Professional Affiliation

Research Professor, George Washington University

Expert Bio

Dr. Spear Directs the Foreign Area Officer Regional Skill Sustainment Initiative at the George Washington University, where she previously directed the Security Policy Studies and National Security Studies programs. Prior to this she was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of War Studies, King's College London. She has held fellowships at the Belfer Center, Harvard University, at the Brookings Institution and at IDSA in New Delhi. She is a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

Expertise

• Peacebuilding
• Security and Defense

Wilson Center Project

Pandemic Diplomacy: Pharmaceutical Firms’ Independent Domestic Strategies, Foreign Policies and Negotiations with States

Project Summary

The project examines the role of bio-pharmaceutical firms in developing and distributing the mRNA vaccines against the original Covid-19 virus and its later variants. It asks whether whether these pharma and biotech firms had independent domestic strategies and foreign policies they implemented during the search for an effective vaccine. These strategies and foreign policies should be in evidence in their negotiations with their home states, with other states and with international organizations.

Major Publications

• The Business of Armaments: Armstrongs, Vickers and the International Arms Trade, 1855-1955 (Cambridge University Press, 2023)
• Security and Development in Global Politics: A Critical Comparison, Edited with Paul D. Williams, (Georgetown University Press, 2012)
• ‘United States’ Export Control Policies and Practices’, in Laurence Lustgarten (ed.), Law and the Arms Trade: Weapons, Blood and Rules, Hart Publishers, 2020.