Helen V. Milner is the B. C. Forbes Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University and the director of the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. She was the chair of the Department of Politics from 2005 to 2011. She was president of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) from 2012-14. She has written extensively on issues related to international and comparative political economy, the connections between domestic politics and foreign policy, globalization and regionalism, and the relationship between democracy and trade policy. Recent research concerns globalization and populism in the developed world.
Some of her writings include Resisting Protectionism (1988), Interests, Institutions and Information: Domestic Politics and International Relations (1997), Votes, Vetoes, and the Political Economy of International Trade Agreements (2012), The Political Economy of Economic Regionalism (1997), Internationalization and Domestic Politics (1996), “Why the Move to Free Trade? Democracy and Trade Policy in the Developing Countries” (International Organization 2005), “Why Democracies Cooperate More: Electoral Control and International Trade Agreements” (International Organization 2002), “The Optimal Design of International Institutions: Why Escape Clauses are Essential.” (International Organization 2001); “The Politics of Foreign Direct Investment into Developing Countries: Increasing FDI through International Trade Agreements?” (American Journal of Political Science, 2008); and “Who Supports Global Economic Engagement? The Sources of Preferences in American Foreign Economic Policy” (International Organization 2011); “International Systems and Domestic Politics: Linking Complex Theories with Empirical Models in International Relations” (International Organization 2015). Her latest book is Sailing the Water’s Edge: Domestic Politics and American Foreign Policy, coauthored with Dustin Tingley (Princeton University Press, 2015), which won APSA’s 2016 Gladys M. Kammerer Award for the best book published in the field of U.S. national policy.
She is currently working on issues related to globalization and development, such as the political economy of foreign aid, the “digital divide” and the global diffusion of the internet, and the relationship between globalization and democracy. Her research in these areas concerns Africa, in particular the politics of foreign aid in Uganda and Ghana and the resource curse associated with non-tax income in such countries. She has a number of projects involving experiments about the effects of different revenue sources, like taxes, aid and oil, on political accountability. She also looks at how globalization interacts with political change in Tunisia in another branch of research.
Selected Publications
BOOKS (selected):
Sailing the Water’s Edge: Domestic Politics and American Foreign Policy. Coauthored with D. Tingley. Princeton University Press. 2015
Resisting Protectionism: Global Industries and the Politics of International Trade, Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1988.
Interests, Institutions and Information: Domestic Politics and International Relations. Princeton University Press, 1997.
Votes, Vetoes and International Trade Agreements: The Domestic and International Politics of
Preferential Trade Agreements. Coauthored with E. Mansfield. Princeton University Press, 2012.
The Political Economy of Economic Regionalism. Coedited with Edward Mansfield. NY: Columbia University Press, 1997.
Internationalization and Domestic Politics. Coedited with Robert Keohane. NY: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
ARTICLES (selected):
“Who Controls Foreign Aid? Elite versus Public Perceptions of Donor Influence in Aid-Dependent Uganda”. Coauthored with Michael Findlay, Adam Harris, Dan Nielson. International Organization 71 (4) Winter 2017: 633-663.
“Why the Move to Free Trade? Democracy and Trade Policy in the Developing Countries.” Coauthored with Keiko Kubota. International Organization. v.59, #4, Winter 2005: 107-143.
“Why Democracies Cooperate More: Electoral Control and International Trade Agreements.” Coauthored with Edward Mansfield and B. Peter Rosendorff. International Organization. Summer 2002. v. 56, #3: 477-513.
“The Optimal Design of International Institutions: Why Escape Clauses are Essential.” Coauthored with B. Peter Rosendorff. International Organization. v. 55, #4, Fall 2001: 829-57.
“The Politics of Foreign Direct Investment into Developing Countries: Increasing FDI through International Trade Agreements?” Coauthored with Tim Buthe. American Journal of Political Science. v. 52, #4, October 2008: 741-762.
“Who Supports Global Economic Engagement? The Sources of Preferences in American Foreign Economic Policy.” Coauthored with Dustin H. Tingley. International Organization. v. 65, #1, Winter 2011: 37-68.
“International Systems and Domestic Politics: Linking Complex Theories with Empirical Models in International Relations.” Coauthored with Stephen Chaudoin and Xun Pang, International Organization. v. 69, #2, Spring 2015: 275-309.
Selected Honors and Awards
President, International Political Science Association, 2012-14.
Executive Committee, Social Science Research Council, 2012-.
President, International Political Economy Society (IPES), 2013-17.
Award for Mentoring Women in International Political Economy, Society for Women in International Political Economy (SWIPE), International Study Association's International Political Economy section, 2019.
Distinguished Scholar in IPE Award, International Studies Association, 2017.
Regius Professorship Lecture, University of Essex, January 2017.
Gladys Kammerer Award for best book in public policy, American Political Science Association 2016.
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2000-present.
Member, Council on Foreign Relations, 2002-present.