Seonhye Back

Seonhye Back is a Ph.D. student in Political Science at the University of Kansas. She received her B.A. and M.A. in Political Science from Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea. Before beginning her doctoral studies, she worked as a research assistant at the Sungkyun Institute of China Studies, where she participated in research on Chinese politics, East Asian international relations, and Korea–China relations.

Her research lies in how domestic politics shape states’ responses to external coercive threats. She is particularly interested in how political elites and the public perceive external threats and the factors that drive variation in these perceptions. Her work focuses on economic coercion, including coercive diplomacy, economic sanctions, tariffs, and trade wars. More broadly, she is interested in how domestic actors and political processes shape foreign policy decision-making and the effectiveness of coercive strategies. Her regional interests include East Asia, U.S.–China relations, the Taiwan Strait, and the Korean Peninsula.