International relations
International relations involves the study of politics among nations, and, more and more these days, among all sorts of non-state actors who operate in the global environment. Traditional subjects of interest have concerned interstate war, deterrence, cooperation, alliances, power, the balance of power, economic sanctions, economic growth and stability, and international institutions. More recent topics include human rights, NGOs and other transnational actors, globalization, civil and ethnic conflict, international justice and global civil society.
Princeton’s international relations faculty conducts research and trains graduate students across the full range of theories, methods (historical, statistical and formal), and substantive research interests (security studies, international law and organization, political economy, transnational civil society, and normative analysis) in the field.
The international relations faculty is tightly connected with scholars in other areas of political science and other disciplines, and it encourages graduate students to develop such connections as well. Particularly close cooperation exists with colleagues in political philosophy (which contains a unique concentration of scholars working on international issues) and some areas of American and comparative politics.
The International Relations group in the Politics Department also teaches within the Woodrow Wilson School, where many international relations faculty are jointly appointed.
The Center for Globalization and Governance sponsors numerous conferences and hosts post-doctoral and faculty fellows from all over the world.
The Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies houses fellows, funds conferences and speakers, and supports courses and student research.
The Princeton Project on National Security sponsors conferences, working groups, policy reports, and research on American foreign policy.
The European Union Program at Princeton and the Program in Contemporary European Politics and Society sponsor events and research on modern Europe .
The Mamdouha S. Bobst Center emphasizes issues of global development, justice and peace.
The Program on Science and Global Security at the Wilson School focuses on nuclear arms control, disarmament and nonproliferation.
The Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination funds conferences, research and policy analysis on issues of state sovereignty, boundaries, and autonomy as it relates to international law.
In addition, the Program on Law and Public Affairs helps coordinate a growing community of scholars researching international and comparative law; the Program in Science, Technology and the Environment sponsors courses, research, conferences, speakers and an undergraduate certificate; the Princeton-Harvard China and the World Program hosts post-doctoral fellows whose work combines innovation in international relations theory with rigorous study of Chinese foreign policy; and the University Center for Human Values has an active focus on normative and philosophical analysis of world politics.
The department and University also maintain student exchanges and
collaborative programs with a range of outside institutions active in
international studies, including the Brookings Institution and New York
University School of Law.
The faculty in international relations includes: Gary Bass, Thomas Christensen, Christina Davis, Aaron Friedberg, Joanne Gowa, Emilie Hafner-Burton, John Ikenberry, Robert Keohane, Jason Lyall, Helen Milner, Andrew Moravcsik, Kristopher Ramsay, Anne Sartori, and Anne-Marie Slaughter.
Other members of the Politics department with active research interests in international relations include: Christopher Achen, Charles Beitz, Ken Kersch, Evan Lieberman, Jan-Werner Mueller, Sankar Muthu, Philip Pettit, Jennifer Pitts, Grigore Pop-Eleches, Ezra Suleiman, Joshua Tucker, and Lynn White.
Graduate students work routinely with scholars of international relations in the Woodrow Wilson School and in other departments, including political scientists David Baldwin, Robert Keohane, Sophie Meunier, and Mario Zucconi; sociologists Miguel Centeno and Gilbert Rozman; historians Jeremy Adelman, Harold James, and Stephen Kotkin; natural and environmental scientists Christopher Chyba, Frank von Hippel, Denise Mauzerall, and Michael Oppenheimer; economists Gene Grossman, Peter Kenen, Alan Kruger, Paul Krugman, and Hélène Rey; legal scholar Kim Scheppele; and policy analysts Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, Robert Hutchings, Michael O'Hanlon, and Erik Schwartz.