DPIR alumni Jan Eijking and Kofi Gunu awarded by APSA for their DPhil dissertations

Congratulations to DPIR DPhil IR alumni Jan Eijking (2019) and Kofi Gunu (2019) who have been recognised for their DPhil dissertations by the American Political Science Association (APSA).
 

Jan received APSA’s prestigious Merze Tate for his 2023 DPhil thesis, while Kofi was given an honourable mention for the Outstanding Dissertation Award of the APSA International Collaboration Section for his 2024 DPhil thesis.
 

Jan’s thesis examines how technical experts became central to the design contestation of modern organisations, for which he also previously won the 2024 Prize for Best Doctoral Thesis in IR in Oxford. The book based on his thesis is now under contract with Oxford University Press.
 

In the nineteenth century, Saint-Simonians and utilitarians envisioned a world governed by expertise, a vision that greatly inspired technocratic international projects from the Suez canal to the international telegraph union. Jan reconstructs this history to argue that technocratic elites differentiated the international—as an impartial domain, detached from politics—through Eurocentric performances of expertise. 
 

Jan is currently a William Golding Junior Research Fellow at Brasenose College and a postdoctoral Research Associate at DPIR and Oxford Martin Fellow. He is currently working on a second book project on crisis management, and the social and political construction of crisis, at three early-twentieth century international organisations.
 

He said: 

“The APSA award is an absolute honour, and I feel really grateful to the committee for this recognition. It’s great encouragement for my work going forward.”
 

Kofi’s dissertation examines why and when some crisis-stricken countries that have vociferously resisted IMF bailouts eventually fold and accept aid while others persist in their resistance. Highlighting the agency of both creditors and developing countries, Gunu develops a theory of the “structural power of international finance.”
 

Commenting on his dissertation, the committee said it stood out for ‘….the importance of the research question, the policy relevant conclusions, the thoughtfulness of the methodological approach, and the exceptional writing.’
 

Kofi is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center, where he is working to revise his thesis into a book manuscript.
 

He said: 

“I feel truly honoured (and pleasantly surprised) to have received this honourable mention. I'm grateful to the committee for considering my work and to my mentors at the DPIR for their constant support.”