DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

Biography

Niko Letsos is a JD-PhD student studying the history of U.S. foreign relations, economic history, and legal history. His dissertation is focused on the origins and consequences of the U.S. organizing bailouts of countries on the brink of bankruptcy from the 1980s to the present day. These bailouts were often extralegal, pointing to the importance of international relations in state building and developing novel policy tools that would later be used in domestic policy. Bailouts are also a useful window on how and why globalization took off in the U.S. after the Cold War.

Niko is interested in pedagogy as well, having taught high school classes for years before beginning the program and helped teach four courses in the department.