John C. Stanko

John C. Stanko (he/thon) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at Indiana University. His research focuses on an analysis of the foreign policy strategies of authoritarian regimes in Eurasia, with a particular emphasis on less powerful countries. Thon is also interested in soft power and the intersection between sport and international relations, as well as the role of higher education in foreign policy approaches. Stanko has previously been a FLAS recipient (for both Chinese and Kazakh languages), a HASTAC Scholar, and a Russian Studies Workshop Fellow, among other honors; his work has been published in Foreign Policy Analysis, Global Studies Quarterly, and War on the Rocks.