Welcome, 欢迎, أهلاً وسهلاً!
I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. I completed my Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in August 2026.
My research agenda centers on two interconnected questions. First, how do countries navigate U.S.–China competition? My dissertation answers this question by developing three original concepts: indirect bandwagoning, tri-alignment, and capability maximization. I demonstrate these concepts through three case studies. The Jordan case is based on original interviews I conducted in Amman in summer 2024, and it has been published in Foreign Policy Analysis and Asian Perspective. I demonstrate tri-alignment through the Bahrain case. I demonstrate capability maximization through the Saudi Arabia case, using text analysis; that paper won the 2025 Gulf Studies Graduate Paper Award.
Second, how does China increase its influence around the world? To answer this question, I study Chinese Strategic Partnerships (CSPs). I published “Where to Throw the Hook? Chinese Strategic Partnership Selection and Its Effectiveness” in Chinese Political Science Review. The paper finds that these partnerships significantly increase China’s cultural and military influence among its partners. My original dataset, collected from Chinese-language sources of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is available on Harvard Dataverse.
I have also researched U.S.–China competition across different dimensions, including technology, artificial intelligence, health, and military competition. This work appears in Asian Survey, Asian Perspective, and the Journal of Strategic and Military Studies.
I earned an M.A. in Diplomatic Studies and a B.A. in Chinese and English Languages at the University of Jordan. I also worked for four years at the Chinese Embassy in Amman.
Feel free to reach me at: dabuhaltam@princeton.edu
