hero image
Paul Musgrave - University of Massachusetts Amherst. Amherst, MA, US

Paul Musgrave

Associate Professor of Political Science | University of Massachusetts Amherst

Amherst, MA, UNITED STATES

Paul Musgrave looks at how how domestic institutions shape U.S. foreign policy and how U.S. foreign policy shapes international order

Expertise (5)

Elections

Partisanship

U.S. Foregin Policy

International Relations

North Korea

Biography

Paul Musgrave is a frequent contributor in national media and has been called on by media outlets including CNN, MSNBC and Slate to discuss how U.S. domestic institutions shape foreign policy.

He was written for a range of publications including The Washington Post and Foreign Policy about issues including political science, academia and current events.

He also writes the newsletter Systemic Hatreds.

Social Media

Video

Publications:

Documents:

Photos:

Videos:

Dr. Paul Musgrave - Forward Military Deployment, Casualties, and Public Support for Escalation Understanding the Hong Kong Protests with Prof. Paul Musgrave | Connecting Point | July 29, 2019 North Korea Summit with UMass Amherst Professor Paul Musgrave | Connecting Point | June 19, 2018

Audio/Podcasts:

Education (3)

Georgetown University: Ph.D., Government

University College Dublin,: M.A., Politics

Indiana University: B.A., Political Science and History

Select Media Coverage (7)

Should Parents Contact College Professors?

U.S. News & World Report  online

2022-11-02

"The classroom is between a community of adults who are learning together," says Paul Musgrave, assistant professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts—Amherst. "I want to work with the people who are in my class, and I want to hear from them if there’s problems."

view more

Tripwires, Public Opinion, & War (Podcast Interview)

Cato Institute  online

2023-08-22

Professors Paul Musgrave of University of Massachusetts Amherst and Steven Ward of University of Cambridge explain the logic of tripwires as a deterrent and showcase public opinion surveys that undermine that logic.

view more

Removed from Foreign Affairs, Rep. Ilhan Omar amplifies her voice

Minneapolis Star-Tribune  print

2022-06-08

"Since she came into office, Rep. Omar has been not just an officeholder but a symbol of a diverse country and a broadening of the Democratic caucus. In some ways, she's sought out a prominent role — but in other ways, it's her opponents who have made her prominent," Paul Musgrave said in an email. "Now, she's freer to act and represent not only her constituents but broader groups precisely because she's prominent and credible on these issues."

view more

The death of the McDonald's peace theory, a dark day for capitalism

CNN  

2022-05-16

Discussing the decision by McDonald's to stop doing business in Russia, Paul Musgrave tells CNN, “As corporation after corporation sees the business climate in Putin's Russia as not only currently unfriendly but lastingly unfriendly, the notion that business will pave the way for democracy and peace has taken one battering too many."

view more

The ‘deglobalization’ of Moscow

The Washington Post  print

2022-03-25

Paul Musgrave is quoted in an article examining the impacts economic sanctions and voluntary corporate boycotts against Russia have had on businesses and life in Moscow following the country’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

view more

Can business blockades and sanctions pressure Putin by crippling Russia’s economy?

PBS Newshour  tv

2022-03-11

Appearing on the PBS Newshour, Paul Musgrave discusses about the impact of economic sanctions and blockades by business such as McDonald’s against Russia following the nation’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

paul musgrave on PBS Newshour

view more

Understanding the Hong Kong Protests with Prof. Paul Musgrave

New England Public Media  tv

2019-07-30

Paul Musgrave discusses what led to protests in Hong Kong.

Paul Musgrave on WGBY

view more

Select Publications (7)

Brands Are the First Casualty of War

Foreign Policy

Paul Musgrave

2023-11-24

Paul Musgrave writes about how global brands are often forced to pick sides in times of war. “The more global a brand becomes, the more likely it is to be entangled in international disputes, and the more picking a side comes with costs, even for the softest of products like fizzy drinks or ice cream,” he says.

view more

How to Talk About Americans

Systemic Hatreds

Paul Musgrave

2023-08-23

I write about and talk about international relations and the foreign policy of the United States, so I have to talk about Americans a lot. This raises a simple but profound question: what should I call the people and country that I study?

view more

How Stalin manipulated the Western press during WWII

The Washington Post

Paul Musgrave

2023-07-03

"Alan Philps’s “The Red Hotel: Moscow 1941, the Metropol Hotel, and the Untold Story of Stalin’s Propaganda War” documents the lives of those British, American and Australian journalists. In his telling, the principal risks they faced were not bullets but boredom. Far from accompanying the Red Army during its battles against the fascist invaders, the correspondents instead spent almost all of their time confined to Moscow’s Metropol Hotel, a czarist-era hot spot for playboys’ galas and trysts that became a wartime gilded cage. "

view more

Why Gorbachev’s death feels like it’s part of an alternate history

The Washington Post

Paul Musgrave

2022-09-02

"Could Gorbachev, who had been one of the most powerful men in the world, really have died in circumstances approaching obscurity while Russia wages a war of conquest against Ukraine? Imagine describing that scenario in 1985, when Gorbachev became the youngest leader in Soviet history. Surely, in the prime timeline, his death would be a much bigger deal. How did we end up in this world, where his death seems like an incidental detail set against a resurgence of war and environmental calamity?"

view more

Moving to Canada Won’t Save You From Trump

Slate

Paul Musgrave

2020-10-29

In an article for “Slate,” Paul Musgrave talks about why moving to Canada won’t save Americans from President Trump, “One could dismiss partisans’ threats of moving to Canada as just cheap talk or frustration. That would be a mistake," he says.

view more

Busy work: Trump’s secret political weapon: Wasting his opponents’ time

The Washington Post

Paul Musgrave

2020-08-14

Paul Musgrave writes that President Trump has “weaponized” the art of wasting everyone’s time, issuing proclamations that lead his opponents to scramble and invest valuable time, energy and money in an effort to resist proposals that may come to nothing anyway.

view more

The Debate Reveals a Brutal Reality About Republican Foreign Policy

Politico

Paul Musgrave

2023-11-09

In an analysis of the most recent Republican presidential debate, Paul Musgrave writes that the party is headed in a more “belligerent” direction, regardless of who wins the party’s nomination. “The leading figures in the GOP have moved firmly and fully past a commitment to cooperation at home with Democrats or abroad with allies and antagonists,” he writes.

view more