What goes into the decision to use military force? This is the broad question that Jessica Weeks examines. The newly-hired assistant professor of political science and Trice Family Faculty Scholar at UW-Madison considers that question in both authoritarian regimes and democratic governments around the world.
Her first book, “Dictators at War and Peace,” is forthcoming from Cornell University Press. We asked Weeks, who taught at Cornell for four years before coming to UW-Madison, about her first impressions of Madison, book recommendations and more.
Weeks
Q: Tell us more about your book and your research as a whole.
A: It turns out that little had been written about different kinds of dictatorships (military regimes, regimes that feature a “cult of personality,” single-party regimes like China, etc.) and how domestic politics influences dictatorships’ decisions about war and peace. My second big project looks at policy in democracies, specifically how the mass public decides when it’s right to use military force. I find it fascinating to see how different people view the world in completely different ways.
Q: How and why did you get into your field?
A: I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but then took a fantastic seminar at Ohio State with a professor who studied how Supreme Court Justices decide their cases. The final assignment was a major research paper in which we had to analyze a case and predict how the justices would vote. I’m pretty sure most of my predictions were wrong, but I thought, “Wow, do professors get to do this kind of stuff all the time? I’m in!” I ended up deciding that my passion was international politics rather than American politics, but that’s how I first decided I wanted to be a professor.
Q: What courses will you teach?
A: Comparative Foreign Policy, the Causes of War and the War in Iraq, International Security, Domestic Politics and Foreign Policy.
Q: What can students expect in the classroom?
A: I find it pretty boring to hear myself talk, so I try for more of an interactive approach, even in a large lecture course. I think students learn best when they try to translate ideas into their own words and try to create something new, rather than just summarizing what they've been taught. So all of my classes are designed to encourage that, using techniques like group exercises, simulations, and creative research assignments.
Q: What do you like to do outside of work?
A: I love to read novels, do yoga, take walks, travel, cook, and hang out with my friends and family, which includes my husband, my two incredible stepdaughters (6 and 9), and now our son, who was born in February.
Q: What’s the best book you've read recently?
A: I read a ton, but the best one I've read recently is called “Portuguese Irregular Verbs,” by Alexander McCall Smith. It’s about an academic in an extremely obscure field. We professors tend to think that whatever we are researching is of crucial, world-changing importance, and this book pokes fun at that tendency in an absolutely brilliant way.
Q: What did you know about Madison before coming here?
A: I knew it had lakes, was very progressive, that people took their food and drink seriously, and that it was full of nice people. All of those things are true! I love it here.
To meet more new faculty members, see our full list of Q&As.