IPAC Tackles Midwest Political Science Association Conference in Chicago
This past April, thousands of academics, researchers, and students descended upon Chicago for the Annual Conference of the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA). Among the presenters were students of W&M’s undergraduate research lab on International and Political Affairs in the Caucasus (IPAC). The Midwest offered a unique opportunity for students to exhibit several projects at the Conference. Government professor Daniel Maliniak, faculty sponsor of the research lab, accompanied the students to Chicago.
The IPAC lab conducts research on affairs within and between the countries of the Caucasus mountains. The region lies fraught with ethno-religious conflict and political volatility, exacerbated by the comparatively recent redrawing of its borders under the Soviet Union. As such, IPAC traverses a vast sea of social and political complexity in their research. This renders their assigned task of elucidating affairs within the region difficult but also sharpens the quality of their research and hones their skills as social scientists.
Much of IPAC’s research has focused specifically on the Republic of Georgia, a small democracy just south of the Russian Federation. Its relatively small size and potential for confusion with the U.S. state belie an analytically interesting political climate. Georgia, to put it bluntly, has many problems. The northern separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia desire full national independence. In 2008, Russia invaded Georgia with an eye to aid these separatists and restore Russian patrimony in the region. Last year, a national election made tense by the invasion of Ukraine and copious misinformation saw the incumbent, Eurosceptic Georgian Dream party claim victory, resulting in a wave of protests alleging rigged results. IPAC researches Georgian social and political issues occurring in this context.
Throughout their endeavors, a common theme for IPAC has been the value of undergraduate research for enriching their college experience and developing skills for the future. This value rang true during the MPSA Conference, where several teams within the lab had the chance to present their research in either poster or full-panel formats.
Many topics revolved around large-scale issues directly affecting members of the Georgian community. For example, Katherine Perriello ‘25 and Ian Matthews ‘25 presented their research on “Understanding Service: Georgian Military Perspectives on Cooperation with NATO Members.” Using information gathered from interviews with Georgian veterans by IPAC members, the pair analyzed the role of veterans in politics and attitudes towards the EU, U.S., and NATO. Both students benefited from and obtained useful skills and insights while presenting their research. Perriello was “excited to attend my first research conference where I [presented] my own research and hear[d] feedback on our work in order to better conduct interviews in the future.” She recommended that undergraduates “should seek out opportunities like this in order to be able to spend time researching a topic that interests them and gain connections with others who share their interests.”
Other teams focused on social and policy issues within the Republic of Georgia. Liam McLinda ‘25, an International Relations and Integrative Conservation double major, also conducts research at the W&M Institute for Integrative Conservation. The research he presented at the MPSA Conference, along with coauthors Eryn McKendree ‘27 and Madelyn Atkins ‘25, factors into his environmental interests, detailing how environmental NGOs (ENGOs) respond to disruptions of the democratic status-quo. McLinda’s team conducted a case study evaluating one Georgian ENGO’s response to certain policies of the Georgian Dream party, such as the controversial Foreign Agents Law, counted as proof of democratic backsliding. They employed a combination of qualitative methods and language modeling to assess the ENGO’s responses to these conditions. McLinda shared that research has enhanced my academic experience by allowing me to apply lessons learned in the classroom to real world problems and questions. It has also provided me with opportunities to hone new skills such as programming, statistical analysis, and working in teams.” As he readies himself for a 27-month Peace Corps service term in Kyrgyzstan after graduation, he suggested that “students should seek out opportunities like this for the same reasons [I did], and because it can be a lot of fun.”
Lastly, IPAC research presented at the Conference also encapsulated U.S. responses to the breakdown of democracy in Georgia. Coauthors Lana Altunashvili ‘27, Kelson Lowrie ‘27, Bailey Nicholson ‘26, and Aryan Shah ‘25 presented a paper, “When Does America Care,” analyzing the imposition of sanctions on political actors or regimes. In many cases, U.S. sanctions were sporadic in their timing, with the recent Georgian sanctions coming relatively late during the country’s democratic turmoil. Focusing on the U.S.'s targeted sanctions against Bidzina Ivanishvili, the oligarch behind Georgian Dream, the team developed a hypothesis about what pushes the U.S. into issuing sanctions. The team’s work is novel for examining how protests, election disputes, and undemocratic laws finally catalyzed a response that many wished for earlier. Altunashvili, herself Georgian, spoke about her experience working with the lab. At first, “doing research, particularly in the IPAC lab [gave] me a way to feel closer to home… to talk about my home country, use my language skills and share whatever little bits and pieces I knew with others.” Since then, however, the lab has brought about interesting discussions that force her to think deeper about various political motivations and perspectives, along with their differing representations on the world stage. Elaborating, Altunashvili explains that “doing research, particularly with something related to politics, even if you aren't a Government or International Relations major, truly expands your worldview and makes you think more critically about various cultures and types of regimes - something that's relevant to everyone, regardless of occupation or particular interests.”
IPAC’s presence at the MPSA Conference illustrates W&M’s enduring support of undergraduate research as an avenue for career advancement and personal fulfillment. It also demonstrates how in-depth commitment to a project can go a long way in forging connections and offering opportunities to visit new places. Congratulations to the IPAC students and Professor Maliniak for their accomplishments and reminding us why W&M is a trendsetter in advancing undergraduate research.