Joshua Freedman

Biography

Joshua Freedman teaches courses on international politics, international security, and international law, with advanced seminars on identity in global politics, and technological change and world order. His research explores how recognition, identity, and status shape world politics. 

Freedman’s forthcoming book, The Recognition Dilemma (Cornell University Press), examines why conflicts over recognition arise, with a focus on the incentives political elites have to strategically elevate these conflicts in some moments, while suppressing them in others. The book shows how recognition struggles have complicated peace negotiations, reshaped cooperation between states and international organizations, and fueled the legitimation and mobilization of political movements. 

In addition to the book, Freedman is conducting ongoing research on the construction of international status orders and on the political power of inevitability as a cognitive frame. His work has appeared in leading academic journals, including International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, the European Journal of International Relations, and the British Journal of Politics and International Relations. He has also written public commentary for outlets such as the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage, the Globe and Mail, the National Post, and Al Jazeera English.