Associate Professor
Political Science & Geography

Richard Maass

757-683-4044

7046 BATTEN ARTS & LETTERS
NORFOLK, 23529

Dr. Maass earned his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame, and before coming to 51ԹPro taught at Notre Dame, Cornell University, and the University of Evansville. His first book, The Picky Eagle, was published by Cornell University Press in 2020. It explains why the United States expanded westward but chose to leave Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and other nearby areas independent, exploring how democracy and xenophobia limited U.S. territorial expansion. His second book, The United States and International Law, is an edited volume explaining why the United States supports international law in some ways while undermining it in others. He has also published research in journals such as the Texas National Security Review, Diplomatic History, International Studies Perspectives, International Security, Terrorism and Political Violence, and Historical Methods.

Research Interests

Dr. Maass' research interests include U.S. foreign policy, international security, international law, grand strategy, race and foreign policy, and diplomatic history.

Articles

Maass, R. (2025). Legal Deterrence By Denial: Strategic Initiative and International Law in the Gray Zone. Texas National Security Review 8 (3) , pp. 54-73.
Maass, R. (2024). Whitewashing American Exceptionalism: Racialized Subject-Positioning and US Foreign Policy. International Studies Quarterly 68 (3) , pp. sqae085.
Maass, R. (2023). DiploSim: A Flexible Framework for Diplomatic Simulations in International Relations. International Studies Perspectives 24 (1) , pp. 20-38.
Maass, R. (2023). Racialization and International Security. International Security 48 (2) , pp. 91-126.
Maass, R. (2021). Salami Tactics: Faits Accomplis and International Expansion in the Shadow of Major War. Texas National Security Review 5 (1) , pp. 33-54.
Maass, R. (2015). “Difficult to Relinquish Territory Which Had Been Conquered”: Expansionism and the War of 1812. Diplomatic History 39 (1) , pp. 70-97.
Tsintsadze-Maass, E. and Maass, R. (2014). Groupthink and Terrorist Radicalization. Terrorism and Political Violence 26 (5) , pp. 735-58.
Maass, R. (2012). Political Society and Cicero's Ideal State. Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History 45 (2).

Books

Karp, R. and Maass, R. (2024). Alliances and Partnerships in a Complex and Challenging Security Environment. NATO Allied Command Transformation.
García Iommi, L. and Maass, R. (2022). The United States and International Law: Paradoxes of Support across Contemporary Issues. University of Michigan Press.
Maass, R. (2020). The Picky Eagle: How Democracy and Xenophobia Limited U.S. Territorial Expansion. Cornell University Press.

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