Shane Leary

Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science

Education
B.S., Political Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2018

Bio

“Shane entered the Political Science department at Baylor University in the fall of 2020, where he studies American politics and international relations. An Upstate New York native, he received his B.S. in Political Science from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2019. Before beginning his Ph.D., Shane returned home and worked as the Community Relations Director for the 121^st NYS Assembly district. In the fall of 2022, he took leave from graduate work to undertake foreign policy research on China as a Research Associate and Program Manager of Hudson Institute’s China Center. He later worked as a Political Competition Analyst for Baron Public Affairs before returning to Baylor. Shane is an alumnus of several fellowship programs, including Hudson Institute Political Studies (2019), The Public Interest Fellowship and Alexander Hamilton Society's Security and Strategy Seminar (2022-2023), The Fund for American Studies Woodhouse Public Policy Fellowship (2023-2024), the Council on Foreign Relations Young Professionals Briefing Series (2023-2024), and the Philadelphia Society’s Founders’ Fellows program (2024).

His research focuses on competing understandings of republicanism in early America and how these ideas influence military organization. In addition, his interests include American political thought, American political development, civic education, international relations, and civil-military relations. His dissertation explores disputes in the early republic over standing armies and militias, how competing views on the proper role of militias shaped early militia regulation and the organization of the United States military, and the broader implications of these decisions for American constitutionalism.