Hi! My name is Kathryn (Katie) Shapiro, and I am a PhD Candidate in Political Science at Rutgers University. My research lies at the intersection of political psychology and foreign policy decision-making, with a particular interest in how individual leader characteristics shape foreign policy decisions during times of war.
I am currently working on my dissertation, “Time to Go: Protracted Conflict and War Termination,” which develops a new framework for understanding when and how leaders choose to end wars by examining the interaction between domestic normative expectations on war termination and individual leader traits.
I currently have two articles under review stemming from my dissertation. The first examines the self-monitoring orientations of Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden and their contrasting approaches to war termination during the U.S. War in Afghanistan. The second article develops a theoretical framework for understanding the role of norms in war termination and draws on an original survey experiment to examine how these norms shape individual preferences toward ending wars in the United States.
I am on the job market for the 2027-28 academic year. Please reach out with any questions or to connect!
Email: kathryn.shapiro@rutgers.edu
Letters of Reference available upon request.
