American academic
Steven C. Roach (born November 1, 1964) is an American professor of International Relations who writes on global ethics, the politics of international law, critical international theory, minority rights, and South Sudan's politics. He is Professor of International Relations and former Director of Graduate Programs (Ph.D. MA, MLA. MALACS) at the School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies at the University of South Florida.[1]
Education and career
Roach earned his doctorate from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver in 2002. He received his M.A from San Francisco State University in 1995 and his BA from Colgate University in 1987. From 2002 to 2005 he was appointed visiting professor at Colorado State University at Pueblo and a visiting lecturer at the University of Colorado Boulder. He was appointed Assistant Professor of International Relations in 2005 and was later awarded full Professorship. In 2022, he was the recipient of an Outstanding Faculty Award, Global Excellence Award and the Theodor and Venette Askounes-Ashford Distinguished Scholar Award. Prior to this he was awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to teach and research at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, where he was recognized as Honorary Professor.[2] In 2020, he was appointed Country Expert of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) assessment team in South Sudan. The team's assessment report was presented to the U.S. State Department and Congress and now serves as the basis of USAID’s five-year strategic mission in the country.[3] He is a member of several editorial and consultancy boards.[4][5][6][7][8]
Research
Ethical values and global politics
A central focus of Roach's work is the interaction of ethical values and political power. His recent work uses the relationship between decency and moral accountability to study the growing political pressures that threaten the liberal international order.[9] In a 2016 interview with E-IR, he points out that the gap between humanitarian values and emotion has never been greater; that it is not simply the hostile emotions that explain right-wing populism, but liberalism's detachment from these sentiments.[10]
Politics of international law
Roach is one of the first political scientists to systematically explore the political forces shaping the International Criminal Court. His notion of political legalism functions as a pragmatic instrument to study how best to bring justice to the worst perpetrators of serious crimes.[11] In an article published by Global Governance, he argues that the court cannot escape the effects of operating in an international system.[12] It needs to confront this difficult and complex political reality of the ICC [12] by devising new ways of thinking about its agency and by adopting the political strategies needed to balance the demand for global justice against the constraints of the international system.
Governance in South Sudan
Roach has conducted extensive field research in South Sudan and written on the many challenges facing the country, including corruption, food insecurity, accountability, and extreme violence. His articles and short essays have appeared in International Affairs, Foreign Affairs, and African Arguments. In 2023, he authored South Sudan's Fateful Struggle, which provides a sweeping account of the country's enduring state of war.[13]
