Kevin McGahan

Although I am originally from Chicago, Southeast Asia is a big part of me. I first arrived in Southeast Asia in June 1999, when I observed elections following the fall of the Suharto regime in Indonesia. Since then, my interests in the politics and peoples of Southeast Asia have only continued to grow and diversify.

At NUS, I have taught a broad range of classes at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, including globalization and migration, international law and institutions, global migration, human rights, as well as the international relations and comparative politics of Southeast Asia. In addition, I developed and taught a new and innovative module on the politics of human trafficking for the FASSTrack Asia (formerly OdySEA Programme), which involved a two-week field research component to various locations in Thailand and Cambodia; a version of this study abroad module was also successfully taught at Yale NUS College. I have also successfully supervised several undergraduate honors and graduate theses on topics related to my teaching and research interests. Prior to my tenure at NUS, I served as a teaching assistant for a range of classes at the University of Wisconsin and lectured a class on political data analysis at the University of Illinois.

I also assisted in developing a number of STEER programmes (including educational trips to Botswana/Zimbabwe/South Africa, India, and Myanmar), which involve taking about 25-30 undergraduate students to various locations in developing countries to interact with community activists and leaders. Periodically, I facilitate student participation at the U21 Conference, which involved taking three global studies students to present original undergraduate research at the University of Edinburgh in 2017. Additionally, I developed and lead a reading group focused on human trafficking and global migration issues (OTH580) on campus. Moreover, I am teaching Week 7 instruction on human trafficking issues, taking students to Cambodia, for Yale NUS College.

My research interests involve the politics of transnational migration, particularly in the context of Southeast Asia. I am especially interested in the interplay between international and domestic politics. One of my core research agendas examines the state-societal responses to transnational migration in Malaysia. I am currently expanding my case studies to include Thailand. One the central puzzles shaping this research agenda involves explaining why states and societies that are heavily reliant economically on foreign labor flows have increasingly employed restricted and harsh immigration policies. Within this broad agenda on transnational migration are two particular research projects.

First, I have conducted research on immigration enforcement in Malaysia, highlighting the government's use of a civilian volunteer corps called RELA. Second, I have presented research that applies and problematizes the securization framework to immigration politics in Malaysia. I am also currently involved with studies that examine a particular form of transnational migration: human trafficking. One project studies the relationship between refugees and human trafficking along the Thai-Burma border. Another study analyzes public attitudes and awareness of human trafficking in Singapore. In addition, I am tentatively involved with a research project that assesses the various uses of money politics and patronage in Southeast Asian elections. I am especially interested in examining the granting of certain citizenship rights to migrants in exchange for political support in Malaysian elections (including upcoming national elections in 2013). Lastly, I have conducted and published co-authored papers on global governance and transnational crime - namely, maritime piracy in both the Gulf of Aden and Straits of Malacca.