Subfield Coordinator: Sean Gailmard
Formal models are used in political science as abstract representations of political institutions and choices in order to focus attention on key logics and causal mechanisms in a political process. Insightful modeling requires fluency in technical fields such as game theory, as well as the substantive knowledge to craft an appropriate representation of a specific application.
The Models & Politics subfield, instituted by the faculty in 2007, connects advanced training in formal modeling with innovative substantive research in political science. It is designed for students who plan to make significant use of formal modeling in their own research in American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, or Political Theory, as well as those who wish to become “pure” modelers.
