Dr Adam Bower

Dr Adam Bower

Director of Impact

Senior Lecturer in International Relations

Phone
+44 (0)1334 46 1977
Email
asb20@st-andrews.ac.uk

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Research areas

Dr Adam Bower is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in International Relations at the University of 黑料吃瓜网. He was the founding co-director of the Centre for Global Law and Governance and continues to sit on the Steering Committee of the Institute for Legal and Constitutional Research. He is a member of the 黑料吃瓜网 Centre for Exoplanet Science and a Fellow of the Outer Space Institute, a global network of transdisciplinary space experts. He is also a member of the management team of the Scottish Council on Global Affairs, the first all-Scotland institute focusing on non-partisan and policy-relevant academic research on global politics and foreign policy.听

Dr Bower's research explores the interaction of international law, norms, and political power in shaping outcomes in global politics. Theoretically, he is interested in understanding how actors strategically engage with international institutions and how norms and legal rules in turn shape and constrain future policy choices in often unanticipated ways. He studies these dynamics principally in the fields of arms control and disarmament (鈥渃onventional鈥� and space weapons), international humanitarian and criminal law, and the governance of outer space activities. His teaching is informed by this research agenda and spans IR theory, international organisations and law, security, and justice.

Dr Bower previously held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Oxford (Department of Politics and International Relations and Nuffield College) and the European University Institute in Florence, Italy (Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellow). Dr Bower received his PhD in Political Science from the University of British Columbia in 2012.

Further information on research and teaching can be found at his personal website:听.

PhD supervision

  • Yifan听Hu

Selected publications

  • Wright, E., Byers, M. & Bower, A., May 2026, 32 p.

    Research output: Book/Report 鈥� Other report

  • Open access
    Lantis, J. S. & Bower, A., 13 Mar 2026, (E-pub ahead of print) In: International Relations. OnlineFirst, p. 1-28 28 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Article 鈥� peer-review

  • Stimmer, A. & Bower, A., 18 Dec 2025, The Oxford handbook of norms research in international relations. Gholiagha, S., Orchard, P. & Wiener, A. (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 225-236 12 p.

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding 鈥� Chapter

  • Bower, A. (Editor) & Stimmer, A. (Editor), 11 Dec 2025, The Oxford handbook of norms research in international relations. Gholiagha, S., Orchard, P. & Wiener, A. (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 223-298 75 p.

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding 鈥� Other contribution

  • Open access
    Bower, A. S. & Lantis, J. S., Feb 2024, In: European Journal of International Security. 9, 1, p. 1-22 22 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Article 鈥� peer-review

  • Open access
    Bower, A. S., 17 Nov 2023, Handbook on global constitutionalism. Lang Jr., A. F. & Wiener, A. (eds.). 2nd ed. Cheltenham: Edward Edgar Publishing, p. 529-541 13 p. (Research handbooks on globalisation and the law series).

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding 鈥� Chapter

  • Open access
    Bower, A. S., 16 Nov 2023, Uncertainty in global politics. Matejova, M. & Shesteerinina, A. (eds.). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, p. 191-211 21 p. (New international relations).

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding 鈥� Chapter

  • Bower, A. S., 31 May 2023, Tracing value change in the international legal order : perspectives from legal and political science. Krieger, H. & Liese, A. (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 173-190 18 p.

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding 鈥� Chapter

  • Frueh, J., Diehl, P. F., Li, X., Gokcek, G., Kalpakian, J., Vlcek, W., Bower, A., Espinoza, R. S., Carranco, S., de Matos-Ala, J., Behera, N. C. & Acharya, A., May 2021, In: International Studies Perspectives. 22, 2, p. 125-159 35 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Special issue 鈥� peer-review

  • Vlcek, W. & Bower, A., May 2021, In: International Studies Perspectives. 22, 2, p. 140-144

    Research output: Contribution to journal 鈥� Comment/debate 鈥� peer-review

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