The Scourge of War

J. David Singer's legendary Correlates of War project represented the first comprehensive effort by political scientists to gather and analyze empirical data about the causes of war. In doing so, Singer and his colleagues transformed the face of twentieth-century political science. Their work provoked some of the most important debates in modern international relations—about the rules governing territory, international intervention, and the so-called "democratic peace."

Editor Paul F. Diehl has now convened some of the world's foremost international conflict analysis specialists to reassess COW's contribution to our understanding of global conflict. Each chapter takes one of COW's pathbreaking ideas and reevaluates it in light of subsequent world events and developments in the field. The result is a critical retrospective that will reintroduce Singer's important and still-provocative findings to a new generation of students and specialists.

Paul F. Diehl is Professor of Political Science and University Distinguished Scholar at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Praise / Awards

• "This impressive volume recognizes the significant debt that the cumulative enterprise that is the empirical study of war owes to the Correlates of War Project. Here, a group of major scholars in the study of conflict, starting with the data, methods, or theory from COW, continue this cumulative development with important new research."
  —Harvey Starr, University of South Carolina
  

• ". . . an impressive volume that stands as a testament to the vitality of the COW research program. It is essential reading for those interested in the systemic study of international conflict, and will likely become a staple in graduate courses on the subject."
  —Perspectives on Politics