Dr Adam Bower
Senior Lecturer in International Relations
Research areas
Dr Adam Bower is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in International Relations at the University of St Andrews. He was the founding co-director of the Centre for Global Law and Governance and continues to sit on the Steering Committee of the Institute for Legal and Constitutional Research. He is a member of the St Andrews Centre for Exoplanet Science and a Fellow of the Outer Space Institute, a global network of transdisciplinary space experts. He is also a member of the management team of the Scottish Council on Global Affairs, the first all-Scotland institute focusing on non-partisan and policy-relevant academic research on global politics and foreign policy.
Dr Bower's research explores the interaction of international law, norms, and political power in shaping outcomes in global politics. Theoretically, he is interested in understanding how actors strategically engage with international institutions and how norms and legal rules in turn shape and constrain future policy choices in often unanticipated ways. He studies these dynamics principally in the fields of arms control and disarmament (“conventional” and space weapons), international humanitarian and criminal law, and the governance of outer space activities. His teaching is informed by this research agenda and spans IR theory, international organisations and law, security, and justice.
Dr Bower previously held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Oxford (Department of Politics and International Relations and Nuffield College) and the European University Institute in Florence, Italy (Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellow). Dr Bower received his PhD in Political Science from the University of British Columbia in 2012.
Further information on research and teaching can be found at his personal website: http://adam-bower.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/.
PhD supervision
- Yifan Hu
Selected publications
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Open access
Bringing outer space governance into the 21st century
Wright, E., Byers, M. & Bower, A., 12 May 2026, Zenodo. 32 p.Research output: Book/Report › Other report
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Open access
Mapping outer space norms: a user’s guide for norm structures and change
Lantis, J. S. & Bower, A., 13 Mar 2026, (E-pub ahead of print) In: International Relations. OnlineFirst, p. 1-28 28 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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A rhetorical approach to norm change
Stimmer, A. & Bower, A., 18 Dec 2025, The Oxford handbook of norms research in international relations. Gholiagha, S., Orchard, P. & Wiener, A. (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 225-236 12 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Section 4: Norm emergence and change
Bower, A. (Editor) & Stimmer, A. (Editor), 11 Dec 2025, The Oxford handbook of norms research in international relations. Gholiagha, S., Orchard, P. & Wiener, A. (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 223-298 75 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Other contribution
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The Oxford handbook of norms research in international relations
Wiener, A., Gholiagha, S. (Editor), Orchard, P. (Editor), Bower, A. (Guest editor), Stimmer, A. (Guest editor), Lang Jr, A. F. (Guest editor), Ralph, J. (Guest editor), Sandholtz, W. (Guest editor), Zvobgo, K. (Guest editor), Moore, L. (Guest editor), Lantis, J. (Guest editor), Wunderlich, C. (Guest editor), Winston, C. (Guest editor), Fehl, C. (Guest editor), Rosert, E. (Guest editor), Zimmermann, L. (Guest editor), Lesch, M. (Guest editor), Glaab, K. (Guest editor) & Niemann, H. (Guest editor), 11 Dec 2025, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 716 p. (Oxford handbooks)Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Open access
Contesting the heavens: US antipreneurship and the regulation of space weapons
Bower, A. S. & Lantis, J. S., Feb 2024, In: European Journal of International Security. 9, 1, p. 1-22 22 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Global constitutionalism and outer space governance
Bower, A. S., 17 Nov 2023, Handbook on global constitutionalism. Lang Jr., A. F. & Wiener, A. (eds.). 2nd ed. Cheltenham: Edward Edgar Publishing, p. 529-541 13 p. (Research handbooks on globalisation and the law series).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Open access
Orbital uncertainty and the governance of outer space activities
Bower, A. S., 16 Nov 2023, Uncertainty in global politics. Matejova, M. & Shesteerinina, A. (eds.). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, p. 191-211 21 p. (New international relations).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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The international criminal court: between sovereignty and the internationalized fight against impunity
Bower, A. S., 31 May 2023, Tracing value change in the international legal order : perspectives from legal and political science. Krieger, H. & Liese, A. (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 173-190 18 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Forum on pedagogy: the introductory course in international relations: regional variations
Frueh, J., Diehl, P. F., Li, X., Gokcek, G., Kalpakian, J., Vlcek, W., Bower, A., Espinoza, R. S., Carranco, S., de Matos-Ala, J., Behera, N. C. & Acharya, A., May 2021, In: International Studies Perspectives. 22, 2, p. 125-159 35 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Special issue › peer-review