Laura Henry: Research Summary
Overview
Laura Henry's research addresses questions within international relations. First, she studies state-society relations in Russia, including political participation, citizen activism, protest, and repression. Much of her research in this area has been on environmental politics, natural resource extraction, Indigenous rights, and the Arctic region and focuses on both domestic and international factors. Second, she studies how Russian government actors, businesses, and citizens participate in global governance cooperation on issues ranging from climate change to deforestation and HIV/AIDS. Finally, she compares the Russian case to other emerging global powers, such as Brazil, China, India, and South Africa.
Current Work
In current projects, she traces the development of many of these themes following Russia’s war in Ukraine by asking how activists continue their work under repressive conditions or from exile, how economic sanctions and other factors shape Russia’s climate policy, and what is the likely fate of Russia’s planned oil and gas extraction in the Arctic. This wide array of topics means that some of her courses may count toward the environmental studies and Russian majors, in addition to government.
Student Opportunities
Henry enjoys working with Bowdoin students, and many of her honors and independent study students have helped push her interests in exciting new directions, such as digital authoritarianism, EU environmental policy, and climate change activism in the US.
