Seunghoon Chae

Profile

I received my DPhil (PhD) in Politics from the University of Oxford (Nuffield College) in May 2022. Prior to joining the University of Leeds in 2024, I held a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at St John’s College and the Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford. In early 2025 (January–March), I was also a Visiting Fellow at the Collegio Carlo Alberto, University of Turin.

Research interests

I am interested in unpacking political violence to explore how different repertoires and techniques of violence interact with one another and with the broader political environment. I conduct this investigation in two primary contexts.

First, I explore how the dynamics of armed conflict affect the perpetration of violence. My Leverhulme project investigates how civilians—those not formally affiliated with armed organizations—come to commit violence against one another during wartime. Drawing on evidence from the Korean War, I find that civilians who had collaborated with an occupying force often preemptively targeted potential avengers as their armed protectors began to withdraw. Furthermore, different forms of violence—such as killings and abductions—tended to supplement or outbid one another depending on the shifting tides of war.

Second, I seek to understand the strategic logic underpinning authoritarian violence. Using rare data about human rights abuse in North Korea, I argue that authoritarian regimes deploy specific forms of violence to address distinct political and social challenges. Public executions, for instance, help ensure that local police carry out violence as ordered—a mechanism that becomes necessary when state institutions lack the capacity to enforce discipline through bureaucratic means.

I hold a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship until September 2025. From 2025 to 2028, I have been awarded a prestigious Collaborative Projects grant from the National Research Foundation of Korea.

My work has been published in international academic journals, including the Journal of Peace Research, Conflict Management and Peace Science, and International Interactions.

Qualifications

• DPhil Politics (University of Oxford)
• MPhil Politics (University of Oxford)
• BA Philosophy Politics and Economics (University of Oxford)

Professional memberships

• American Political Science Association
• International Studies Association
• Network for European Peace Scientists

Student education

I teach comparative politics and quantitative research methods.

Research groups and institutes

• Centre for Global Security Challenges