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Welcome!My name is Timothy Cichanowicz. I am a political science PhD Candidate at the University of Kansas, a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo’s Economic Security Intelligence Lab, and am currently a team lead at the Trade War Lab. I primarily research international political economy, foreign policy, economic security, and trade.
My dissertation research is supported by grant funding from internal funding sources such as the University of Kansas Research Excellence Initiative and external sources such as the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University's Hayek Fund and the Stand Together Trust Foreign Policy Grant. |
Research Interests
My dissertation examines why states securitize specifically traded products and why. What force determines why states choose to restrict free trade: protectionist considerations or national security concerns? To answer this question, I look at contemporary US-China and China-Japan relations as well as historic US-Japan trading relations to understand when states restrict bilateral trade at the product level. For this research agenda, I constructed a novel database of products securitized at the 6 digit HS level by Congress, interviewed dozens of economic security elites in Tokyo, as well as use historic bills, trade data, and archival work in the case of the US response to Japan's historic economic rise. I argue that in the contemporary US protectionism rather than national security is driving trade securitization by using the results of a series of logistic regressions with thousands of observations. Conversely, my qualitatitve work in Japan suggests that trade securitization in Tokyo is being driven by national security as I find that products posited by industry with lower exit costs are routinely struck down by technocratic government ministries.
I am also interested in other broader issues pertaining to trade and economic security such as public opinion surrounding these policies and other foreign policy issue areas, the behavior of firms, and other aspects of globalization and its backlash such as opinions toward immigration.
Beyond academia, I hope that my research can be useful to both industry and the public. As an example, I was interviewed recently by KSHB 41, the Kansas City local NBC affiliate, and talked about both the lab that I am a team lead in as well as the substantive impact of our work for everyday Americans.
I am also interested in other broader issues pertaining to trade and economic security such as public opinion surrounding these policies and other foreign policy issue areas, the behavior of firms, and other aspects of globalization and its backlash such as opinions toward immigration.
Beyond academia, I hope that my research can be useful to both industry and the public. As an example, I was interviewed recently by KSHB 41, the Kansas City local NBC affiliate, and talked about both the lab that I am a team lead in as well as the substantive impact of our work for everyday Americans.
