Political Science Professor Wins Book Award, Shares Research in Tokyo

Susan Allen, professor of political science, co-authored "Bargaining in the UN Security Council: Setting the Global Agenda" (Oxford University Press, 2022). The book examines the formal and informal factors that influence Security Council priorities and responses to international peace and security threats.

Since 2008, the council has given the biennial award to a recent book focusing on the UN. Allen and co-author Amy Yuen, chair of the political science department at Middlebury College, received the award June 22 at the ACUNS annual meeting at the University of Tokyo.

"Receiving the award in a room full of people that you admire was very validating," Allen said.

Allen called the award a "tremendous moment to celebrate" after completing the book with Yuen, a friend from graduate school, during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

With both their backgrounds deeply rooted in conflict-oriented research, Yuen was pleasantly surprised to receive the award from an organization composed of academics, diplomats and policymakers.

She views the award as an invitation to engage in more conversations that will potentially impact policy work globally.

"The fact that they're reading it and they're going, 'Oh, this is super interesting, and I want to talk more about it,' has been really encouraging and made me feel like I could actually be helpful in that sphere, at least be useful as part of the conversation," Yuen said.

 Allen and Yuen were part of a panel of experts that discussed the potential influence of the Security Council's elected members. It's a key focus of the duo's current research and tentative next book.

The idea to investigate informal steps that elected members take to gain influence sparked after Allen and Yuen were invited to speak to the South Korean mission in 2022. That nation's delegates were preparing to take their seat as an elected member in 2024.

"Although I don't think that we necessarily planned for it to be, the first book really does focus a lot on the permanent members (of the council), and about the rules that give them greater influence," Allen said.

"The second project, which is starting to look more and more like it will probably evolve into a book as well, focuses on the informal practices. We're now looking at how are countries using these informal practices to gain influence and move that agenda forward outside of our traditional expectations."

Top: Susan Allen (left), political science professor at Ole Miss, and Amy Yuen, chair of the political science department at Middlebury College, accept the 2024 Book award from the Academic Council on the United Nations Systems at its annual meeting in Tokyo. Submitted photo