Language for IR?

[GopherGrad]

Yes, all else equal. At the end of the day, I think research potential really controls, though.

[ThisGuyRiteHere]

If you want to be a conflict guy, do you think you can combine that with IPE, or do you think that it is something that cannot be merged. I am thinking of doing Conflicts affect on PE...I dont know if that is too much of a massive undertaking though

[catchermiscount]

I sure hope you can do both, else this dissertation is a first class ticket to a job at McDonald's.  There is a lot of work (mostly empirical) that links conflict and a variety of IPE-ish things (trade, investment, institutions, whatever).  If you intend to be pretty general about it, you might need to go more theoretical.  But there are plenty of strains of the literature that combine conflict and IPE-ish things, so you'll have plenty of chances to whittle down as you go.

[ThisGuyRiteHere]

My goal is to write a dissertation that is good for academia and for NGO's/Gov. I realize only 50% of us will be TT profs, and I am not going to do the adjuct circuit. My original idea was to do something towards development in Latin America and the Caribbean, but I dont know if that is flexible enough to get brought on by Government...if needbe. I am sure NGO's may like it, but I don't want to be so focused that I "focus" myself right out of a job.

The big hitters in government tend to be discovered because they are doing research on pressing issues of the day. Conflict will always be something the government will be interested in, NGOs and i guess academia will be too. IPE is liked in the private sector, NGO's and academia, so combining them would get me the best of both worlds. Or is my mode of thinking incorrect?

[ThisGuyRiteHere]

What is the difference between conflict studies and security studies?

[Guest hopefulfool]

My goal is to write a dissertation that is good for academia and for NGO's/Gov. I realize only 50% of us will be TT profs, and I am not going to do the adjuct circuit. My original idea was to do something towards development in Latin America and the Caribbean, but I dont know if that is flexible enough to get brought on by Government...if needbe. I am sure NGO's may like it, but I don't want to be so focused that I "focus" myself right out of a job.

The big hitters in government tend to be discovered because they are doing research on pressing issues of the day. Conflict will always be something the government will be interested in, NGOs and i guess academia will be too. IPE is liked in the private sector, NGO's and academia, so combining them would get me the best of both worlds. Or is my mode of thinking incorrect?

 

I would be more concerned about finding something that you LOVE to do research on, which will lead to a high quality dissertation rather than worrying about job prospects in the private sector. However, if you are doing something on conflict and/or IPE, then it would probably help with a job at an NGO.

Focusing on Latin America and the Caribbean - If you want to work for an NGO that focuses on this area, then it sounds like a good idea. 

[catchermiscount]

What is the difference between conflict studies and security studies?

 

It seems like "security studies" is a signal for more traditional, qualitative work (think Barry Posen or Steven Van Evera, who lead the "Security Studies" group at MIT), while "conflict studies" is much more of a signal of doing quantitative work (think anybody that tortures fresh confessions out of the CoW data).

[ThisGuyRiteHere]

It seems like "security studies" is a signal for more traditional, qualitative work (think Barry Posen or Steven Van Evera, who lead the "Security Studies" group at MIT), while "conflict studies" is much more of a signal of doing quantitative work (think anybody that tortures fresh confessions out of the CoW data).

Ahh thanks. I have decided what I want to study, atleast generally at this point (which is enough for now), good convo!