Hello! I will be joining Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) as the MacArthur Hennessy Fellow for Fall 2025. I was previously a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame where I also received my PhD in August 2024.

My research focuses on racism and international security, with an emphasis on nuclear politics. In my book project, Racism among Nations: How Competition and Collusion Perpetuate Hierarchy and Equality, I theorize membership in elite international clubs and examine how the criteria for the inclusion of nonwhite aspirants changes alongside shifting racial ideas in the international system.

My research agenda centers around questions of racism, IR theory, and nuclear politics. My work considers these domains independently from each other and the linkages between them. My work on realism and racism has been published in Security Studies. A companion piece considering the relationship between racial hierarchy and the balance of power through the international thought of Merze Tate (the first black woman to receive a PhD in government from Harvard) is available here. 

I have a BA in Political Science, Anthropology, and English from the University of Miami and an MA in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame. I was previously a Hans J. Morgenthau fellow at Notre Dame's International Security Center and an APSA Diversity Fellow. 

I am a proud product of the Miami-Dade County Public School System. I am committed to helping my students grow personally and professionally in ways that I have been fortunate enough to receive as a first-generation, low-income student.

Contact me at kevin.e.bustamante@gmail.com