Dr. Minseon Ku 구민선 具旼宣

Hello! I'm Postdoctoral Fellow with the Diplomacy Project at the Global Research Institute and a faculty affiliate at William & Mary. I will join the Grace School of Applied Diplomacy at DePaul University as Assistant Professor in September 2025. 

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My research interests lie in theorizing the social practice of diplomacy as an extension of international security. My book project, The Power of Performance: Summit Diplomacy and World Politics, which was selected for the Scholar's Circle at 2024 ISA Northeast Baltimore, is based on my dissertation and develops a theoretical approach to understanding summit diplomacy as a performance of foreign policy reproducing what I call the "social international," or the international system of states as a social space occupied by states behaving like people with social relations. 

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My research has been published or is forthcoming in International Organization, Review of International Studies, the Hague Journal of Diplomacy, Media, War & Conflict, and International Studies Perspectives. My other research interests include International Relations Theory, everyday security, public diplomacy, and US and South Korea's foreign policy and diplomacy. 

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Previously, I was the 2023-24 Spencer fellow in US Foreign Policy and International Security at the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth. I earned my MA and PhD in Political Science from The Ohio State University and Master's and BA degrees from Yonsei University in Seoul.