'Data and Foreign Affairs'

The Global Studies Seminar presents “Data and Foreign Affairs” by Denison University’s Visiting Assistant Professor of Data for Political Research Miles Williams. 

In a volatile and complex world where our grasp of even basic facts seems tenuous, the need is greater now than ever for accessible public scholarship on foreign affairs. Data provides a great resource for doing this. It is plentiful, easy to access, and trivial to visualize using open source software. While data can’t tell us what the “right” foreign policies are, it offers a common basis in fact upon which foreign policy debates can take place. Williams wants to share some of what he’s learned through engaging in data-driven public scholarship on foreign affairs — both the promise and the pitfalls — and share resources that provide a great place to start for getting the facts straight about world events and trends. 

Williams teaches courses on data visualization, research design, and international politics for Denison’s Data for Political Research program. He researches foreign aid and international conflict, and he is the author of Foreign Figures, a Substack where he writes data-driven takes about foreign affairs.