Explorations of Quantitative and Formal Research in Political Science
A few weeks ago, I listened to Matt Grossman’s interview with Andy Hall, in which he discussed how he and Graham Strauss used Claude Code to extend a previous study. While Claude did make mistakes, they were correctable for an informed user. They may be a stepping stone towards greater research productivity by reducing time … Read more
It is Cyber Monday and the gift-purchasing season started sometime last week; it is now even more unclear to me when Black Friday actually starts. It has been a few years since my previous entries in this series and the circumstances of 2020 warrant a new list as the demands of our profession have changed. … Read more
Back in early June I wrote that Donald Trump was in big trouble. Trump trailed Biden by close to double digits nationally. State level polls were equally grim. Nearly four months later, almost nothing has changed. Trump is down nearly double digits in the national polls and state-level polls show him trailing in every swing … Read more
Donald Trump is in big trouble. Polls released last week from Monmouth University, CNBC, the Economist, ABC News/Washington Post, and CBS News have Trump trailing Biden by 4 to 11 points nationally. On average, Trump is down by 7.8 points. State-level polling is equally grim. Biden is consistently polling ahead of Trump in the swing … Read more
This is a guest post by Christian Oswald, Melanie Sauter, Sigrid Weber, and Rob Williams. It is based on the article titled Under the Roof of Rebels: Civilian Targeting After Territorial Takeover in Sierra Leone, appearing in International Studies Quarterly. How do rebels treat civilians after they take control of territory in civil wars? The … Read more
This is a guest post by Brendan Skip Mark and Efe Tokdemir. This post is based on research from their article When Killers Become Victims: Diversionary War, Human Rights, and Strategic Target Selection, published in International Interactions. Was the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani an attempt to divert attention from President Trump’s unfavorable domestic attention, … Read more
Three authors of The Quantitative Peace, along with a fourth collaborator, have published a new article in the American Political Science Review. Michael A. Allen, Michael E. Flynn, Carla Martinez Machain, and Andrew Stravers published the article “Outside the Wire: U.S. Military Deployments and Public Opinion in Host States” based on research we have engaged … Read more
I am in the process of updating my graduate-level syllabus on civil war and terrorism and the best way to find new readings is to reach out to the academic community. Specifically, if you have read anything in the last few years that should be a standard inclusion for a Master’s course on the topic. … Read more
As you may guess from the title, this contains two or three mild spoilers from Star Wars Episode IX and multiple spoilers from other Star Wars films and books. Do that with what you will. Episode IX has been out for a week as of this writing and it has encountered mixed receptions from critics … Read more
Some variant of this is line comes up from time to time, and it’s always irritating, but I think it’s something that strikes me as dumber the more time goes by. Whether it’s stated implicitly or explicitly, this remark is almost always uttered in the context of dismissing academic expertise or research. The logic here … Read more