Brett V. Benson

Associate Professor

Brett V. Benson is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and Asian Studies at Vanderbilt University.  His research interests lie in the areas of international relations and Chinese politics and East Asian relations. He has worked on military alliances and interstate conflict and is the author of Constructing International Security: Alliances, Deterrence, and Moral Hazard (Cambridge University Press, 2012). His current research focuses on the role of weapons systems in international politics.  In particular, he is studying nuclear weapons and strategies countries use to reduce proliferation, the relationship between the sale of conventional weapons and military alliances, and the effects of small arms markets on intrastate conflicts.  In addition to his work on international relations topics, he is also involved in a project that examines the effect of religious bias on voters’ decisions in the US presidential election.