Gaea Morales

Gaea Morales is a PhD Candidate in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California. Her research agenda is motivated by questions on why and how global norms translate into local action and lived realities, and bridges insights across global governance and law, political economy of climate and the environment, and (sub)state capacity. Her dissertation interrogates the incentives of city government bureaucrats to "localize" (i.e., translate) international agreements, and by extension, these processes' material impacts, with a policy focus on climate, environment, and sustainable development, and a regional focus on Southeast Asia. She is a doctoral affiliate of the USC Security and Political Economy (SPEC) Lab, and served as a Grand Strategy Predoctoral Fellow at the USC Korean Studies Institute and Sonosky Fellow for Environmental Sustainability Research at the USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability. She received a BA in Diplomacy and World Affairs and French Studies, with a minor in Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies from Occidental College. Prior to graduate school, she has cumulative work experience in international and local agencies, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Philippines, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) New York, and the L.A. Mayor's Office of International Affairs.