Gregory M. Thaler -

University of Georgia

Assistant Professor of International Affairs

Curriculum Vitae

Professional Website

Gregory Thaler is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Affairs at the University of Georgia. His research examines the political ecology and political economy of development, global environmental governance, and agrarian politics. He has a special interest in comparative and ethnographic methodology and regional focuses in Latin America and Southeast Asia. He received his PhD in Government from Cornell University (2017) and holds an MA from Cornell University (2014) and a BA from Yale University (2007).

Education

Ph.D., Cornell University, 2017, Government

M.A., Cornell University, 2014, Government

B.A., Yale University, 2007, Political Science

Areas of Expertise

Political Ecology
Political Economy of Development
Environmental Governance
Agrarian Politics
Comparative and Ethnographic Methodology

Affiliations

Brazil Natural Resource Governance Initiative – Co-Director

Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute – Core Faculty

Center for Integrative Conservation Research – Faculty Affiliate

Sustainability Certificate Program – Faculty Affiliate

Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies Certificate Program – Faculty Affiliate

Course Instruction

INTL 1100 Introduction to Global Issues

INTL 4530 Globalization and Distributive Justice

INTL 4610 Environmental Politics

INTL 8500 Qualitative Research Methods

Selected Publications

2022. “Technical Reform or Radical Justice? Environmental Discourse in Non-Governmental Organizations.” Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space DOI: 10.1177/25148486221119750 (with Ellie Ritter).
2021. “Ethnography of Environmental Governance: Towards an Organizational Approach.” Geoforum 120: 122-131.
2021. “Equifinality in the Smallholder Slot: Cash Crop Development in the Brazilian Amazon and Indonesian Borneo.” Comparative Politics.
2020. “Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations and Global Environmental Discourse.” PLOS ONE 15 (5): e0232945 (with Stefan Partelow and Klara Johanna Winkler).
2019. “From Frontier Governance to Governance Frontier: The Political Geography of Brazil’s Amazon Transition.” World Development 114: 59-72 (with Cecilia Viana and Fabiano Toni).
2019. “From Contested to ‘Green’ Frontiers in the Amazon? A Long-Term Analysis of São Félix do Xingu, Brazil.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 46 (2): 377-399 (with Marianne Schmink, Jeffrey Hoelle, and Carlos Valério Gomes).
2017. “The Land Sparing Complex: Environmental Governance, Agricultural Intensification, and State Building in the Brazilian Amazon.” Annals of the American Association of Geographers 107 (6): 1424-43.
2017. “Shifting Cultivation, Contentious Land Change and Forest Governance: The Politics of Swidden in East Kalimantan.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 44 (5): 1066-87 (with Cut Augusta Mindry Anandi).
2015. “The 21st-Century Agricultural Land Rush.” in The Oxford Handbook of Food, Politics and Society edited by Ronald J. Herring. New York: Oxford University Press.