Patrick A. Mello

International Politics, Security, and Methods

VU Amsterdam Research Portal

  • Methods Masterclass at Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

    On April 2, I was invited to give an online methods masterclass for the members of the Evaluation and Statistics cadres of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office of the United Kingdom, speaking about “Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) for Foreign Policy Analysis”. The talk comprised a concise introduction to the method and approach of QCA, based on my 2021 book with Georgetown University Press. For the second part, the FCDO members asked me to speak about my applied QCA study on the Unintended Consequences of UN Sanctions, an open-access article that was co-authored with Katharina Meissner (replication data for this article is available here: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/9BGOYQ). Many thanks to Harry Achillini for the invitation and organization–and to all participants for the intriguing questions during the Q&A!

  • Keynote Speech at 5th Annual QCA Conference of the Americas

    On March 18–20, I attended the 5th Annual QCA Conference of the Americas (AQCA 2026), held at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business at the University of Cincinnati. I was invited to give the keynote speech, where I talked about “Uncovering Causal Symptoms: QCA in Multi-Method Research,” based on a book manuscript co-authored with Hilde van Meegdenburg (Leiden University). The talk explored how QCA can be combined with case study research and process tracing as part of a multi-method research strategy—an issue that is becoming increasingly relevant as configurational approaches continue to expand across disciplines.

    AQCA brings together a broad, cross-disciplinary community of QCA empirical researchers and methodologists, offering opportunities to present and receive feedback on current research, share methodological developments, and discuss new directions in configurational-comparative research. A hallmark of the conference is its inclusive character, welcoming contributions not only from QCA’s traditional strongholds in sociology, political science, and management but also from fields such as education, environmental studies, health policy, and information systems.

    Thanks to the AQCA 2026 Organizing Committee–Joanna Campbell (University of Cincinnati, local organizer), Claude Rubinson (University of Houston-Downtown), Gary Goertz (University of Notre Dame), and Peer Fiss (University of Southern California)—for putting together an engaging program and for inviting me to Cincinnati. And thanks to all participants who made this a fantastic event!

  • Book Chapter on European Military Engagement in the Fight Against Daesh

    The recently published book The Changing Fights and Fighters of Contemporary War, edited by Marie Robin (Leiden University), Amelie Theussen (Royal Danish Defense College), and Kerstin Bree Carlson (Roskilde University), includes my chapter “Explaining European Military Engagement in the Fight Against Daesh”. A first draft of this chapter was presented in 2020 at the annual conference of the Center for War Studies (CWS) conference of the University of Southern Denmark. Many thanks to Marie Robin, Amelie Theussen, and Kerstin Bree Carlson for shepherding this book project to publication, despite numerous obstacles along the way! Thanks also for the constructive comments and suggestions on my chapter, also to the other participants and discussants at the CWS conference.

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