Dr. Jonathan M. DiCicco

Professor, Political Science and International Relations, College of Liberal Arts

Dr. Jonathan M. DiCicco
(615) 904-8035
Room 203A, Peck Hall (PH)
MTSU Box 29, Murfreesboro, TN 37132
Office Hours
  • Tuesdays 11:10 a.m.–12:20 p.m.; and 1:30–2:20 p.m.
  • Wednesdays 1:10–2:20 p.m. (meetings must be concluded by 2:20!) and immediately after class (M.A. students only)
  • Thursdays 11:10 a.m.–12:20 p.m.; and 1:30–2:20 p.m.
  • Mondays or Fridays by appointment only, remote only (Zoom/Teams/phone)

Degree Information

  • PHD, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (2006)
  • BA, Drew University (1994)

Areas of Expertise

International conflict, rivalry, and war; Great-power competition; International order and revisionism; Peace and conflict resolution in international politics; Leaders and leadership in international affairs; U.S. foreign and defense policy; Military intervention; Teaching and learning

Biography

Dr. Jon DiCicco teaches courses, conducts scholarship, and directs the Master of Arts in International Affairs program. Dr. DiCicco teaches graduate courses in international relations (IR) theory, international security, and peace studies, and regularly offers undergraduate courses on IR, international conflict, and the politics of protest. Dr. DiCicco has published his scholarly work in leading journals in political science and IR, including International Studies Quarterly, the ...

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Dr. Jon DiCicco teaches courses, conducts scholarship, and directs the Master of Arts in International Affairs program. Dr. DiCicco teaches graduate courses in international relations (IR) theory, international security, and peace studies, and regularly offers undergraduate courses on IR, international conflict, and the politics of protest. Dr. DiCicco has published his scholarly work in leading journals in political science and IR, including International Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, and Political Research Quarterly. He routinely peer-reviews manuscripts for reputable journals and presses, and serves on the editorial board of the APSA journal PS: Political Science & PoliticsHe writes occasionally for H-Diplo, which is H-Net's network for diplomatic history and international affairs, and has published op-eds in The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Tennessean, among others. In 2023 he was Visiting Professor at Sapienza University in Rome, Italy. DiCicco maintains a professional presence on Twitter/X (@dicicco_jon).

Originally from New York, DiCicco earned his Ph.D. from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 2006, and taught courses at Rutgers and at Lehigh University while finishing his doctoral studies. He held a faculty post at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York for 12 years before moving to Tennessee in August 2018. Since arriving at MTSU, DiCicco has joined the Graduate Faculty and the Honors College Faculty, and he has earned tenure and promotion to the rank of full professor. He resides in Nashville.

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Publications

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Citations to these and other publications are tracked by Google Scholar. See DiCicco's citation page here.

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Presentations

  • "NATO and the future: a view from the United States." Third Annual Festival of Geopolitics & International Relations, UNINT University of International Studies of Rome, Thursday May 18, 2023.
  • "Great-Power Competition in International Relations: a feature, or a bug?" Sapienza University of Rome, Wednesday May 17, 2023.
  • “Great Power Competition, Regional Orders, and Restraint: Peering Over the Horizon” (virtual). W...
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  • "NATO and the future: a view from the United States." Third Annual Festival of Geopolitics & International Relations, UNINT University of International Studies of Rome, Thursday May 18, 2023.
  • "Great-Power Competition in International Relations: a feature, or a bug?" Sapienza University of Rome, Wednesday May 17, 2023.
  • “Great Power Competition, Regional Orders, and Restraint: Peering Over the Horizon” (virtual). West Point SOSH Seminar: “Order, Counter-Order, Disorder? Regional and Global Security Orders in the Shadow of Sino-American Competition,” U.S. Military Academy at West Point, February 9-10, 2023.
  • "Whose Status Quo Is It, Anyway? Regions, Hierarchies, and Satisfaction." Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Nashville, March-April 2022. Forthcoming as a chapter in Turmoil and Order in Regional International Politics (Springer, 2023). Also at ISA 2022: panelist, "International Security Studies Section 2022 Distinguished Scholar Award Panel Honoring Jack S. Levy"; and panel discussant & chair, "Conflict Delegation and Proxy Wars." 
  • "Whose Status Quo Is It, Anyway? Regions, Hierarchies, and (Dis)satisfaction in Emergent System(s)." Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, San Antonio, January 2022 (virtual/hybrid). Also at SPSA 2022: panel discussant & chair, "Alliances and Interstate Relations."
  • "Great Power Competition, Regional Orders, and Restraint: Peering Over the Horizon." Rising Powers: History & Strategy Conference, Virginia Military Institute, November 2021.
  • Panel discussant, "Revisionism in International Politics," Società Italiana di Scienza Politica, September 2021 (virtual).
  • "Assessing Regional Status Quo (Dis)satisfaction." TransResearch Consortium Summer Conference, Monterey, California, August 2021.
  • "Sino-Soviet Border Clashes as (Manufactured) Shock to Sino-American Rivalry." Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Las Vegas, March 2021 (virtual).
  • "Revisionism in Nested Hierarchical Orders: Dissatisfaction and Danger in the Emergent System." Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Las Vegas, March 2021 (virtual).
  • “Sino-Soviet Border Clashes as Shock to Sino-American Rivalry.” Joint conference of the APSA and ISA on International Security, Denver, Colorado, October 2019.
  • “Status Quo Evaluations and Revisionism in Nested Hierarchical Orders.” TransResearch Consortium Summer Conference, Portland, Oregon, August 2019.
  • “It Takes Practice to Tango: Elite Influencers and the Roots of Rivalry.” Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Toronto, March 2019 (with Emily Meierding).
  • “Microfoundations of International Rivalries.” Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Toronto, March 2019.
  • Panel Discussant and Chair, “War and its Winners and Losers.” Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Toronto, March 2019.
  • “Ethnic Group Bargaining as a Determinant of Interstate Rivalry.” Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, San Francisco, March 2018 (with Douglas M. Gibler).
  • “Power Transition Theory and the Essence of Revisionism.” Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Baltimore, February 2017.
  • “Microfoundations of Peaceful Change in International Rivalries,” and panel co-discussant, (“Negotiations, Settlement, and Future Peace”), Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Atlanta, March 2016.
  • Invited Participant, Roundtable: “The Study of Rivalry: History, Science, Synthesis?” Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, February 2015.
  • “Do Not Leave Baggage Unattended: Formative Events, Leaders’ Generational Identities, and Peacemaking between Rivals.” Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Toronto, March 2014.

Presentations not included in this selection are listed on DiCicco's CV.

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Awards

Dr. DiCicco won a competitive Visiting Professor award in 2022 from Sapienza University of Rome and completed his visiting professorship in May/June 2023 with a short-term residency in Rome, Italy. Earlier in his career, he received an award for advising International Relations students. As an undergraduate student at Drew University, DiCicco earned membership in Phi Beta Kappa as well as Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society. 

Research / Scholarly Activity

DiCicco's research has emphasized themes of leadership, including political and military leaders in times of war and peace, leaders' roles in managing and resolving rivalries, U.S. leadership of the international order, and competition over that order. DiCicco is Senior Fellow at the TransRe...

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DiCicco's research has emphasized themes of leadership, including political and military leaders in times of war and peace, leaders' roles in managing and resolving rivalries, U.S. leadership of the international order, and competition over that order. DiCicco is Senior Fellow at the TransResearch Consortium, a nonprofit institution that encourages research related to impending global transitions driven by power shifts and demographic changes. For one of DiCicco's policy-oriented publications, see "Shock and Thaw? The Limited Prospects for US-Iran De-escalation," in the online magazine Political Violence at a Glance (January 15, 2020). Recent and ongoing projects focus on so-called "great-power competition," spheres of influence, and revisionism; the microfoundations of rivalry change, including public opinion and generational attitudes toward enemy countries and the use of force abroad; and the struggle to adjust US defense policy to changing global and realities, including climate change and the rise of China as a near-peer competitor.

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Creative Activity

Dr. DiCicco actively supports student activities related to the United Nations. At MTSU, DiCicco serves as faculty adviser to the Society for International Affairs, the student club that fields delegations to Model UN conferences. DiCicco occasionally teaches a course called Model United Nations & Crisis Simulation (PS 2130) in which students learn about the UN and Model UN, and participate in simulations of international diplomacy and crisis management. DiCicco fosters other UN-related a...

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Dr. DiCicco actively supports student activities related to the United Nations. At MTSU, DiCicco serves as faculty adviser to the Society for International Affairs, the student club that fields delegations to Model UN conferences. DiCicco occasionally teaches a course called Model United Nations & Crisis Simulation (PS 2130) in which students learn about the UN and Model UN, and participate in simulations of international diplomacy and crisis management. DiCicco fosters other UN-related activities, including for example a recent visit to MTSU's Political Science and International Relations Department from Cynthia Yue, the 2021-2022 U.S. Youth Observer to the UN. Read Cynthia's blog post about interviewing U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield!

Students interested in Model UN at MTSU should register for PS 2130, sign up with the Society for International Affairs, and reach out to Dr. DiCicco for more information!

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In the Media

  • Panelist, "Crisis in the Middle East," a virtual panel co-sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts, the University Honors College, and the American Democracy Project at Middle Tennessee State University, October 19, 2023. Available on demand from MTSU's True Blue TV.
  • Quoted in story for HowStuffWorks, "
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Courses

  • PS 3210 - International Relations
  • PS 4210 - International Conflict: Causes, Consequences, and Responses
  • PS 4860 - Protest, Politics, and the State in Today's World
  • PS 6100 - International Relations Theory & Practice
  • PS 6110 - International Security in a Changing World
  • PS 6120 - Peace and Conflict Resolution: Concepts, Processes, and Consequences
  • PS 2130 - Model United Nations and Crisis Simulation (experiential learning course)
  • PS 1010 - Introduction to Global Politics (Buchanan Honors section)
  • PS 2000 - Political Science and International Relations as a Profession