Professor Kathryn Lavelle Reflects on Fulbright Experience

Kathryn Lavelle, Ellen and Dixon Long Associate Professor of World Affairs, spent the spring 2010 semester as a visiting research chair in world affairs at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto.

She conducted research on the international implications of the financial crisis with the goal of producing a book on American financial politics in comparative perspective.

This was Lavelle’s first Fulbright award. She had an opportunity to not only conduct research, but to give talks and participate in several forums.

“I have been able to offer an American perspective on some of the questions that concern Canadians in the international system,” said Lavelle, who is a faculty member in Case Western Reserve’s Department of Political Science.

Lavelle’s ongoing research focuses on the intersection between domestic and international politics in finance. She wrote a book analyzing the relationship between the United States Congress and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank by focusing on the activities of public and
private sector interest groups on issues related to global capital flows. She completed the research and drafting of the project as a residential fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Her first book, ThePolitics of Equity Finance in Emerging Market, analyzed the historical and political processes that led to the ownership structures of large firms in middle and low-income countries.

Lavelle submitted a draft of her second book, Legislating International Organization: The US Congress, the IMF and the World Bank during her time in Canada. She has already started on a third one.

The Fulbright Scholars Program promotes educational exchange, a concept Lavelle observed first-hand based in Toronto. “One of the most exciting things I have learned is how many opportunities there are for our students to
participate in exchanges with Canadian universities. Hopefully they will also be able to spend a semester here (the University of Toronto) or at another university in Canada.”

Reflecting on her Fulbright Scholars Program experience, Lavelle wrote about the diversity she has observed in Canada, noting the “interesting dynamic between the Francophone and Anglophone populations. While we do not always agree, having had the opportunity to listen to different perspectives has fostered a much deeper understanding of my own country and how my views have been shaped by living and teaching there.”

She hopes to incorporate the diverse impressions she has gained about the United States into her own international relations courses.