Adam Lerner wearing a blue button up shirt and smiling at the camera.

Adam B. Lerner, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Pronouns
he/him
College
Fine Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
Department
Political Science
Phone
978-934-4249
Email
adam_lerner@uml.edu
Links

Expertise

International Relations; International Political Theory; International Ethics

Research Interests

My research sits at the intersection of International Relations and Political Theory. I am primarily interested in the legacy of historical injustices in international politics, as well as varied approaches to global reconciliation, repair, and redress.

Education

  • Ph.D.: Politics and International Studies, (2020), University of Cambridge
  • M.Phil.: Modern South Asian Studies, (2016), University of Cambridge
  • B.A: English, (2009), Cornell University

Biosketch

I was born in Washington, DC, and have lived in five countries. I previously worked as a journalist in Delhi, India and Washington, DC, before completing my Master of Philosophy and Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in the UK. In my free time, I enjoy running, snowboarding, basketball, guitar and stand-up comedy.

Selected Awards and Honors

  • British Academy Knowledge Frontiers International Interdisciplinary Partnerships Grant (co-PI, $315,000), 2024-2026
  • Award for Concept Analysis, IPSA Committee on Concepts and Methods, 2025
  • ISA Theory Section Award for Best Post-PhD Paper presented at ISA, 2024
  • A. Leroy Bennett Award for Best Paper Presented at ISA-Northeast, 2024
  • Heinz I. Eulau Award from APSA for Best Article in Perspectives on Politics, 2024
  • Edgar S. Furniss Book Award from the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at the Ohio State University, 2023
  • Peter Katzenstein Prize from Cornell University for best first book in IR, comparative politics, and IPE, 2023
  • Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, 2023-present
  • APSA Ideas, Knowledge, and Politics Book Award, 2023
  • ISA International Ethics Section Book Award, 2023
  • ISA Theory Section Book Award, 2023 (honorable mention)
  • ECPR Hedley Bull Best Book Award, 2023 (honorable mention)
  • ISA Online Media Caucus Award for Best Blog Post by a Junior Scholar, 2022
  • Fellowship with the Higher Education Academy of the United Kingdom (FHEA), 2021-present
  • College Excellence Teaching Commendation, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2021
  • Emanuel Miller Prize for Philosophy of Social Science, University of Cambridge, 2018
  • Northedge Prize, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 2018
  • Elected a Scholar of St. John’s College, University of Cambridge, 2016
  • Elected a Scholar of St. John’s College, University of Cambridge, 2016
  • Cambridge International Trust Scholarship (£93,591), 2016-2020
  • Henry Luce Scholar, 2013-2014

Selected Publications

I have authored 19 refereed articles, a refereed monograph, and served as editor for three refereed special issues. Highlights include:

  1. Lerner, Adam B. From the Ashes of History: Collective Trauma and the Making of International Politics (Oxford University Press, March 2022) ISBN 13: 9780197623596
  2. Barton Hronešová, Jessie andLerner, Adam B.“Bohuslav Ecer, the UN War Crimes Commission, and the Political Origins of Contemporary International Criminal Law” Modern Intellectual History (2025, online first): 
  3. Lerner, Adam B. and Heinrichs, Pauline. “The Paradox of International Reparationsn” Review of International Political Economy 32, no. 1 (2025): 126-153. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2024.2399034
  4. Lerner Adam B. “Cognitive Entanglement and Individual Responsibility for Structural Injustice” Polity (2024, online ahead of print): 1-28.
  5. Lerner, Adam B. “Global Injustice and the Production of Ontological Insecurity.” European Journal of International Relations, online first. 
  6. Lerner, Adam B. and O’Loughlin, Ben. “Strategic Ontologies and Meso-Level Theoretical Innovation in International Politics” International Studies Quarterly, 67, no. 3: 1-13.
  7. Lerner, Adam B. “Harnessing Intuition and Disciplining Abstraction: Thought Experiments in International Relations” International Studies Quarterly, 67, no. 1: 1-10. 
  8. Lerner, Adam B. “Pathological Nationalism? The Legacy of Crowd Psychology in International Theory.” International Affairs, 38, no. 3 (2022): 995-1012.
  9. Lerner, Adam B. “Blurring the Boundaries of War: PTSD in American Foreign Policy Discourse.” Perspectives on Politics, December 22, 2020: 1–18.
  10. Lerner, Adam B. “Theorizing Unpredictability in International Politics: A New Approach to Trump and the Trump Doctrine.” Cambridge Review of International Affairs 34, no. 3 (May 4, 2021): 360–82.
  11. Lerner, Adam B. “What’s It like to Be a State? An Argument for State Consciousness.” International Theory 13, no. 2 (July 2021): 260–86.
  12. Lerner, Adam B. “The Uses and Abuses of Victimhood Nationalism in International Politics.” European Journal of International Relations 26, no. 1 (March 2020): 62–87.
  13. Lerner, Adam B. “Theorizing Collective Trauma in International Political Economy.” International Studies Review 21, no. 4 (December 1, 2019): 549–71.
  14. Lerner, Adam B. “Political Neo-Malthusianism and the Progression of India’s Green Revolution.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 48, no. 3 (May 27, 2018): 485–507.