What are top schools for IR and Quantitative methods?

[rustytrix]

Like the subject hints, I am primarily interested in IR and plan to base a lot of my research(IR or not) on quantitative methods. Which would be the top 10 or so schools that are strong in both. I know NYU is good on quanti but i donot know much about its IR program. So other suggestions for cumulatively strong programs would be very much appreciated.

[convex]

IR Security or IPE?

[catchermiscount]

NYU is excellent in both. Their methodology department is high-end and their presence in IR is also strong with big names like Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith leading the charge. I would be careful, however, in labeling them as a "quantitative" school. While the quantitative training you would receive at NYU would be strong, no doubt, their label tends to be more "formal" than "statistical," for whatever that's worth.

If you're talking about formal/quantitative approaches to IR, then you might want to look at the following schools. Forgive me if I miss any...I will be speaking primarily from a conflict/security perspective. These are not in any particular order.

Michigan

UCSD

Rochester

Penn State

WashU

Illinois

Emory

NYU

Wisconsin

Stanford

Bear in mind, too, that you can't go wrong with a top-notch IR department mixed with a top-notch methods department -- think Ohio State here, where there is a good methods department, a good IR department, but not a really super-quanty approach to IR. There's no rule that says that your research must be in the image and likeness of your primary advisor's research.

I would recommend that you pay attention to the top three poli sci journals as well as a handful of the top statistical/formal-leaning IR journals this year to see what's springing up.

[rustytrix]

coachrjc said:

NYU is excellent in both. Their methodology department is high-end and their presence in IR is also strong with big names like Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith leading the charge. I would be careful, however, in labeling them as a "quantitative" school. While the quantitative training you would receive at NYU would be strong, no doubt, their label tends to be more "formal" than "statistical," for whatever that's worth.

If you're talking about formal/quantitative approaches to IR, then you might want to look at the following schools. Forgive me if I miss any...I will be speaking primarily from a conflict/security perspective. These are not in any particular order.

Michigan

UCSD

Rochester

Penn State

WashU

Illinois

Emory

NYU

Wisconsin

Stanford

Bear in mind, too, that you can't go wrong with a top-notch IR department mixed with a top-notch methods department -- think Ohio State here, where there is a good methods department, a good IR department, but not a really super-quanty approach to IR. There's no rule that says that your research must be in the image and likeness of your primary advisor's research.

I would recommend that you pay attention to the top three poli sci journals as well as a handful of the top statistical/formal-leaning IR journals this year to see what's springing up.

Thanks for the response. btw, could u suggest some good IR/Methods journals. I read "International Security" quite a bit .. but thats about all i have read

[rustytrix]

IR Security or IPE?

like i posted in another forum.. i am a noob is much of poli sci area... still exploring the poli sci ocean ...and thus have no idea what IPE means .... but ya im definetly interested in international security/conflict resolution and the likes

[swr22]

like i posted in another forum.. i am a noob is much of poli sci area... still exploring the poli sci ocean ...and thus have no idea what IPE means .... but ya im definetly interested in international security/conflict resolution and the likes

IPE= International Political Economy.

[rustytrix]

IPE= International Political Economy.

oh ok .. in that case i am definitely more interested in IR security issues...but having said that, I am interested in IPE stuff as well

[catchermiscount]

Thanks for the response. btw, could u suggest some good IR/Methods journals. I read "International Security" quite a bit .. but thats about all i have read

oh and coachrjc this is "rob.smith" who was askin yr advice a couple of days ago..had to change account [long story] ... but ya thanks for the help again

The best places to find good methodologically sophisticated IR stuff is either in the top three poli sci journals (American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, or Journal of Politics), in some of the more methods-leaning IR journals (International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Conflict Resolution) or even a methods journal like Political Analysis.

I might also suggest that you think of security in terms of its literatures and then find examples of work in a particular literature that is an example of each of the three major methodological classifications. For example, there is a lot of qualitative deterrence work, good formal deterrence work from people like Bob Powell, and good quantitative deterrence work from guys like Paul Huth. The same could be said for, say, the democratic peace literature, the civil and ethnic conflict literatures, or the insurgency literature. That way, you're simultaneously working on your methodological and substantive development.

[convex]

I would add Journal of Peace Research to that list.

[catchermiscount]

I would add Journal of Peace Research to that list.

Agreed. JPR and Conflict Management and Peace Science have really come on lately.

[polisciphd]

Not to be biased, but if you are interested in marrying quant with security studies, then you should look at UIUC. We have Vazquez, Diehl, Frazier, and Dai, all of whom do work in those areas. Frazier has done some formal theory, but there are formal theorists elsewhere in the department who can assist with integrating models into your research (and are usually more than willing to help).

[rustytrix]

Not to be biased, but if you are interested in marrying quant with security studies, then you should look at UIUC. We have Vazquez, Diehl, Frazier, and Dai, all of whom do work in those areas. Frazier has done some formal theory, but there are formal theorists elsewhere in the department who can assist with integrating models into your research (and are usually more than willing to help).

UIUC? sorry i am an ignorant....

i would also like to ask you guys how much math i need to be competitive for a good quanti school...up until now ive had the following math courses:

Calc 1-3

Probability and Statistics (non-calc)

Linear Algebra

Differential Equations

Intro to advanced math

Intro to Econometrics (well its econ..but applied stat nontheless )

[polisciphd]

Cal 3 and linear algebra would probably be the most math you would need, not many applications for diff eq and more advanced math in IR. I think there are some people who have done some multivariate stuff that could possibly make use of partials and the like in American (elections, if I remember correctly) but really no utility for things like transformations, etc.

UIUC = Illinois

[gradster]

Columbia has recently made a push to hire more formal IR people. Now they have Morelli and this year they hired Urpelainen. Both do IR and game theory. Other recent hires like Ting also add to the formal work. If you want more of statistical training, they have also beefed up that aspect, with Gelman and HIrano on board the students are very strong methods-wise these days (and placing very well). In addition you still have all the security folks around, so you really have the best of both worlds.

I would also strongly recommend UCSD. They have Gartzke and Slantchev who are very strong in both theory and methods, and is a great program.

NYU is also very good, much more in methods than in theory though, so if you do go there, take the train uptown and take classes at Columbia with the security folks.

[phdgrad]

coachrjc, there is no Harvard in your list. any particular reason why? If one is looking at just formal theory and IR, then how might your ranking change? thanks!

[catchermiscount]

coachrjc, there is no Harvard in your list. any particular reason why? If one is looking at just formal theory and IR, then how might your ranking change? thanks!

I mean, yeah, the thing with Harvard is that it's full of smart people and the resources to do anything that they might choose to do. So you'd find good IR people, good formal theorists, good statisticians (I hear this King guy might have some potential), but not necessarily any "scientific IR" people in terms of security. Bas is well-trained but will be an assistant for some time.

I would never tell somebody not to go to Harvard, but it remains that some places (admittedly with a lot of variance in their rankings) are more "scientific security" shops.

[phdgrad]

I mean, yeah, the thing with Harvard is that it's full of smart people and the resources to do anything that they might choose to do. So you'd find good IR people, good formal theorists, good statisticians (I hear this King guy might have some potential), but not necessarily any "scientific IR" people in terms of security. Bas is well-trained but will be an assistant for some time.

I would never tell somebody not to go to Harvard, but it remains that some places (admittedly with a lot of variance in their rankings) are more "scientific security" shops.

thanks coachrjc, very helpful ! now that you mention it, you are right that there are not many ppl who the kind of scientific IR security at Harvard. However, if i am not so interested in statistical methods and prefer to stick with formal theory, do you think Mich/Rochester/Emory would remain so high? i think it seems kinda odd since I thought they were more inclined towards methods stuff.

[catchermiscount]

thanks coachrjc, very helpful ! now that you mention it, you are right that there are not many ppl who the kind of scientific IR security at Harvard. However, if i am not so interested in statistical methods and prefer to stick with formal theory, do you think Mich/Rochester/Emory would remain so high? i think it seems kinda odd since I thought they were more inclined towards methods stuff.

Michigan has good formal IR people -- Morrow is one of the Ms in BdM2S2, and Stam has contributed a lot to the bargaining literature (see Smith and Stam 2003 for example). Rochester is the namesake of the Rochester school and has turned out good formal IR people in recent years; I won't bore you with the names but it's been a pretty good bunch. Emory is not as much of a formal IR place but has a good formal sequence (three in-house formal courses is good). So yeah, I'd still have them up there.

[phdgrad]

thanks coachrjc! as usual, very helpful info.

[polphd]

The top schools, as I've heard, are:

Rochester

Stanford

Princeton

Cal-Tech (if you really want to do quant, they are quite selective on math)

Stanford GSB

Harvard IPE program

U Chic.

NYU

WUSTL

A&M

I'm interested in the same thing as you , applying next year, so thanks for starting this thread.

[catchermiscount]

polphd said:

The top schools, as I've heard, are:

Rochester

Stanford

Princeton

Cal-Tech (if you really want to do quant, they are quite selective on math)

Stanford GSB

Harvard IPE program

U Chic.

NYU

WUSTL

A&M

I'm interested in the same thing as you , applying next year, so thanks for starting this thread.

Princeton is a lot like Harvard. They have some young people doing quantitative/formal IR, but the brunt of their high-end security-type people are more qualitative in nature. There is a strong methods department as well. So you can make something work.

Caltech and GSB are both outstanding places to study formal and quantitative methodologies. The obvious knock is that you won't get the substantive IR training that you might in regular political science departments. But Caltech and GSB people are outstanding, and they're great at placement as well.

Chicago? This makes me scratch my head a bit. On the security end, there's Mearsheimer (qualitative), Pape (qualitative), and (for now maybe) Glaser from the Harris school. The department overall has adopted a very qualitative approach. The people they turn out are wonderful at what they do and razor sharp, but I wouldn't recommend it for scientific security.

aTm is outstanding as well, and I immediately regretted not putting them on my original list. They stole Quan Li away from Penn State and already had Tarar, plus a lot of their investment in good assistants should be paying off soon.

[struck]

longtime lurker, first time poster here.

coachrjc & polphd, i agree with your rankings in general. I also agree with coachrjc that NYU has got great ppl in IR and formal theory. Why then is NYU lower than the other schools in ranking?

[catchermiscount]

longtime lurker, first time poster here.

coachrjc & polphd, i agree with your rankings in general. I also agree with coachrjc that NYU has got great ppl in IR and formal theory. Why then is NYU lower than the other schools in ranking?

While NYU's department has always been solid, a lot of big names currently on the roster are relatively new hires. Bruce Bueno de Mesquita joined the faculty in 2002; Alastair Smith in 2003; Nathaniel Beck in 2004. I think I remember something to the effect of "we only just now started to get the grad program in gear again, so start looking at our placements in another 3 or 4 years when these new additions have had their hands on the grad students from start to finish" on the website, though I don't know if that's still there. The upward trajectory, though, is obvious, and recent placements have been good.

But yeah, for formal IR, it's a tough place to beat.

[polisciphd]

Again, Illinois should be on that list.

[convex]

Don't think you're going to go to Caltech and study security. It's just very unlikely.

edit: Same with GSB, really. And UCSD should be on that list. They are better known for IPE, but Gartzke is one of the best quant security people around, and Slantchev is one of the best formal security people