Heather Penatzer

Heather Penatzer is an international relations theorist with expertise in territorial sovereignty and grand strategy. Her first book project examines internationalized territories as a distinct form of political authority, drawing on 23 cases of international rule since 1815. Her second major project is an intellectual history of neoconservative foreign policy, focusing on James Burnham’s lasting influence on American grand strategy. Prior to joining Perry World House, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University’s Reimagining World Order research community. She received her PhD in politics from Princeton University in 2025. She also holds an MA in international relations from the University of Chicago and a BA in political science from Sam Houston State University.

Dr. Penatzer has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on international relations theory and grand strategy at Princeton, as well as at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She was a Hans J. Morgenthau Fellow at the University of Notre Dame’s International Security Center in 2024–25. She has received Princeton’s George Kateb Teaching Award and an International Studies Association award for the best graduate student paper in international law. She has given multiple invited lectures at the U.S. Department of State’s George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center and frequently publishes public-facing essays on history and foreign policy.