Department of Politics at Princeton University

Helen V. Milner is the B. C. Forbes Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University and the director of the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. She has just completed a double term as chair of the Department of Politics. She has written extensively on issues related to international political economy, the connections between domestic politics and foreign policy, globalization and regionalism, and the relationship between democracy and trade policy.

Some of Professor Milner's writings include Resisting Protectionism (1988), Interests, Institutions and Information: Domestic Politics and International Relations (1997), The Political Economy of Economic Regionalism (coedited with Edward Mansfield, 1997), Internationalization and Domestic Politics (coedited with Robert Keohane, 1996), "Why the Move to Free Trade? Democracy and Trade Policy in the Developing Countries" (International Organization 2005), "Why Democracies Cooperate More: Electoral Control and International Trade Agreements." (International Organization 2002), "The Optimal Design of International Institutions: Why Escape Clauses are Essential." (International Organization. 2001); "The Politics of Foreign Direct Investment into Developing Countries: Increasing FDI through International Trade Agreements?" (American Journal of Political Science, 2008); and "Who Supports Global Economic Engagement? The Sources of Preferences in American Foreign Economic Policy" (International Organization, forthcoming 2010.)

She is currently working on issues related to globalization and development, such as the political economy of foreign aid, the "digital divide" and the global diffusion of the internet, and the relationship between globalization and democracy. In addition, another strand of her recent research deals with American foreign policy and the so-called grand strategy of "Liberal Internationalism." She investigates the sources of public and elite preferences for engagement with the international economy in the areas of international trade, foreign aid and immigration.