International security studies + energy?

[J.Makarov]

Hello everyone,

 

I am looking for doctoral programs to study a very specific subject - the implications of energy policies on international security. No much luck so far. It seems like energy issues are mostly discussed at public policy schools, while at polisci departments no one is working on them, at least in top-25

 

I am willing to work in academia rather than in policy. So, does this mean I should just aim at security studies programs and develop the energy aspect on my own? Or perhaps I\ll be fine doing a policy PhD with such specific interests?

 

Thank you

[Penelope Higgins]

One name comes to mind off the top of my head: Jeff Colgan, who I think is moving to Brown. He got his PHD only a couple of years ago, so rather than planning to work with him, you might look at where he studied and who he studied with.

[J.Makarov]

Thanks! He did his phd at Princeton WWS, though, so that proves my initial guess...

[cooperstreet]

Columbia.

 

Johannes Urpalainen is into this stuff.

[omerow]

Hello everyone,

 

I am looking for doctoral programs to study a very specific subject - the implications of energy policies on international security. No much luck so far. It seems like energy issues are mostly discussed at public policy schools, while at polisci departments no one is working on them, at least in top-25

 

I am willing to work in academia rather than in policy. So, does this mean I should just aim at security studies programs and develop the energy aspect on my own? Or perhaps I\ll be fine doing a policy PhD with such specific interests?

 

Thank you

 

I have similar research interests. I am broadly interested issues relating to energy and conflict. If I may ask, what schools have you looked into so far?

[J.Makarov]

I have similar research interests. I am broadly interested issues relating to energy and conflict. If I may ask, what schools have you looked into so far?

 

Not much. Jeff Colgan, mentioned in this thread above, got his PhD at Woodrow Wilson School of public and international affairs - not polisci department. This makes me think that the Government Affairs forum might be more useful, at least for me.

 

Urpalainen, also mentioned here, currently in Columbia, got his degree from Michigan. They have a good environment/energy center. I think applying to Columbia also might be not a bad idea, as Urpalainen has at least one student working on this kind of research.

 

There is also the Natural Resources and Armed Conflict Project at Penn State. They also have a decent program, as far as I know, so it''s worth to look into it.

Edited September 23, 2014 by J.Makarov

[alphazeta]

I assume that you want to do a PhD in order to pursue an academic career? In this case, you will eventually be getting a job as someone who studies "international security" not someone who studies "the implications of energy policies".  It sounds like the more generic version of what you want to do involves the intersection of domestic political economic considerations (energy being a subspecies here) and international security, so look specifically at places where people are doing strong work around that general nexus.  Your work will also spill over into IPE, so look for places with strengths there.  Studying energy is fairly common, so at most places you'll be able to pull in an energy expert of some kind if you want - whether from a policy school, economics department, or another area of political science (e.g., a comparativist who works on the resource curse or some such).  

 

Specific advice on departments is difficult without some insight into your preferences on method and approach, but I'd recommend a hard look at NYU, Stanford, Columbia, UCSD, Wisconsin, and Chicago off the top of my head.