was a PhD student at EUI in 2017-22, working with Checkel and Diego Gambetta (co-supervisors). She defended her thesis, Humanitarians under Attack, in September 2022. Melanie is a specialist on conflict dynamics, humanitarian aid and peacekeeping. Her research and publications (International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Peace Research) employ rigorously executed mixed-method designs. From September 2022 through December 2023, Sauter was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Oslo, working on Jana Krause’s European Research Council project, ‘Resilience Building: Social Resilience, Gendered Dynamics, and Local Peace in Protracted Conflicts.’ In January 2024, Melanie moved to the University of Oxford, taking up a Levin Junior Research Fellowship in Peace Studies at Lady Margaret Hall College. In September 2024, Dr. Sauter began a Junior Professorship in Analytical International Relations, University of Mannheim.

 

 

Post-Doctoral Fellows

Ben Mueser: Dr. Mueser was a Max Weber Post-Doctoral Fellow, working with Checkel, in 2020-22. Mueser received his PhD in Political Science from Columbia University, New York, in 2021. In his research, publications and teaching, Ben works across and integrates insights from both international relations theory and political theory – a rare combination in today’s hyper-specialized disciplinary milieus. Since leaving EUI in August 2022, Ben was - for two years - a Core Lecturer in Contemporary Civilization, Department of Political Science, Columbia University. Starting in September 2024, Dr. Mueser took up a position as Lecturer on Social Studies, Harvard University.

Shubha Prasad: Dr. Prasad was a Max Weber Post-Doctoral Fellow, working with Checkel, in 2020-22. In addition, during the 2021-22 academic year, she was a Part-Time Professor in Qualitative Methods, in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at EUI. Shubha’s 2020 PhD is from the Department of Political Science at Georgetown University, Washington, DC. She is an international relations theorist, with a focus on the domestic sources of foreign policy, spanning substate conflict to diaspora mobilization. In September 2022, Shubha began a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor of International Relations, Hertie School, Berlin, Germany.

Sam Ritholtz: Dr. Ritholtz was a Max Weber Post-Doctoral Fellow, working with Checkel, in 2023-24. Sam defended his thesis at the Department of International Development, University of Oxford, in February 2023. Ritholtz’s research on marginalized social groups, gender and sexuality sits at the intersection of comparative politics, international relations and political theory. Dr. Ritholtz has published in the American Political Science Review; is the co-editor (along with Jamie Hagen and Andrew Delatolla) of Queer Conflict Research: New Approaches to the Study of Political Violence (Bristol University Press, 2024); and co-author (with Rebecca Buxton) of The Way Out: Justice in the Queer Search for Refuge (University of California Press, 2026). In January 2024, Sam accepted a position as Lecturer in International Relations, Department of Politics & International Relations, University of Oxford.