Rate My Professor Bruce Bueno de Mesquita

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita is the Julius Silver Professor of Politics in the Department of Politics at New York University, a position he has held since 2002. He also serves as Director of NYU’s Center for Conflict Resolution and Multilateral Cooperation since 2001. Previously, he chaired the NYU Politics Department from 2003 to 2006 and was Professor of Political Science at the University of Rochester from 1981 to 1994, including as department chair from 1983 to 1986. Earlier appointments include Associate Professor and Assistant Professor at the University of Rochester (1975-1981 and 1973-1975), and Assistant Professor at Michigan State University (1971-1973). He held visiting positions at Yale University, Cornell University, UC Berkeley, and Stanford University. Bueno de Mesquita was Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution from 1986 to 2010, now Emeritus. He earned his B.A. in 1967 from Queens College of the City University of New York, M.A. in 1968, and Ph.D. in 1971, all in Political Science from the University of Michigan. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Groningen (1999) and the University of Haifa (2016).

A pioneer in positive political theory and game-theoretic modeling, Bueno de Mesquita specializes in international relations, political survival, foreign policy, and conflict processes, notably as co-developer of the selectorate theory. His influential publications include The War Trap (1981, Yale University Press), War and Reason (1992, with David Lalman), The Logic of Political Survival (2003, MIT Press, with Alastair Smith, Randolph M. Siverson, and James D. Morrow), Principles of International Politics (multiple editions, CQ Press, since 2000), The Predictioneer’s Game (2009, Random House), The Dictator’s Handbook (2011, with Alastair Smith, Public Affairs Press), and The Spoils of War (2016, with Alastair Smith). He has served as President of the International Studies Association (2001-2002) and received major awards such as the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Political Science Association’s Conflict Processes Section (2007), Karl W. Deutsch Award in International Relations and Peace Research (1985), Guggenheim Fellowship (1977-1978), and election as Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1992).