Lindsey McKhann

Lindsey (she/her) is a senior studying International Relations. Her primary specialization in East and South Asia and her secondary specialization in International Security. She is minoring in Human Rights and pursuing a coterminal M.A. in Public Policy. She has previously served as President of the Society for International Affairs at Stanford and competes on the Stanford Model United Nations team. Lindsey spoke with us about her interest in IR, favorite IR class, and career goals!

What are your primary research interests?

I currently have two research jobs on campus at the Center for Human Rights and International Justice’s Virtual Tribunals initiative and General H.R. McMaster’s Geostrategic Trends team at the Hoover Institution. My human rights research has recently focused on analyzing trial records from the U.S. Navy War Crimes Program in the Pacific from 1944-1949, which primarily prosecuted war crimes committed by individuals connected to the Empire of Japan in the Pacific Islands during World War II. On General McMaster’s team, I am responsible for analyzing security developments in Southeast Asia and the African continent, particularly ongoing conflicts in Myanmar, Sudan, South Sudan, and the DRC. These roles allow me to do different types of analysis, but both fit within my interests in studying the laws of war, international justice, and the human rights of people in conflict.

What is your favorite IR class so far and why?

This is such a difficult question! I’m going to give three answers: Presidents and Foreign Policy in Modern History with Robert Rakhove, Asia-Pacific Transformation with Gi-Wook Shin, and Africa and China: Past and Present with Yuzhou Sun. I love it when classes require close reading of assigned texts and are based around active seminar discussion, and all three of these courses had those elements. Each prompted me to think more deeply about a new topic in international relations, which has made me a more adaptable scholar. I also have to shout out Transitional Justice and Transformation Debates in South Africa with Helen Scanlon, a class I took while studying abroad in Cape Town! I found it extremely meaningful to learn about truth-seeking and reform in the post-apartheid era while physically being in South Africa. I can’t recommend the BOSP Cape Town program enough.

Can you tell us a bit about a recent internship experience?

This past summer, I was awarded a Critical Language Scholarship from the State Department to study Mandarin full-time in Tainan, Taiwan. My language policy required that I only speak Mandarin all summer and it was a really exciting challenge to discover my personality in Mandarin. The previous summer, I interned at the Institute for an Independent Judiciary (Lembaga Kajian dan Independensi Peradilan) in Jakarta and gained some exposure to judicial reform movements and legal advocacy in Indonesia.

Any hobbies or outside interests?

Outside of class, I love being a Residential Assistant in student housing, hiking, playing saxophone and guitar, and doing Model UN!