My current research centres upon the Senate debate over the ratification of the United Nations treaty in 1945. While my work is in a very early stage, three clear themes have already emerged; why the US was willing to join a collective security organisation in 1945 when it had rejected the idea in 1919; the bipartisan support for positive American leadership within the global community; and the role of Korea, both in 1945 and 1950. The contrast between the attitudes and sense of responsibility between the Senate in 1945 and the Senate today is marked, and is a further theme that will be explored.

Previous research interests centred on American-Soviet relations during the Cold War, with particular concentration on the interaction between the American political system and foreign policy formulation, including the role of Congress and the impact of domestic politics and public opinion.

Within these larger themes, I was especially fascinated by American foreign policy towards Africa, as I believe that this is an interesting and often overlooked region where further research can provide a significant contribution to the understanding of American political and diplomatic history. For example, my work on the Horn of Africa illustrated the difficulties and dilemmas faced by Jimmy Carter as he attempted to formulate foreign policy within the constraints of the Vietnam syndrome.

The region's proximity to the Middle East added to its geopolitical importance; human rights abuses were evident but Cold War concerns remained important and both themes were complicated by violations of international law and questions of post-colonialism and self-determination. These issues were all examined in my latest monograph on American foreign policy towards the Horn of Africa during the Cold War (see Published Work section for more details).

My published work includes:
Books: US Foreign Policy in the Horn of Africa: From Colonialism to Terrorism (London: Routledge, 2018); Jimmy Carter, the Cold War and the Horn of Africa (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company Inc, 2007)

Book Chapters: “The Oratory of Jimmy Carter” (co-authored with Robert Lehrman) in Crines, Moon and Lehrman (eds) Democratic Orators from JFK to Barack Obama (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)

Journal Articles: 'The Carter Administration and Somalia' Diplomatic History (September, 2007); 'The Ogaden War and the Demise of Détente' The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (November 2010)

Other: Major contributor to Spencer Tucker (ed), The Encyclopaedia of the Cold War (Santa Barbara, California: ABC-Clio, 2008); "Ogaden" in John Stone et al. (eds) The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity and Nationalism (2016)