Kathleen R. McNamara

Kathleen R. McNamara is Professor of Government and Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where she also co-founded the Global Political Economy Project with Professor Abe Newman. Her work centers on the European Union, globalization, and the cultural and political foundations of market authority.

Her research interests include the political economy of the European Union, monetary politics, culture and identity in global markets, institutional change, and the democratic legitimacy of supranational governance. She examines how ideas, norms, and collective identities shape economic integration and state formation, especially in Europe.

Her recent publications (2020–2024) reveal a strong focus on the EU’s geopolitical turn, industrial policy transformation, the impact of crises like COVID-19 on globalization, and the interplay between democracy and populism. These works reflect a deep engagement with both theoretical and policy-relevant dimensions of contemporary European and global political economy.

• International Studies Association 2018 Distinguished Scholar in International Political Economy
• ISA 2020 SWIPE Award for Mentoring Women in International Political Economy
• German Marshall Fund Fellow
• Fulbright Fellow
• Simone Veil Fellow at the European University Institute (2023)

McNamara has been a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation, taught at Princeton University and Sciences Po (Paris), and advised the US National Intelligence Council. She is active in public scholarship, writing for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and The Washington Post. She is a founding figure in the Global Political Economy Project, which aims to reframe the study of global markets through interdisciplinary and critical lenses.