Maël van Beek
Maël van Beek

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Hi, call me Alan.

I am a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University.

I investigate the strategic processes that translate microlevel preferences into macrolevel behaviors. Specifically, I examine how constituencies shape the strategic context their leaders navigate at all levels of analysis. My work focuses on answering three questions: How does the distribution of public preferences impact the ability of leaders to engage in international bargaining? How do great powers navigate the relation between international orders and wars? Finally, what statistical tools can help political scientists manage data scarcity? I use formal and computational models to demonstrate the internal validity of my arguments and behavioral experiments and statistical methods to ensure their external validity.

My research has been published in the American Journal of Political Science and has been supported by the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, the National Science Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, among others.

I received my Ph.D. in Political Science (International Relations and Political Methodology) from The Ohio State University where I was a founding member of The Bear F. Braumoeller’s Models of Emergent Social Order (MESO) Lab. At Princeton, I am part of the Time in Politics Project. I am also a co-founder of the Korea and the World Podcast.

I can be reached via email at mael.vanbeek@princeton.edu.

Download CV
Interests
  • Public opinion and int’l bargaining
  • Hegemonic competition and conflict
  • Survey experiments
  • Formal and computational modeling
  • Likelihood-free causal inference
Education
  • Ph.D. Political Science, 2023

    The Ohio State University

  • M.I.S. Int'l Cooperation, 2015

    Seoul National University

  • B.A. Anthropology, 2012

    The Chinese University of Hong Kong