Sarah Kreps
DAAD/AICGS Fellow

Ms. Kreps is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Government at Georgetown University and is currently working on a dissertation entitled "Power, Arms, and Allies:  U.S. Multilateralism in an Age of Unipolarity." Through empirical study of post Cold War military interventions, Kreps will assess the merits of two different foreign policy perspectives: the unilateralist view, which calls on the U.S. to recognize its preponderance of power and assert its freedom of unilateral action, and the interdependent view, which sees allies as being imperative for confronting transnational security threats.  While multilateralism comes with costs such as reduced decision-making autonomy, the post Cold War empirical record suggests that the payoffs of multilateralism - in the form of burden-sharing, legitimacy, and niche capabilities - far exceed the cooperation costs and therefore warrant a more conscientious commitment to alliances.  The policy implications are significant and may have a bearing on alliance politics, transatlantic security cooperation, and U.S.-German bilateral relations.

Prior to starting her PhD at Georgetown, Ms. Kreps was on active duty in the United States Air Force, serving as a foreign area officer for European and sub-Saharan African affairs as well as an acquisition specialist for the U.S., NATO, and UK E-3 airborne surveillance program.  Her most recent military assignment was as a reserve captain in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force for International Affairs, where she served as a Western European desk officer.  

Ms. Kreps has a M.Sc. in environmental change from Oxford University and a B.A. in public policy from Harvard University.