Andrew Clem home

Clockwise from top left: The Rotunda, Univeristy of Virginia; Hunt Hall, Mary Baldwin College; Wilson Hall, James Madison University; Gray Hall, Sweet Briar College; Burruss Hall, Virginia Tech.

Universities montage






Academic-related pages:


Sample course Web pages:


Other pages:


Other Web sites:

Education:

  • Ph.D. in Foreign Affairs, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, January 2002. Passed comprehensive exams in the subfields of international relations, foreign policy analysis (U.S. and Latin America), comparative politics, and American national institutions.
  • M.A. in Economics, American University, Washington, DC, May 1984.
  • B.A. in Economics and Political Science, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, May 1978. Minors: Spanish and Business Administration.

Teaching experience:

  • August 2019 - present: Adjunct Instructor, Blue Ridge Community College, Weyers Cave, VA. Am teaching American National Politics.
  • January - May 2022: Adjunct professor, Mary Baldwin University, Staunton, VA. Taught State and Local Politics and American National Politics
  • August 2015 - July 2016: Visiting Assistant Professor, Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, VA. Taught Comparative Politics, U.S. Foreign Policy, Latin American Politics, and Seminar in International Affairs. Previously served as Adjunct Instructor, August 2007 - May 2008, August - December 2013: and January - May 2015, having taught International Politics, East Asian Politics, and Theories of Comparative Politics, and others listed above.
  • January - May 2015: Adjunct Instructor, Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, VA. Taught Latin American Politics.
  • January 2009 - May 2015: Adjunct Instructor, Central Virginia Community College. Taught U.S. Government, and in five years led field trips to the State Capitol in Richmond Virginia.
  • August 2003 - May 2004: Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA. In fall term taught two sections of Global Politics (with 110 students), as well as International Relations (including a diplomatic simulation with negotiations among 35 participants, conducted in class and via e-mail). In spring term taught two sections of Global Politics again, plus Latin American Politics. I produced a video of highlights from the trip my wife and I took to Peru during spring break, and showed it to class.
  • January - May 2002: Adjunct professor, Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, VA. Taught Comparative Politics (refining and developing the Web site created at Virginia Tech) and a colloquium in "Third World Security Issues."
  • January to July 2001: Visiting adjunct professor, Department of Political Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA. Taught two sections of Comparative Politics (with over 400 students) in the spring term, as well as Latin American Governments and Politics. Developed a comprehensive Web site for Comparative Politics (no longer on line), including maps, photos, timetables, and other study aids. Taught Comparative Politics again in the summer term.
  • August 1999 to May 2000: Adjunct professor, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. In fall term taught International Relations (including a diplomatic simulation with negotiations among 80+ participants, conducted in class and via e-mail). In spring term taught Latin American Governments and Politics.

Areas of teaching competence:

  • International relations: theory, history, and contemporary issues
  • Comparative politics: party systems, democratic transitions
  • Latin America politics, culture, and Spanish language
  • Foreign policy analysis, specializing in the United States and Latin America
  • National security and economic policies in the Third World; civil-military relations
  • American government: national institutions, public policy issues, Virginia politics and government

Attendance at professional conferences:

  • American Political Science Association annual meeting, Washington, DC, August 1993.
  • American Political Science Association annual meeting, New York, NY, August 1994. (during our honeymoon!)
  • American Political Science Association annual meeting, Washington, DC, August 1996.
  • International Studies Association (Southern Region) annual meeting, Roanoke, VA, October 1996. Presented paper: "Normative Realism and International Political Economy: A Neglected Link?"
  • American Political Science Association annual meeting, Boston, MA, August 1998. Presented paper (in poster session): "Modelling Foreign and Economic Policy as Effects of State Building."
  • American Political Science Association annual meeting, Washington, DC, August 2000.
  • American Political Science Association annual meeting, Boston, August 2002. (Notes from the panels I attended.)
  • International Studies Association (Security Section) Annual Conference, Carlisle Barracks, PA, October 31-November 1, 2003. Presented paper: "Fighting Terrorism and Protecting Civil Liberties: Some Lessons From Peru."
  • American Political Science Association annual meeting, Washington, DC, September 2005. (Notes from the panels I attended.)
  • American Political Science Association annual meeting, Philadelphia, PA, September 2016 (blog post)

Dissertation

"Between Power and Poverty:
A Study of Political-Economic Adaptation and the Autonomy of Emerging Nation-States, With Special Reference to Peru"

by Andrew G. Clem, University of Virginia, copyright 2002. All rights reserved.
(The following paragraph and two other indicated paragraphs on this page are excerpted from my dissertation.)

Abstract:

This dissertation inquires into the adaptive strategies employed by emerging nation-states seeking to establish sovereign governing authority by asserting national autonomy. Specifically, it explores the interaction between foreign policy and economic policy, and the joint effect of these policies on governability, in Peru and five other medium-small less developed countries. As a unique contribution to the state-building subfield of historical political economy, it specifies precise policy linkages based on a review of theories from the respective fields of international relations and macroeconomics. It then tests two hypotheses based on opposing conceptions of the international system: anarchic (a "sink or swim" context in which constraints on policy are rigid) vs. hierarchic (allowing for varying degrees of state consolidation and policy choice). With regard to the first hypothesis, I find some evidence of a predicted affinity between defiant (militarized) foreign policies and heterodox (statist) economic policies on one hand, and between orthodox (open-market) economic policies and compliant (pacific) foreign policies on the other hand. The evidence is somewhat stronger in favor of the second hypothesis: Countries that adopt a non-competitive heterodox-compliant strategy are prone to suffer an erosion of state authority, while those that manage to sustain an ultra-competitive orthodox-defiant strategy for many years tend to achieve the most success in state building. Based on an in-depth examination of decision-making processes in Peru during four successive governments from 1968 to 1990 (based on thorough primary research on Peru, including interviews with a number of former top officials), I find that failures by leaders to promptly adjust their foreign and economic policies in response to changing external conditions usually leads, perforce, to an extreme reaction in the opposition direction. I contend that these abrupt, awkward policy oscillations reflect the "existential predicament" faced by emerging nation-states: their struggle to survive by competing with the outside world is "smothered" by international norms that were originally created to facilitate cooperation among great powers. Given the razor-thin margin for policymaking error in an era of globalization, I conclude that we should expect a continuation of periodic regime crises in the Third World, and even outbreaks of international conflicts.


Table of Contents

 
Preface and Acknowledgments  i
Chapter 1. National Security and Economic Policies in Emerging Nation-States1
Chapter 2. Analytical Approaches and Methodological Issues53
Chapter 3. Political and Economic Development in Peru: Historical Background86
Chapter 4. Velasco's "Revolution": Anti-Imperialism as a Tool of National Development133
Chapter 5. Morales Bermudez's "Second Phase": Pragmatism Restores State Authority212
Chapter 6. Belaunde's Second Government: Democracy Stymies Economic Liberalization289
Chapter 7. Garcia's Big Gamble: (Late) Anti-Imperialism as a Do-or-Die Crusade357
Chapter 8. Fujimori's "Auto-Coup": Authoritarian Means Toward Liberal (Economic) Ends447
Chapter 9. Conclusions: The Struggle for Power, Wealth, and Identity in the Third World487
Appendix: Notes on Data Sources and Methods; List of figures and tables549
References586

Dissertation executive summary (In Adobe PDF format: The Adobe Acrobat Reader software needed to read this document may be downloaded free from the Adobe web site.)



Academic Freedom:

  • Is essential to encourage research and new discoveries.
  • Is a privilege that must be earned.
  • Can be abused unless there exists effective peer review.
  • Is inherently controversial because of the hazy line between academic and non-academic pursuits.

(Notes from a workshop on creative models of teaching at James Madison University.)