UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State Associate Professor of Political Science Boliang Zhu recently had his scholarship recognized by one of the premier journals in the international relations field.

Zhu and colleague Pablo M. Pinto were the recipients of the annual Bruce Russett Award for publishing the best article in the Journal of Conflict Resolution (JCR) in 2022. Their article, “Brewing Violence: Foreign Investment and Civil Conflict,” examines the ways foreign direct investment and multinational companies’ activity may lead to intrastate conflict in developing nations.

“The award committee was greatly impressed by the article and you received top ranking among a set of excellent competing articles under consideration,” JCR Editor Paul Huth wrote in his congratulatory letter to Zhu and Pinto.

The award came as “quite the surprise,” said Zhu, whose research focuses on the political economy of international trade and foreign investment.

“I felt deeply honored to receive this award,” he said. “The Journal of Conflict Resolution is one of the top-ranked journals in the field of international relations, especially in conflict studies. This recognition is also a significant encouragement for us to persist in our research endeavors and continue producing influential work. I’m also grateful to the editor, award committee, anonymous reviewers, and all the friends, colleagues and family that have been so supportive throughout the journey.”

Zhu and Pinto used the article to test a novel argument linking two prevalent features of contemporary world affairs — growing global economic integration and the increasing incidence of intrastate violence. Analyzing four decades’ worth of data, they found that foreign direct investment relates to internal armed conflict within developing countries due to rebels and government entities competing for control over high rents resulting from the activities of multinational corporations.

That said, governments with stronger administrative and political capacity are better equipped to mitigate such conflicts, the researchers concluded.

“Strong states have the capacity to deter rebellions, address citizens’ demands through institutionalized mechanisms, and credibly commit to the peaceful resolution of conflicts,” Zhu and Pinto write. “Our findings have important implications for understanding the link between economic interdependence and conflict.”

Zhu said the article is part of a larger research agenda – including a book project – that he and Pinto have been working on for some time.

“Global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows have surged over the past several decades,” Zhu said. “A substantial body of literature has been dedicated to understanding the determinants of FDI inflows—namely, what attracts or deters foreign investment. However, relatively less attention has been devoted to exploring the political consequences of FDI inflows. Our project aims to address this gap and investigate how FDI inflows and the activities of multinational corporations in host countries affect various aspects of domestic economics and politics in host countries, including market dynamics, corruption, civil conflict, political instability, and government tenure, among others.”

Zhu specializes in comparative and international political economy. In addition to the Journal of Conflict Resolution, his work has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, International Studies Quarterly, Comparative Politics, Political Science Research and Methods, Governance, and Research & Politics.

Zhu’s other current research projects include “Firms in the U.S.-China Trade War,” an investigation into the ways companies publicly express their positions and take political actions in response to the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, and “Multinational Corporation Behavior in Times of War,” a collaborative initiative funded by a National Science Foundation Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grant that examines the behavior of foreign-owned firms in Russia since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war.