Graduate Student Spotlight: Jeeyon Choi
Jeeyon Choi is a fifth-year graduate student earning her PhD in political science. Read her Student Spotlight Q&A to learn more about her and her experiences as a PhD candidate.
What do you study?
My area of specialization is international relations. More specifically, I study how international organizations are involved in post-conflict peacebuilding and how international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) interact with local governments in post-conflict statebuilding and peacebuilding.
What brought you to the University of Minnesota?
I earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Korea University, and one of the professors that I greatly respected there got his PhD from the University of Minnesota. This is how I first got to know about the U. After that, I found that many of the faculty here did interesting work that related to my own research interests.
What are some ways you have been welcomed and supported as a member of the University community?
Many students in our department are international students. I think this is part of the reason why our department has tried to take into account the hardships that international students may face. At the start of the academic year, faculty members meet with international students to discuss the kinds of issues and concerns students face.
What questions and ideas are you most interested in exploring right now? What problems does your work seek to address?
One of the most salient criticisms against international intervention in peacebuilding and development projects after civil wars is insufficient engagement with the local stakeholders operating in a post-conflict state. Scholars have well established the problems within international intervention, as international organizations and NGOs seldom take into account the knowledge of the local population when devising and implementing such peacebuilding and development plans. I plan to study how international organizations can better engage with local actors.
Tell us about a project you've been working on
In my dissertation, I plan to study the collaborative conditions between international NGOs and local government authorities when implementing Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) programs after conflict. What influences the level and effectiveness of this partnership in addressing WASH challenges at the local level? My tentative argument is that international organizations that join global networks or initiatives that prioritize coordination with local stakeholders enhance the extent and effectiveness of partnerships between NGOs and local governments.
