Amanda J. Rothschild, International Security Program Research Fellow, is Co-winner of the 2016 Patricia Weitsman Award

Amanda J. Rothschild's paper, "Tipping Theory: Origins of Great Britain's Suppression of the Slave Trade and Implications for Today's Collective Action Problems," is one of two co-winners of the 2016 Patricia Weitsman Award for Outstanding International Security Studies Section Graduate Paper. The award will be presented at the 2016 International Studies Association Annual Convention in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Patricia Weitsman Award for Outstanding International Security Studies Section Graduate Paper recognizes the best graduate student paper on any aspect of security studies. The paper must have been given at the International Studies Annual Convention or the annual International Security Studies Section/International Security and Arms Control Conference.

In announcing Rothschild's award, the Weitsman Award Committee praised her paper:

Amanda Rothschild's paper, "Tipping Theory: Origins of Great Britain's Suppression of the Slave Trade and Implications for Today's Collective Action Problems," skillfully employs new archival and documentary evidence to offer a novel relative gains-focused explanation for why Britain worked to abolish the international slave trade during the 19th century. In short, she argues that some Brits seek to end slavery domestically for moral reasons, which led others to seek to end slavery internationally for material self-interest-driven reasons. Rothschild also infers lessons from this particular historical case that are applicable to contemporary collective action problems, including global climate change.

Amanda is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an International Security Program research fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School.