Richard Clark

Biography

Richard Clark is associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame and a concurrent associate professor of political science in the Keough School of Global Affairs. He also is director of the Sheedy Family Program for Economy, Enterprise and Society.

Clark specializes in international cooperation and political economy. His research and teaching interests include globalization, international finance, and climate change. Clark’s scholarly contributions have been featured in leading academic outlets such as the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, International Organization and World Politics. He has also provided commentary for outlets like Brookings, Devex and The Washington Post, with coverage in Nature Climate Change.

Clark’s first book, "Cooperative Complexity: The Next Level of Global Economic Governance," is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press. The book examines the emergence of dense cooperative networks among international organizations in recent decades. Clark argues that such cooperation is politically efficient but not necessarily economically efficient — it helps geopolitically aligned institutions to enforce their preferred policies but can lead to inefficient economic outcomes. Combining a general theoretical model with quantitative, qualitative, and experimental research designs, Cooperative Complexity disentangles the complex ties that connect international organizations.

Clark’s research has been recognized with various awards, including the Best Dissertation Award from the APSA International Collaboration section, the MPSA’s Best Paper in International Relations award, the ISA’s Lawrence S. Finkelstein Prize, and the Best Paper Award from the Women, Gender, and Politics Research section at APSA.

Before coming to Notre Dame, Clark taught at Cornell University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton University. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University in 2021 and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in 2016. Originally from Youngstown, Ohio, he is an avid Cleveland sports fan and baseball analytics nerd.