Maya Van Nuys

Hello! I am an incoming postdoctoral fellow at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation for the 2025-26 academic year. I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from the the University of Chicago in 2025. 

I specialize in international relations (IR) and comparative politics with an emphasis on international security, global governance, and policing. My dissertation and book project, “Reforming Policing, Reproducing Power: The Global Governance of Domestic Policing,” explores the parameters of international norms for policing. Putting critical policing studies in anthropology, sociology, and history into conversation with IR, the dissertation argues that there is a decoupling between international policing standards and the actual policies and practices of reforms, particularly in post-conflict states outside of the West.

Outside of my dissertation, my research combines critical and mainstream approaches to explore conflict dynamics and state-building. I have explored the social conditions of political violence as well as the impact of racism on the foreign policy bureaucracy. My research has been published in outlets including International Organization, Politics, Religion, and Ideology, and Democracy and Security.