Kevin Bustamante

Areas of Interest: International Relations Theory, Security Studies, Race and Racism, Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism

Kevin Bustamante is a fifth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. His research interests lie at the intersection of international relations theory and racism. His dissertation focuses on the linkages between status, great power politics, and racism. Specifically, his dissertation considers the role of racism in the rise and fall of colonies and nuclear weapons as symbols of great power status. He is currently a Hans J. Morgenthau Fellow at the Notre Dame International Security Center. He is an award recipient of the APSA Diversity Fellowship and has received training at the Institute for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research (IQMR) and at the Summer Workshop on the Analysis of Military Operations and Strategy (SWAMOS). He is committed to recruiting and mentoring under-represented minorities into academia. Before attending graduate school, Kevin worked as a high school teacher and as a research assistant investigating civil war alliances. He earned his B.A. from the University of Miami and triple majored in Anthropology, English (Creative Writing), and Political Science - graduating with departmental honors in the latter two.